Entry for March 26, 2007

Saturday morning I was up and working early. By 6am I was loading the trailer with debris from the years of renovation waste that piled up in the outbuilding. This is the second load and the pile is not touching the ceiling. To put this pile in perspective, think of your average bedroom. Then think of it full of scrap vinyl siding, storm window frames, shutters, carpet, linoleum, empty paint cans, old insulation, etc. I’m sure you get the picture. It was just easier to toss it in the corner of the building and take care of it later. Now is later! Back to the work at hand, I was loaded up and tied down by 7 and off to the landfill.

The landfill is somewhat intimidating to me as far as pulling in with a trailer and backing it up to the drop off cliff. If I’m lucky there will only be a few people there to witness my lack of skills. Luckily there is only one car there, so I am able to circle around and line myself up pretty straight. Then after approximately 4 left turn twitches and 4 right alternating twitches, I am at the cliff. The cliff is just that, a big pit created by a massive bull dozer with steel hammer heads welded all over each wheel. Untied and unloaded in about 15 minutes is pretty good.

After the dump I stopped by Lowes for some OSB plywood that is on sale for $4.97 a sheet. I pick up a dozen since this stuff has gone for as much as $15 a sheet. I also pick up some bird seed and a galvanized trash can to store it in. Since I have increased the bird feeding I decided that a more secure storage container was needed. The squirrel is getting smarter and I have seen some raccoons hanging around at night. The squirrel has this trick he does at the sunflower seed feeder. He scurries down the thin wire the feeder is attached to. He hangs from his hind legs and picks at the wire screen to get seeds to stuff in his jaws. He then hangs straight down (upside-down) and eats what’s in his jaws discarding the hulls. That is the only feeder he messes with so I just let it go. The birds get plenty and also pick at him to fall off.

Gin worked on staining the 2nd drawing file cabinet for the engineers. I went to work on assembling the next two. Patrick stopped by for lunch and to pick up the lawn mower. After lunch we went out to the local greenhouse to pick up some Creeping Flox for the front hill. We want to eliminate having to weed-eat or mow the steep side of the lawn next to the road. After the garden trip I went back to assembling cabinets and Gin applied the 1 st coat of poly to the stained cabinet.

Sunday we were hit the Whole Foods Market in Greenville for some specialty items and also a little Salmon dip and Italian bread for lunch. On the way home we picked up the remainder of groceries at Wal-Mart along with some more Creeping Flox from the garden center. I worked in the shop the rest of the afternoon. Gin applied the last coat of poly to the cabinet. She also worked on some transplanting some of the wild plants around the yard. For dinner Gin made turkey sausage patties with provolone cheese, mixed peppers and onions.

I worked on the 3 rd cabinet a little more after dinner. By nightfall I was closing up the shop and getting the finished cabinet loaded in the truck for a Monday morning delivery.

The picture is a lizzard that was hanging out at the ramp to the shop.

P@

Entry for March 21, 2007

It’s Wednesday and I think I’m fully recovered from our trip to Norfolk. We left last Wednesday and had lunch in Rocky Mount with Mom. Dad made it home from his round of golf before we left departed for Norfolk. This was probably the first time we drove the route and took our sweet time getting there. We made it a point to keep our speed down and let traffic fly by. The level of stress is amazingly lower even though we made 3 wrong turns once we came out of the Mid-Town Tunnel. We arrived sometime after 4 and unloaded pretty quickly. We caught up on things with Jean over dinner and through the evening. Thursday Gin and Jean painted the 2nd floor den while I spent the day outside painting the book shelves. I couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather. We opted for Doumar’s barbeque for dinner.

Friday was a wet and windy day. Most of the painting was complete. I replaced the fan light fixture with a 3 bulb unit. Gin and Jean worked on the furniture items in the room. Later, I ran several errands around town including picking up lunch at Zero’s. You can not go to Norfolk and skip Doumar’s or Zero’s. We met Susan and Richard at Fellini’s Italian Restaurant for dinner.

Saturday we visited with Susan and Richard at their house in the morning. We stopped for an awesome burrito in downtown Norfolk then went back to Jean’s to complete lamp repairs and putting the room back together.

Sunday we headed home with a stop in Albemarle to visit with Caris and Thomas. We also picked up Stetson for his return to our nest.

The picture is scrap yard art from the metal recycle yard off of Colley Avenue near the railroad tracks. There were several animals and other items fabricated out of scrap metal and attached to the fences and gates.

P@

Entry for March 10, 2007

OK, so I didn't write last week. You probably didn't check to see if I did. I only had one visitor and I think I know who it was.


Actually, I was worn out after Sunday's work. I'll back up to Saturday the 3rd. I spent the majority of the day working on Jean's book case. The end product pictured above is not what I was working on at first. A few months ago (before Christmas) I cut the side pieces of wood for the book cases, but never assembled them. I was side tracked on several other projects. Back to what I was doing brought up the question: What was I thinking when I cut those boards. Well. I tried to piece the puzzle together and ended up scrapping the entire idea do to lack of logical reason for making it that way. I then applied the KISS to the project (Keep It Simple Stupid).

The new plan uses 3/4 sanded plywood for 98% of the construction. So I cut two sheets of plywood into all the sides, tops, bottoms and shelves. It was amazing on how little the waste pile was, not counting the previous plan. After the pieces were cut I set up a jig on the drill press for making the shelf support peg holes and drilled holes for the first cabinet.

Sunday 3/4 Gin and I helped her friend Jean with her two dog kennels. What should have been a quick 2 hour job turned into an all day, on your knees (on cold concrete) back breaker. All materials used are recycled from a pool deck that used to be in Jean's back yard. I removed old wire fencing material up to 3' off the floor on two sides of each kennel. Then I attached 1x6 pressure treated boards for nailers. After the nailer strips I cut and installed 36 inch long plastic deck boards vertically. The reason for the change in the kennel walls is to keep her Pointer, Puppy, from climbing the fence and over the top. Puppy is no puppy, he is an 8 year old show dog. Damon is the other Pointer. Jean used to be a professional dog handler, she has won best in show at the AKC show at Madison Square Garden. Jean is very particular in how she wants something done, aren't we all. I finished the day by climbing on her roof and re-attaching a piece of siding and cleaning out her porch gutters.

Monday and Wednesday evening were weight lifting nights. Tuesday and Thursday night I worked on the bookcase assembly.

Friday afternoon Gin and I placed our t-shirt order with the screen printer for our Walk America team. Later in the afternoon we drove to Albemarle to drop Stetson off with Caris. While in Albemarle we went with Caris, Thomas and his parents to look at a few houses in the area (for Caris & Thomas). We had dinner together at a local Mexican restaurant. We lucked out and had the waiter that was least interested in earning a good tip. The meal and company helped make the evening enjoyable.

Today I finished the book cases, look at the picture above to see for yourself. I cut and installed the back panels and shelves. I also cut and installed the face trim to cover the plywood ends. All nails were set under the surface and holes filled and sanded.

P@