4 May 2015

Had left a voice mail with Sean yesterday saying that if I didn’t see his crew here by 9 o’clock I would assume they weren’t coming.  While waiting, built a crude stone retaining wall in the place where the Kubota keeps getting stuck going down to the Sauna (between the wooden walkway and the monster retaining wall).  With no geese in sight, left at 9:03 for a quick trip to Goodro’s for hurricane rafter tie nails.  Was working away in my basement shop just before noon when I sensed a large red truck passing by the door.  Spafford’s arriving!  The graded area that Jimmy Ploof created last week worked as advertized: the big red rig slid right into place with no problems whatsoever.  By mid-afternoon had finished the Sauna Woodshed except for putting on the corrugated metal roof panels.  Before those panels go on, need it to rain on the Zip System^® roof sheathing to wash off the dirt and sawdust that would keep the seam tape from sticking, like what didn’t happen on the house roof.  50% chance of showers tonight…  Used the Kubota for an hour to fill in and level out the “driveway” down to the Sauna building, fill in the well spoils pit out by the road that won’t be used, and move several bucket loads of wall building boulders from that area down to the collection near the burn pile.  Sean called late afternoon to see if I’d figured out that his crew wouldn’t be here today.  Looks like next week to start the exterior windows / doors / trim installation.  First truly warm day and the lake is looking mighty tempting.  But with the water temperature only up to 60°, sounds like a lukewarm shower might be just the ticket.  I know, I know, awfully wimpy for someone whose early diving experiences were under the ice in Antarctica!

 

3 May 2015

As to be expected, ran out of the special 9 gauge by 1½″ nails used for putting on hurricane rafter ties with two (of the six) rafters not yet fully secured… and Goodro’s is closed on Sundays.  Scavenged five pieces of destined-for-the-burn-pile Advantech Zip System^® sheathing and cut them to size for the Sauna Woodshed roof.  Installed the top three pieces and clamped the bottom two in place to make sure they fit.  An absolutely gorgeous day, far too nice for working, so it’s a good thing I didn’t get much done… maybe.  Or maybe I just was dehydrated, ‘cause an end-of-day G&T sure is sliding down easy.

2 May 2015

Worked most of the day on the sauna woodshed: two steps forward and one step back.  Put on all the left side siding, only to remember that I hadn’t yet put in two nails in each of the hurricane rafter ties that I had just covered with said siding.  Fortunately, all those boards were screwed on, so removing them, pounding in the nails, and reattaching the boards only cost an hour.  Tried to go for a bike ride with Marty shortly after noon.  Let’s just say that that particular exercise is contraindicated with the present state of my right hip / buttocks / thigh.  By the end of the afternoon most of the sauna woodshed roof rafters were securely fastened in place.  Lost water pressure in the middle of my shower.  Might have had something to do with the water tanks being empty…  Down the hill to Marty & Merry’s (sans wine) for another wonderful evening.

1 May 2015

Painfully slow progress today; if it gets any worse, I’ll be going backwards!  Got the battens (2x6’s that will brace each end of each row of firewood) and the floor installed in the sauna woodshed.  Took a break after lunch to fetch 10 gallons of water and 10 gallons of off-road diesel fuel.  Now if I can just remember which goes into the Kubota…  Kate showed up unexpectedly and brought positive vibes with her… the Spafford’s crew hit a seam of water (somewhat cloudy but a respectable 30 gpm) at the 241 foot mark.  Kate and her faithful companions (Maddie, a Wheaton Terrier, and Molly, a Schauzer) came over for dinner.  To celebrate Kate’s aqueous achievement we finished off all the rest of my wine.  I’d like to say that a dog was to blame, but am pretty sure there was a “u” in there somewhere.

30 April 2015

After a trip to Brandon to exchange / procure lag bolts (and restock a dwindling ice cream supply), spent the remainder of the day assembling the sauna woodshed framework.  The Goodro Lumber truck showed up right after lunch with the first (of, assuredly, many) $1,000+ load of “stuff” for the house… in this case the front entry door and sidelights.

29 April 2015

Quick run into Brandon right after breakfast for victuals and lag bolts.  Then finished making sawdust all the pieces for the sauna woodshed framework. Spent the rest of the morning carving rock with my dying Skilsaw and the ever-useful diamond tipped blade.  Needed to create a massive contusion on my left thumb while chipping rock with a cold chisel level spots for the two front posts to sit on and a trench for the 2x4 to sit in that will tie those posts together at the bottom.  After lunch, started putting the woodshed framework together, discovering in the process that, while I got sixteen 3″ and twenty-eight 3½″ lag bolts at the hardware store this morning, what I really needed were sixteen 3½″ and thirty-six 3″ lag bolts… and some adult supervision.  Marty and Merry came up for the Wizard’s Stew created yesterday… and seemed nonplussed by the eye of newt ingredients.  Spent a delightful evening with them catching up on a winter’s worth of news.

28 April 2015

As the weather forecast yesterday was that the rainy weather wasn’t supposed to clear until noon today, had planned to spend the morning cooking a sumptuous repast for when the Lapidii return from their current journey.  The weather all morning was gorgeous, of course, while I was inside tending to the bubbling cauldron.  Now is it eye of newt and toe of frog or vice versa?  That done and Delores’ tank topped off with another 13.2 gallons of propane, started fabricating the corner posts for the sauna woodshed.  The radial arm saw seems to have come through the winter just fine.  At lunchtime found that Jimmy Ploof had arrived with his mini-excavator to grade the north side of the house for well drilling purposes.  Had him build a quick 25 foot long by 3 foot high retaining wall, extending the existing wall (that he built last fall) north to tie into a natural ledge feature, thereby leveling off the area around the northwest corner of the house.  James arrived mid-afternoon with their big loader and moved most of the fill from the east end of the driveway around to the north side of the house, which Jimmy then converted into a superhighway for the Spafford’s well drilling rig to use.  Jimmy also dug a spoils pit and built a berm along the north property line so that the crap spoils that come out of the well don’t run down to the Lapidus’ property.