Whopping Big Crane

This was supposed to be about trees, but home renovations keep intruding. Here, we position the new pellet stove--with a two-ton shop crane.

I think I'm going to like this new tool.

Winding Down for the Winter

The eaves and north wall project is over for the year. I'll be painting it again in the summer to try and cover up the VERY prominent knotholes, but other than that the wall is ready for the bad weather. Now it is time to turn our attention to the garage, the remaining blight on the landscape.

Eaventually

Here is a job that has hung over us for 17 years: the eaves on the NE side of the house. We demolished 16 feet of rotten wall and the eaves went with it. Then we hastily tacked up some vinyl siding . . . and left it. Later we added two windows by the admirable expedient of cutting holes in the vinyl. This is the final reckoning, which will see the construction of new eaves and the replacement of the vinyl with proper clapboard. As I started putting up the third level of scaffolding, I nudged the eaves above the cellar entrance. A large number of curious but not immediately aggressive wasps emerged to size up the situation.

I was holding a scaffolding frame at the time: I dropped it over the side and bailed, escaping without injury. When I returned, I was armed with suitable sprays (visible on the platform in the image to the left). I made the main supports out of simple triangles cut from a 10" plank. The back of the house is post and beam, and the rafters terminate at the top plate, so there is no communication between the eaves and the peak. The project went fairly smoothly once the wasps were out of the way. I wasn't really surprised by their presence--since 2000, when we demolished and rebuilt the NE wall, the top end of the eaves above the cellar entrance have been exposed. Late in the project, I discovered various irregularities in the line of the roof edge had led me astray, but I'm used to that. I don't expect straight lines!

In the end, the open conduit which allowed the wasps to make a home was closed. This was probably a route for the odd squirrel as well as the wasps. Now it's down with the old vinyl and up with new clapboard.

Past Mistakes

Finally getting around to this mess: the glass brick window between the Dog Room and the Fun Porch. The choice of glass blocks was made because of Ollie: he had demolished the window between the Dog Room and the Back Kitchen TWICE! Unfortunately, the day we built it was horribly humid. No matter how much mortar we added, the mixture became sloppy immediately. I'll have to make things right as I trim it. . . .

Lunar Eclipse

The night of the lunar eclipse! And could I find my tripod adapter? No, I could not. And then the clouds rolled in. And that's all, folks!

By the Sea

Whose woods are these? Not ours! We went for a seaside vacation at our favorite super-secret spot. A house we don't have to fix! Luxury! And trees we don't have to thin or clear!

I Celebrate Canada Day

. . . by finally removing the cast iron vent stack. I have to say, my "Great Big Book of Renos" made it sound a lot easier than it turned out to be. In the end, only this tool proved robust enough to crack an iron hub: the balljoint fork. This, together with a club hammer ("Little Persuader") was just able to shatter the joint with a LOT of effort. Nevertheless, I did it all, from attic to cellar. I was just reconnecting the bathroom fixtures as Jo returned from out West.