April Fool

8 to 10 inches of heavy wet snow and I have to go plow it. Looks like I'm the April Fool. Things were just starting to turn around into some kind of spring mudseason, complete with deep ruts and KT said she saw a black fly the other day. Black fly? In March? It must be the result of climate change or the nuclear reactor in Japan. Either way we're in for it, so everybody stock up on guns and gold and iodine and extra sun-tan lotion for good measure (for the extra UV rays due to the hole in the ozone layer). But now we've got a new layer of white stuff.

I like to think the weather reminds us of how little we actually control. We can create monstrous disasters with radiation and oil spills and what not, but the earth just continues on, always healing itself as its creator intended. At some point, that healing process may just put an end to us as the planet gets too hot or too cold or too much radiation or whatever. In the end, though, the earth certainly doesn't need us. Whatever one may believe about our origins, I am convinced we live here on this planet due to the bountiful grace of our Creator, and I will gladly accept whatever comes from the Creator's hand. Even if that means being the April Fool.

A wet one.

Well, well, I think we're in for a wet one. A wet night tonight and a wet winter. Something tells me that this winter may be more wet than snowy....who knows?

In any case, we'll be here, holdin' down the fort. I've been working on a remodel close to home for the last eight weeks or so. We're putting down a floor of reclaimed boards from old timbers. You'd think it would be cheaper because its reclaimed, but actually its about twice as much. $14 per square foot and 550 square feet. You do the math. Unfinished flooring still needs to be sanded and oiled. Its nice looking stuff though. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow.

On January 1, 2011, a partner and I will be launching a new business doing independent building inspection and code compliance consulting. In the last year, the State of Maine adopted the 2009 International Building Code as the new Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code, so there will be a need for both more municipal inspectors and Third Party inspectors. That's where we think there is a market for our services. We're busy now getting all our ducks in a row (have you ever tried getting actual ducks in a row? I have, and its difficult....) as far as certification, insurance, incorporation and what not goes, but we'll be ready come January. Check back as things develop.

In other news, KT just bought me 3.8 pounds of swedish fish. She is such a good wife!

---w---

Just when you thought it was safe....

Just when you thought it was safe to leave your tools on the job site, the job gets delayed and you're stuck trying to work with your key tools locked in a trailer 36.6 miles away. Apparently I will never learn this lesson.....so frustrating.

Anyway. Last week I got to frame some new walls in an 1842 brick colonial in Dresden. All these old houses tell quite a story. Its mostly a story of neglect and mismanagement. This particular house had seen years and years of neglect culminating in a roof leak that led to a big insurance claim which provided the funds for a three room remodel where most of the water damage had taken place. This is the living room or parlor framed with new wall on the exterior, new ceiling joists supplementing the existing ones, and 1/2" of plywood strapping on the interior walls. I used the plywood strapping instead of framing new interior walls in order to simplify the trim detail around the existing doors.


Here we have a timber-frame and SIP addition to a home in Harpswell. My friend Andrew cut this frame over the last few weeks and we raised it in two days last week. Today we finished boarding the roof, and hopefully tomorrow or the next day we'll start install the the Structural Insulated Panel enclosure.


This area will become a study/office area. Its not really wide enough to be much else.


This area is going to be the new great room, I think.


The far portion of this will be the entry/mudroom.

Next week I start on a new project with Dyer Ridge Builders that may last into December......

Late summer limbo

Well, well, another late summer limbo. I just got cut loose from my regular job because there's no work right now. Maybe a new project will come in the next couple weeks, but until then its limbo time for the bank account. How low will it go? In the mean time, we'll just eat the bounty that God gives us--this years blackberry harvest has been a bumper crop.


Then there's always the church potluck fellowship meal. We made a not-so-spicy chili.



Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves in the basement of Sheepscot Valley Community Church. Next time we have a potluck, we'll have it outside if the weather's nice.


Then, of course, there's always work to be done over at the Land of Goshen. I've had a shed platform framed up for several months now, but the time has come to frame the rest of it. Here's a progress shot from yesterday. Walls are framed and boarded now, all the rafters are up, and now I'm framing the gables and gable overhangs. I've got a whole bunch of corrugated metal roofing coming on Tuesday to get the roof on. Hopefully I'll get it all finished by the end of next week. Then I gotta figure out how to pay my lumberyard bill! Maybe I'll sell that 12" sliding chop saw you see there!!

Launch!!

Launch day is always an adventure, even with a little boat like this Bristol 19/Corinthian Sloop. Even on a relatively simple boat like this one you've got to make sure she's seaworthy and you have all the gear to make sailing safe and enjoyable.

Applying a copper-based bottom paint. You definitely don't want to breathe these fumes much!

All hooked up, strapped down and ready to go.

Making ready in the Make Ready area of the Mere Point boat ramp.

Stepping the mast. Not a big deal on a little boat like this. There's a bit more 'heave-ho!' involved on our Rhodes as the mast is more than twice as heavy.

Making fast the forestay.

Launching, just before letting the trailer down the ramp on a long rope.

Out in the midst of Casco Bay by early afternoon. Had a nice little sail out from Mere Point, around Goose Island and back.

Paul, scrubbin the deck, only later to have to pull up the mooring ball and all its barnacle mess up on the foredeck. What a mess it was! Sometimes the mooring pendant or painter gets all wrapped around the chain when a boat isn't hooked on for a while.

So now the boat is in and we can all go sailing whenever. So come on out to visit and lets go for a float.

On, Finally.

The day finally came to get my boat off its keel-blocking and stands and onto the bright blue boat trailer. With lots of help from my friend Paul (the boat's previous owner), especially with the welding part, the trailer sits ready to receive the load. A fixed-keel sailboat trailer has to do two things: support the weight of the boat on the keel (the pressure-treated keel-rest in the middle) and keep the boat from tipping over while standing and driving (the steel tubes braced in two directions; the tubes are from old staging sections. We're always recycling). On the steel tubes will go big threaded screws with a plywood pad on them. When I have the time I'm going to paint the support stands.

The trick is to get a tippy boat on to a trailer without tipping it over.

First, you have to jack the boat up so it is at roughly the same height as the trailer, then pull the trailer as close and as straight up to the boat as possibly. Next, more jacking, and lifting by the boat stands, pulling the trailer back etc. When the keel is resting partially on the trailer, its time to put the truck in neutral, rig up some beefy come-a-longs and actually drag the trailer under the boat. This is possibly until most of the boat's weight actually rests on the trailer, then the come-a-longs actually drag the boat onto the trailer.

With some sweat, patience, and proverbial and actual elbow grease, a 19.5 ' 3000 lb boat can be safely deposited on a custom trailer. Bought retail, a custom trailer like this would cost in excess of $3500. Not including time for labor, I have roughly$500 into this one. Including labor, its probably more like $1500, still a pretty good value

It almost looks like its sitting too far back, but the center of weight is almost exactly between the two axles, right where it should be. Its actually sitting a little heavy on the front. And from the front.

Despite appearances, she's not quite ready to take a dip. First, the trailer needs some kind of stabilizing shock absorbers to counter the oscillating bounciness of the coil springs (its a 1960's era chassis). Second, I have a new hitch coupling. Third, as you can see there is no tongue jack. Fourth, like in the previous post about sailboat launching, It needs a little wheel on the tongue to let it down into the water far enough for floating. All that is just for the trailer to be safe and functional. The to do list on the boat is a mile long, but not all of it is necessary for a few day-sails.

This afternoon we're going sailing again on Paul's boat. We'll probably just bop around Rockland, Rockport, Camden area.

Boing

Well Hello there spring chicken! The cute little chicks of 8 weeks ago are looking more and more hen-ish every day. They're out in the coop now and if its warm enough we let them venture out into the chicken yard.

I've been pretty busy working. I'm back to timberframing. we're working on a four-bent two story frame in Douglas Fir. We just started laying out posts and connectors today. For the last three days we had been working on a barn restoration in the North Whitefield. My truck was all loaded up with staging and tools from that job in the picture below.

In the background you can see a set of braces for another frame that I helped cut recently, as well as the my motorcycle and a Fisher Minute-mount plow that I bought a few weeks back. As you can see, the grass is greening up nicely with the April showers. What you can't see is that the driveway is still a mud-pit as we enter Mud-Season Part II: Return of the Ruts. To top it off, the truck needs new tires, so the mud really gets slick. I'm thinking of lifting the truck 3 inches or so and getting a set of more aggressive tires so I don't get stuck as often.

We still haven't gotten the garden in. Maybe we'll get some peas planted this weekend. Its supposed to be 74 degrees on Saturday. I managed to kill all my seedlings by splitting them up and then forgetting to water them because I was busy working. I think I'll try again though, putting fewer seeds in each peat-pot and watering them more often.

I said ooh, aah fhwgds.....

-w--