Woodshed

 I added a concrete ramp up to the door and a plywood one inside. Cleaned up and swept, it looks pretty good in spite of the messy trowel work. I must find a way to get a better finish. However, it should work quite well. The entire perimeter footing is connected by rebar, and the slab sections are linked to each other and to the footing. Moreover, there is a vapor barrier under the slab. Right now it is about one-third full of wood; tomorrow I'll start moving the woodpiles inside. I have a couple of stacks in the little wood between the properties, so I'll trailer those in as well. 

The new concrete mixer isn't bad, once you get used to its various quirks: it spins too quickly, the agitator blades are poorly designed, and there is too much play in the supports. The ball bearing seems to have fixed the locking mechanism, so it is back to its normal performance, which is poor. Still, I mixed the footing and slab for a 16 by 12 woodshed with it, and it didn't quit on me. Now I would like to wire the shed for lights, using standard 14/2 and regular fixtures--but with 12V bulbs. I'll put a deep wave battery in, and when we build the new potting shed and hook it up to the garage system, we'll convert it to 120V.

Shed for Brains

 The woodshed project is finished. For the life of me, I couldn't get a decent finish on that last pour. Never mind--it will soon be covered up with firewood. This half, slab and footings, took just under 100 bags, so that's about $1000, say $2000 for the whole thing--not too bad. I can use the six bags left over to make a concrete ramp for the entrance.

Halloween Day

 

It has been a lovely mild autumn, and as Halloween arrives there is no sign of snow. Good! Every week past the 31st without snow means a shorter winter. We are not even CLOSE to being ready, with work yet to do on the woodpile, woodshed, oil tank housing, and the cars...but we still have time.

Tanks a Lot

 The new oil tank is in place--and my! haven't they added a lot of hardware to the top. The new enclosure is going to be challenging...fully four new projections to deal with, and two must be given transparent caps. Bugger.

Heating Begins

We have had wood and pellet fires in the house for some time, but today marks the first pellet fire in the workshop for the heating season. It was so well set up last year that it only required a light cleaning to set it going again.

Bluebird

 Often, the red apples remain in the tree in the front garden right through the winter. This year it is already quite bare--I think that big Blue Jay may have something to do with that! 

Shedding My Worries

 Time is running out! I still have most of the footings and slab to pour (last year's half was a little under a half). There was nearly a foot of debris--bark, wood scraps, rotted boards--to dig out before proper excavation began. There is a little rot on the sills, but on the North side almost none at all. Elsewhere, I'll just shave them down with the reciprocating saw.