FLA

Sometimes you just have to obey your father when he tells you to get on a plane and fly non-stop to Florida and stay there for a week.

A welcome diversion from Maine's seemingly never-ending mudseason, we're in Orlando taking in the theme parks with part of the Midwestern Wagner clan. Along with lots of chillin out, we've already been to SeaWorld to see all the shows and what not. They even have two neat rollercoasters there.

On tap for the rest of the week: Epcot, Anna Maria Island, watching nieces be cute, and maybe Coco Beach.

We'll be back in the Maine woods this weekend, hopefully bringing beach weather with us.

---w---

Still

Still. We're still here, but hardly still.

Here is what is going on:

-Working again for Connolly and Co. Timberframe Homes and Barns. After two weeks almost finished with a 24x48 story and a half in Hemlock, going to Maryland. The other side of the shop is cutting an octagonal cabana in Western Red Cedar, so we end up wearing dust masks all day because the inflammatory effects of the cedar dust. Looks like there's at least 8 more weeks of work at Connolly's, maybe more. My friends over at Sustainable Structures have landed a new home contract over in Jefferson, and I might jump on that when the work at Connolly's runs out, as I think it will.

-Mudseason is in full swing, almost all the roads are posted "Heavy Loads Limited". Its hard to move anything heavy any where. Otherwise, we'd probably have clearing begin on our land.

-We've been pursuing a particular house design from Timberworks Design in South Burlington, VT. You can see its basic layout here. It is a 24x24 dutch saltbox. We're going to flip the whole thing around and add a day-light basement to get some more out of the small floor plan. We are still hoping to build this year, although it may be better to wait until next year.

That's about it folks,

w

news from the country estate 2-17-09

Greetings from the 'didn't get any snow this time either' country estate,

Other than the reliably pleasant mid winter weather, we've got a few other news items:

-work has been slower than slow, but thats February in Maine.

-housebuilding or more like housebuilding planning has begun in earnest. Septic system design is underway, estimates are being made, financing pursued

-I traded some work for a 6.5 kW generator recently.

-I've been prototyping some new furniture with my friend Paul over at Paul Baines Fine Woodworking. I'll post pictures just as soon as we've got something to show for it. Think about Bamboo though.

-We were down in Boston doing some preliminary marketing work for the above mentioned PBFW's line of Cathance River Stools. We're trying to get them some exposure, so I can work more building furniture as well as houses. Boston is a bit of a culture shock after being on the country estate for a while

-And, that's about it, now go over and read my other blog about Porch Restorations.

---w---

Not this East Coast

I would certainly love to post all sorts of pictures of the blizzards that have been pounding us here on the East Coast, but wait, oh yeah, all the blizzards went way south of here. We haven't gotten any new snow in weeks. Just day after day of clear skies and 25 degrees. I don't know how much more of this I can take!

Can we get some snow here in Maine? Come, on ! They don't even deserve it in D.C., at least around here we appreciate a good blizzard. I might even say we enjoy it.

How am I supposed to go snowshoeing if we don't get a little more accumulation?

Dear Mid-Atlantic and Mid-Western states,
Please deliver any excess or unwanted snow to Coastal Maine via air-mail.

Warmest Winter Regards,

Maine.

PS. please feel free to keep the acid rain and mercury from your soot-spewing coal-fired power plants. we don't need any more ;)

Guillotine Tree

I saw this goofy tree scene this afternoon while traipsing round the woods on the Wagner Estate. Off with its head!

The guillotine tree.

Earlier in the day, I was turning reclaimed lumber into window and door trim, like this:



You can read about the rest of that story here.

Other than that, Winter drags on, slowly here in Maine.

Oot and a boot.

Winter is a great time to be out and about in Maine. There are no crowds, no traffic and no tourists from 'away'. I think the low temperatures and precipitation keep them away. But we find plenty of interesting things to do, vocationally and otherwise. I just created a new blog for my carpentry endeavors, you can see it here: http://woodandwagner.blogspot.com.


Here is part of a timberframe I recently had a hand in raising. All that snow presents some serious challenges to the project. If the trailer at right looks a little high that's because it is. The site was so tight that the crane truck drove in with that trailer and to get out had to pick the trailer up off the ground and spin it. Conditions were so icy that the crane and trailer got stuck on the way out with all of us behind it. There we sat for over an hour, idling, while a sand truck came to put down some traction.

These bunch from our snowshoeing jaunt yesterday at the Land of Goshen:


Wags, winter forest head shot. (Photo by KT)


KT, winter forest head shot. When the temperature is in the teens or lower, she opts for the artificial beard.

Birch among Pines.


If KT received a revelation from heaven while snowshoeing, I imagine this is what it might look like.


There is a fungus among us. In this case on a big dead pine trunk. (photo by KT)


The aforementioned fungusy dead pine trunk. (photo by KT)


Wavy ice on the streaming stream. (photo by KT)

Last weekend I got to go snowshoeing on Saturday with our friend Rob from Milwaukee. Then on Sunday, we got up in the wee hours and drove up to Sugarloaf Mtn to experience what many say is the best downhill ski experience in the East. I can say it was the best I've ever skied. I'll post pictures from that soon.

Gettin a fresh one.

Got a fresh 6-8 inches of snow at the country estate today, and I got through a whole plowing run without getting stuck (a real accomplishment). Just take it easy and watch where you're going, especially when backing up.

Snow depth in the fields and forest is up around two feet now. Makes tramping through the woods a real work out

A timberframe raising this week, some skiing and snowshoeing over the weekend and back into attics and basements on Monday...

January Thaw!

A true January thaw. A statistical anomaly they say.

In truth, the quicksilver reached up over 40 degrees today and will be nearly so tomorrow....not a moment too soon as we had a -9F morning yesterday.

Next week, back to winter as usual, snow more than likely.

A quiet day at the lake.

A quiet day at Damariscotta Lake.







Not sure if the ice is safe yet.

On the topic of ice:

That about sums it up.

Meanwhile back at the Ranch

Greetings from Northern New England, the part of the country that is supposedly in the 'deep freeze'. I just can't understand the hype surrounding the weather these days. What were you expecting in the middle of Winter at 45 degrees north latitude? Beach weather? Its like Winter is back to the old days of walking to school ten miles up hill both ways. Put on a scarf and quit yer whining!


But seriously, the sensationalism of weather reporting reflects two facets of modern life: everything has to be extreme to attract advertisers AND everyone cares about the weather so much because hardly anyone spends any significant amount of time outside. That said, I was outside yesterday at the Land of Goshen (also know as the Wagner Estate)

We've had a bit of new snow recently, about a foot over the weekend. Its time to get out the snowshoes, because without them you're up past your knees in snow.

Looking northwest along Ben Brook

Now looking south along Ben Brook.

Southeast into the woods.


Wags, the younger.

Back north towards the Egypt Road.

As promised, here is a quick numerical run down of all things vehicular:

2004 Dodge Ram 2500 SLT (weighing in around 6800lbs with me an my tools)
Since June 2009 acquisition:

9703 miles driven

$8319.33 All in cost of operation (I know! a $3500 down payment really adds to upfront cost)

$0.60/mile of payments + down payment

$0.86/mile All-in cost (Fuel, Ins, payments, maintenance)
or
$40.58 per day of ownership whether I drive it or not.

12.34 mpg overall ( about 8mpg when plowing )

$786.51 total fuel cost
or
$0.215 per mile

Service performed: 1 oil change in the driveway in six months and its due for one now.

Conclusions: a 3/4 ton truck gets terrible fuel economy no matter how you slice it. I knew that going into it. The overall cost of operation will decrease as the miles driven increases versus the payments + downpayment, but maintenance will likely increase as the truck takes on more miles (its in the shop right now....). Looking back, maybe I should have bought a $5000 used truck and had no payments, but maybe would have had more maintenance issues, like getting stranded. Its all about trade-offs with vehicles, there really is no-winning, just throwing more money into an ever widening, never-satiated black hole......I digress.

Better news ahead:

2001 Mercedes-Benz E-320 4matic wagon:
Since June 2008 acquisition:

36,645 total miles

$14,574.29 All-in cost of operation

$0.40/mile all in cost
or
$25.22 per day of ownership

$0.12/mile fuel
$0.28/mile other costs (payments, maint, insurance)

$4721.60 total fuel cost

at

24.66 mpg overall (not bad for a 4000lb vehicle with 123000 miles on it)

Service Performed since acquisition: left tie rod replaced, front ball joints replaced, alignment performed, front and rear brakes (pads and rotors) replaced, spark plugs replaced, tires replaced (new tires constantly leak due to corrosion from road salt/calcium chloride), several marker and headlight bulbs replaced, wiper blades replaced (front still doesn't work very well), exterior temp sensor non-functional and non-essential, four full-synthetic oil changes, and it needs the electronic throttle looked at soon.

Conclusions: the car gets expected fuel economy, rides pretty much like a luxury car should (like a tank!). Parts and repairs are relatively expensive, but compared to the miles we put on are pretty reasonable. Overall cost of operation is less than the federal mileage rate ($0.55/mile) and less than half of the Dodge. Payments are low ($221/month compared with Dodge @ $350/month). BUT, the rugged driving conditions are starting to take their toll. In Maine, its always a race against the rust.

I got a little spooked by the rust and leaky tires just after Christmas and went to a couple car dealerships to see what I could get into for a similar payment. The answer is: not much. The only thing we really liked was the 2009 Dodge Nitro and its payments would have been $430 month! Other vehicles we test drove:

2008 Ford Escape: plasticky garbage
2008 Chrysler Pacifica: rides like minivan, drives like a minivan, why not get a minivan for $5000 less? Also I expected more out of a 4.0liter engine. Lame.
2007 Subaru Legacy sedan: ok, but too small and plasticky

And I've got a 2005 Dodge Intrepid loaner vehicle from the dealership and it is a piece of junk, but its a loaner......

After all that, we really decided that the Benz 'is what it is' and that is better than 90% of the other cars out there.

In other news, my work schedule has slowed considerably. A regular mid-winter slump. A run down to work on Cape Cod is not out of the question as early as next week....