21 April 2013

It were more than a mite chilly this morning, so spent a couple of hours in the warmth of the RV doing dinner prep work until it seemed that working outside without gloves would be only moderately painful.  Fastened on 16 feet of deck boards, cut the deck boards for the next section of the walkway, then dug the holes for the next two in-ground posts. Got one of those posts buried before it was time to resume cooking.  Lynne and Perry came over for a (even if I do say so myself) fabulous lasagna dinner, garden salad, Ghirardelli chocolate walnut brownies (with extra walnuts), topped off with chocolate chip ice cream.  Except for beer, that ‘bout covers all the major food groups… and we got double credit for chocolate.  

20 April 2013

Cold front came roaring through overnight: lots of wind and periods of heavy rain.  Was still pretty unpleasant this morning, so spent some time cooking, installed the shelf in the shed lower level and gave that area a thorough cleaning (wouldn’t want to have a dirty dirt-floor garage for the tractor, after all), then went into Middlebury to run errands.  Met Marty at Hannaford’s, where I was buying ice cream since it’s supposed to get down to 25°F tonight.  Have tractor, will play!  Did some driveway grading for an hour after returning to Fern Lake until I decided it had finally warmed up enough to do some real work.  Installed the railing posts and longitudinals for the next 16 feet of walkway, then cut deck boards until dinnertime.  Bought a new thermometer today (how can a thermometer go bad just hanging on the wall over the winter????) so can attest that the lake temperature is now a balmy 49°, two feet below the surface. Discovered that one of the six former milk jugs in which drinking water is kept (which are stored out of the way in the back of a clothes closet) was only ⅔ full.  You can paint the rest of the picture, soggy clothes and all…

 

19 April 2013

Dolores is parked back in her accustomed spot… and the hot water faucets are even working properly… finally!  Dolores has a new fuel pump, fuel filter, and engine air filter.  The G. Stone folks showed me a sample of what was in the old fuel filter. I wouldn’t burn that stuff in an oil fired furnace.  Nasty!!!!  They also showed me the completely decrepit air “filter” that was on the engine.  Really, really nasty!!!!  Am surprised Dolores was even running with that “stuff” in her main artery and over her nose.  Mind you, she aint’t running all that well even with those two new filters… a serious tune-up and (speak softly) a front wheel brake job are in her near-term future.  Worked the morning and early afternoon putting in the next four in-ground posts for the wooden walkway and attaching the associated stringers.  Marty graciously helped schlep the Ranger back up to Junction Auto for the required body work and then dropped me off at G. Stone to get Dolores out of hock... very, very expensive hock.  Our kids inheritance just took another major hit… but, on the bright side, old G. Stone can now afford to send his kids to Europe for the summer.

18 April 2013

Took the Ranger to Junction Auto for annual inspection… which it did not pass, in keeping with my recent string of good luck.  The truck needs some rust issues taken care of, most notably where the rocker panels have pretty much rotted out and where a hole has mysteriously appeared in the main frame. On the way back south saw that Dolores was sitting out in the G. Stone parking lot, so stopped to inquire.  Seems that soon after she was dropped off yesterday afternoon the mechanic tried to start her up… which she did first turn of the key. So they moved her out to the parking lot and tried to start her again this morning.  First turn of the key again!  After some hemming, hawing, and brainstorming with the mechanic, bit the bullet and told him to replace the fuel pump.  Returned to Fern Lake, where I spent the afternoon breathing stone dust while removing protuberances from the back wall of the shed lower level.  Also drilled ½″ x 2″ holes for the shelf mounting bolts in two concrete columns, which was a major job because that 3,500 psi concrete is tough stuff!  Mid-afternoon Bryon from Goodro Lumber dropped off the pressure treated lumber needed to complete the wooden walkway.  Another wonderful evening at Marty’s and Merry’s catching up on the last six months news and enjoying an I-can’t-believe-I-ate-so-much steak dinner. Overnight again at Hotel Pirkkanen.

17 April 2013

Had Dolores ready to travel by 8:00.  Eric Murray showed up with his monster tow truck at 1:00.  Getting Dolores in tow was not a trivial exercise, nor was getting the tow truck and RV out the driveway onto Route 53. Cost to tow Dolores from Fern Lake to G. Stone Motors: $35 / mile.  While awaiting Eric’s arrival, surveyed the new route that the wooden walkway will be taking from the halfway point down to the waterfront.  (Decided last fall that we want the walkway to approach the waterfront from the north vice the original plan to have it approach from the south.)  Also surveyed the slope where the old stairway once was to see if there is any possibility of getting a cement truck down there when it comes time to pour the dock building foundation.  News at 11.  A fabulous repast and overnight accommodations provided by Lynne & Perry.

16 April 2013

Didn’t want to run the RV batteries down by using  the furnace, so got a mite nippy last night.  However, the furnace fired right up when asked to do so this morning.  Thought for a few panic-stricken moments that I’d forgotten to pack the coffee, but found the container after diligent search. Whew!  Now if somebody could just tell me where I put the salt and pepper that I KNOW I packed…  The portable Storm King generator also didn’t want to start until I said a few magic words, which you don’t want to see repeated here. Once running, used the generator to recharge the RV batteries and, more importantly, provide 110v power to the coffee maker.  Zack, ace Junction Auto mechanic, showed up at 8:30 and quickly determined that Dolores’ starting problem is because her engine isn’t getting fuel for some reason.  Further investigation has to be done in a shop familiar with Ford trucks (Junction Auto specializes in Subarus), so arranged for a monster tow truck ($$$) to haul Dolores to G. Stone Motors (the $$$$ local Ford dealer) on Wednesday morning.  Ouch and double ouch!!!  Spent most of the day getting the Tacoma unloaded and everything stowed away. Over the winter, manufactured an equipment shelf for the shed lower level. While it was raining this afternoon, thought it would be a good time to bolt the shelf up into its intended position, but discovered that SOMEBODY laid the between-column rocks proud of the interior face of the columns where the shelf needs to go, so those rocks will have to be trimmed off before the shelf can be put up.  Grumble, bitch, moan…

15 April 2013

Left Virginia at the crack of dawn and made it to Fern Lake exactly nine hours later.  Still snow on the peaks of the Green Mountains, but all the ice is gone off the lake.  Weather steadily improved (from rain showers to clear skies) the further north I got.  A good omen?  NOT!!!!  Dolores refused to start when I got to that point in the reanimation process.  Called AAA.  Seems we don’t have RV coverage on our “policy”…  So called my good friends (since I spend so much money there) at Junction Auto, who agreed to send a swat team down to Fern Lake first thing in the morning.  Since I cleverly moved Dolores over next to the shed so that the dead branch which overhangs her windshield could refuse to fall off once again this winter, I can’t plug into power until she’s moved back to her regular parking spot.  Thus dark (7:45 pm) = bedtime. Just a few mouse droppings in the usual spots, almost a nonevent.