Spring has sprung; the grass ain’t ris.
Do you wonder where the
flowers is?
Underneath the snow and ice, he says.
14 April 2018
Since we’re under a winter weather advisory
today for sleet, snow, and freezing rain and I was feeling kind of masochistic
macho, figured I’d try to get a few more stumps dug out. Actually was successful for the first half
dozen, including the second-largest stump needing removal, which was the stump
for the maple whose core was rotten.
But, after two hours I was back to trying to dig completely frozen
ground and was, myself, completely frozen.
In keeping with that theme, Fern Lake also is still completely frozen.
12 April 2018
Perry made several trips to cut up and haul away
the hardwood trees that he will use for firewood. (Chree and I already have many years supply
of hardwood logs destined for our wood stove.)
While Perry was busy chain sawing, I started to dig out the stumps left
from yesterday’s mutant ninja beaver attack.
Turns out winter isn’t quite over here in Vermont… the ground is still
frozen (solid!!!!) from the surface down 6″.
I mean solid, like concrete. Got
a few stumps out where the sun has been penetrating, but the rest will have to
wait for warmer weather… except for the largest stump (of course!) that appears
to be wrapped around a monster boulder, both of which will need a non-Kubota
excavator to dislodge.
11 April 2018
With the approved Zoning Permit and Mr. Jonsered
in hand, set out to attack the stand of trees where the barn will be situated,
formerly the location of the barbeque pit that Chree, Geisha, and Shlomo dug back
in June 2009. First step was to move two
piles of “used-but-good” lumber being stored under black tarps in that area. Pulled the tarps off and found many furry
creatures inhabiting the Trump Tower of mice nests. Properly encouraged, the mice scampered away,
inevitably going to join their not so wealthy cousins living in Delores. With the exception of one 70 feet tall maple,
all two dozen or so trees were easily taken down without coming anywhere near
Delores or other fragile objects, i.e., yours truly.. The aforementioned last tree was leaning
severely to the west… and needed to come down in an easterly direction, as
destroying the house main power panel was not, I thought, a good idea. So, set up my tall extension ladder, very
gingerly climbed to the top (thinking, as I ascended, “Chree isn’t home, so if
I fall off this thing I am totally fill in the blank.”), and attached my
100 feet x ¼″ steel cable. With the
other end of the cable fastened to the tractor backhoe, put a lot of tension on
the tree. So far, so good! Made the front cut, then started the plunge
cut to define the felling hinge. The
chainsaw went through the middle of the tree like there was nothing there
because… there was nothing there, i.e, the tree was totally rotted out. Understand that when pulling a tree down in a
direction radically different than the one it naturally wants to go, a solid,
extra thick felling hinge is absolutely critical. Understand, too, that pulling a tree down
with the tractor normally is a two person job… one not-too-bright gutsy
lumberjack running the chainsaw and a life insurance beneficiary driving the
tractor. So, in baseball parlance, the
count was 0 and 2… and Delores and I were just a tad bit nervous. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I cut
the trigger (the small portion of the felling cut that is left intact until
ready to drop the tree), then ran, not walked, to the tractor and drove
away. Five minutes after the tree hit
the ground (right, I might add, where it was supposed to), Perry arrived… No surprise, after using a chainsaw all day
for the first time in six months, I was pretty much knackered by this
point. So, while Perry cut up and hauled
away hardwood firewood, I downed one of the best tasting whiskey and gingers ever… and 1,600 mg of Ibuprofen.
3 April 2018
Heard back from Tim Comes that 2x4 studs will be
fine for the barn walls. However, each
of the roof hips will need to be double 1¾″ x 14″ LVL (laminated veneer lumber)
beams. Those critters be H E A V
Y!!!! My back is hurting already… Even heavier (though the tractor forklift
should be able to place them in position), the 16 feet wide barn door header
will have to be double 1¾″ x 16″ LVL’s.
2 April 2018
Finalized (yeah, right!!!!) the barn design and
submitted it to Tim Comes, one of the owners of Goodro Lumber, my favorite
place to spend an inheritance. Tim, in
turn, submitted the plan to a structural engineer to answer the weighty
question of the day: Given the barn roof design snow load of 57,330 pounds (yes,
those white fluffy things do get kinda heavy hereabouts) can the barn be built
with 2x4 studded walls or will 2x6 studded walls be required?
26 March 2018
Met with Mary Anne Sullivan, the Town of
Leicester Zoning Administrator, to submit an application to construct the barn
/ third garage (why stop at two?) / auxiliary storage building that is
desperately needed to house the man-toys that have accumulated. All was going too smoothly until Mary Anne
noted that neither Chree (the official landowner) nor I (the applicant) had
signed the application. My part was
easy. Chree, in Middlebury at the gym, had
her ears on (fortunately!) and stopped by the town office on her way home before
Mary Anne left at noon. Fortunate,
because Mary Anne is only there on Monday mornings. Is this screw-up and rapid fix a harbinger of
things to come. Stay tuned…
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