White Out

After thinking it over and consulting with half the population of Vermont, I finally decided to paint the front step, the same one I went to great lengths to get a nice piece of stainable wood so it would look natural. I think in the hands of a seasoned professional with an eye for aesthetics, it would have worked beautifully, but with me, it just didn’t seem to work. I love the look of natural wood, it’s just that somehow it wasn’t meshing.

Painting it white seems to give it more unity, and it will protect the wood a bit more. It’s also beneficial in the hands of a rank amateur as myself because when I paint the clapboards and trim, I inevitably spill paint on the step. Now I can simply paint over my mistakes with white paint. I do much better when I can go back and edit, rather than doing it right the first time. Or, like framing, I can do a sloppy job the first time, and it doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s sturdy, sort of.

Either way, I’m glad that’s been decided. I think the front step is about 95% finished, and it only took about a year. That’s 7 in dog years.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Addressing the Cold

I had this brilliant plan to keep the two front facing rooms warmer, and I have no clue if they’ll work, but they sure sound good in theory. The guest room and our bedroom are much colder than the rooms on the back of the house, for a number of reasons. First off, the back faces south, so it gets a lot of sunshine. Second, the back is directly above the stove, so it gets heated the most. And finally, and I could be wrong about this, but the back wall is better insulated.

The reason I think this last point is true is because the front rooms are doghouse dormers that have knee-walls that are part of the slant of the roof. I know there’s insulation in there, but also know that a roof must allow cold air to vent through it in order to work properly. For anyone in the know (my Mentor, JH and his magic bag of tools, PR, etc.) this is important because it keeps the attic cold.

In this knee wall, there is a book shelf in each room, and the bottom shelf has no backing, so it is essentially exposed to the roof. I keep assorted clothes on this shelf, including underwear or shirts, and I’ve noticed that when I put them on in the Winter, it’s like putting ice cubes on. They’re freezing.

Through a rigid process of deduction, I concluded that this is contributing to the cold in the rooms. My plan, of course, is to seal up that hole. I’m not sure why it wasn’t done in the first place, so I could be screwing things up, but it’s worth a try. I need more projects to feed this blog.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Raja R for the pic.

What Deer Fence?

We installed a deer fence way back when to stop the deer from decimating our garden, and it worked for a few years. Now that the gardening season is coming to a close, R is less stringent about keeping the garden sealed, so a deer wandered in and started snacking.

It saw us and tried to run, but felt trapped inside the garden. The gate was open, but the animal was in a panic and wasn't thinking straight. Instead of exiting through the door, it simply jumped over the deer fence. We were all watching it, and after it happened, N said, "Dad, the deer just jumped over the deer fence."

So much for that. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to ARL for the outstanding pic.

Working on the Roof

I’ve about finished the other side of the back dormer, and I would say it’s about 75% complete, enough to where if I left it at that, it would be no worse of than before I started working on it. The flashing is in along the edge, so it’s more water protected than before, it’s just that some of the clapboards took a beating and need to be replaced. The problem is, the ones that got destroyed are at the top of the roof, where the dormer meets the apex of the house.

Not only is this the hardest and scariest section to be standing on, but it’s also where the darn hornets have made their nest. I’ve also concluded that my setup is not that good, and I don’t feel safe up there, so I’m going to have to come up with another solution. I may be able to get the other ladder over the vent pipe after all, it just will take a little patience and maneuvering. I feel more comfortable when the ladder is hooked over the roof, it’s a lot less scary.

For now, we’ll see how much I’ll get done. I’m somewhat complacent with the fact that the flashing is in, though I don’t want to flake out and let this project die a slow death.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Decked Out

As per HH’s advice, I treated the wood on our deck and am in the process of fixing the hatch door. She told me that even though cedar resists rot, it still should be protected against water. I’m guessing that a stain or water sealant was in order, but which one? As it turns out, I have a silicone based water sealant that I used on the front step, and lots of it. I love when that happens.

I got some cedar deck boards to fix the hatch door but figured I’d treat the wood before assembling it, and then I treated the rest of the deck. I’m hoping this will protect it, because that deck really takes a beating from rain, snow, and sun. On the other hand, the cedar boards were not as expensive as I had originally thought, not that I want to replace the whole thing, but if it came down to that, it wouldn’t be as horrendously painful as I imagined.

For now, I think it looks pretty good. Once that door is finished, we are ready to move on with our lives. Until then, thanks for reading.

Real Man’s Work

During the storm a tree actually fell onto our driveway. I knew it was coming down at some point because not only was it dead, but it was leaning against a big pine and I could tell that it was just a question of time. Sure enough, when the rains came, we saw it lying across the driveway. Fortunately, we didn’t have to be anywhere, and noticed it when we were going for our walk.

This, of course, gave me a chance to do some real-man’s work. I had to dust off my chainsaw, which I had prepared for Winter storage by running the tank dry and putting it in the basement. The day before I got some fresh gas, and kept it handy just in case of such an event. How’s that for foresight?

I added the oil and filled up the tank, and then walked down the driveway and started cutting. The wood is old hemlock so the saw cut through it like butter, though I screwed up and cut through to the dirt, which is the kiss of death for the sharpness of your chain. Oh well, time to break out the Dremmel sharpener.

What was great about it was that as I was cutting, at least a dozen trucks drove by and I got to show them that actual real-man’s work gets done over at our house... not that isn’t obvious, of course.

I might even be able to use the wood for kindling, but that’s yet another project, for another time.

Until then, thanks for reading.

Done With The Garden

When I say done, I don’t just mean for this season, I mean for good. I'm talking a big no thank-you. I just don’t have the green thumb thing going, and at some point, we just give up on the whole idea. When our crops finally do ripen, we usually don’t make the most of it because by that time, we’re so burned out on trying to battle weeds and critters that all we want is for Fall to arrive. Then again, come next Spring, we may sing a different tune. It's been known to happen.

People talk about their love for gardening and how they love to spend time out there, but I can’t say I completely relate. I love being outside and working, but the whole gardening thing just doesn’t speak to my sensibilities, or should I say our sensibilities. Some people just do it better than we can, and maybe it’s better to just pay them for their talents.

With that in mind, we’ve finished harvesting the garden and R has left the gate open to let nature run its course. Despite a load of effort, we really didn’t have a bounty of a harvest. The tomatoes are still plodding along, and the corn was about four inches long, though for the record, it was really good. We have cucumbers, but I don’t feel that inspired to pickle, though the kids are bugging me to do it. They enjoy the process because yours truly ends up doing most of the prep and cleanup.

We’re not sure what we’ll do next year, we always seem inspired come Spring, but I personally wouldn’t be heartbroken if we just planted some flowers and let things unfold as they will.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Daino_16 for the pic.