First Order of Business

I’ve been given my marching orders from KB, and the first thing that needs to be done is clean, clean, clean. I have to confess, I was a little embarrassed about the mess in the barn, as I think I’ve alluded to in the past. I think cleanliness and order are things more appreciated by women, but not so, especially amongst professionals. They want their work areas orderly, not just because of professionalism, but because it’s safer to work in and it makes their jobs easier.

Anyway, KB left it up to me to clean up a bit. He’s got better things to do with his time, and we’ve got better things to do with our money than pay him to clean. The barn had become a bit of a dumping ground for building materials and things we wanted to protect from the elements. We are talking lots of building materials, not to mention a dozen windows that were originally installed in the unit.

The reason the place needed to be cleaned was because the electrician needed to come and finish the wiring, and to do that, he needs to have unobstructed access to all the walls. My first thought was to just pile it all up in the middle of the floor, but the look on KB’s face screamed, “Just deal with it like a man, you sissy.” Shame on me, right?

Now that hockey season is over (note the emotional crack in my voice), we suddenly have time. Plus, since we’re not doing the market (tears of joy), we’ll have time to take care of issues on the home front. With the clock ticking, there was no time to waste in getting this barn finished. So, we spent the last day or two cleaning up. Mind you, the barn is not all clean and orderly, I did manage to clear the walls by putting stuff on pallets outside and then covering it with plastic. Not ideal, but it’ll do for now.

We also disposed of a lot of wood waste by having a burn pile, which is always a lot of fun for the kids. Something about a bonfire that just pulls them in. We don’t do it the real-man way with one huge conflagration. We instead opt for a small fire that we feed throughout the day. It’s more fun this way, and not as scary. Plus, a small fire doesn’t require a fire permit.

We are on our way. I still have several other jobs to do, but just getting one done makes me feel like a real-man already... sort of.

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

Feeling the Weight of Spring

I know that spring is a time for flowers and butterflies and all that good stuff, and I really love the change in seasons up here, something I never really experienced in So Cal. However, with the arrival of spring comes a whole slew of work that needs to be done. I don’t even know where to begin, so in typical fashion, I simply ignore it and hope it’ll go away. Usually it doesn’t go away.

In addition to the barn project, the snow/ice has pretty much melted, leaving the grass to start doing its thing. Before that can happen, however, I need to do some major raking. I hardly did any last year because we had this crazy early October storm that covered everything, making it all but impossible to rake. Fine by me, though I’ll suffer the consequence now that it’s spring. Once that’s done, I’ll have my regular list of lawn activities, including seeding and mowing.

I’m not sure what the status is of our garden, but I’m thinking we’ll pass this year and support the local economy, instead. I’m just not a gardener, though I play one on TV. I’d rather leave it to the local farmers and support their efforts. Their stuff is so much nicer, anyway. At some point I’m going to have to cut up the seven cords of log length wood and split it. Ideally, I’ll at least get it cut before it gets hot, because it’s a bummer running that chainsaw during the peak heat of summer.

It looks like I’ll have my work cut out for me, but that’s how we like it over here in Vermont, right?

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

Clock is Ticking

Almost a week has passed and I haven’t done a thing that KB asked me to, the guy is gonna kill me, or even worse, relegate me back to sissy status. Then again, I don’t think he really cares, he’s got too many things on his plate as it is, and he’s currently busy over in Quechee with another gig, so I’m not even sure when he’ll be back, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve got things to do.

Some of the things I need to do are a bit daunting, and may require that I use real man tools that intimidate me, but other things are pretty straightforward and only require me to take the initiative and have a spare chunk of time, which isn’t easy to find in my life. That, and the fact that I hate cleaning.

Oh well, no excuses, right? Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Earls37a for the pic.

Barn Status Update

If you can believe it, the barn is cruising along. It’s amazing what a difference professional help can make, in pretty much all facets of life. Thus far, the walls and doors have all been framed out and the pipes are all in. In fact, KB has even connected the water main to the barn, so the plumbing is live. We have the toilets, but still need to get bathroom sinks, which we’ve been sitting on for months (we should be sitting on the toilets). Eventually we’ll have to deal with the kitchen, which could destroy me, but like all real men in training, sometimes you just have to deal with it.

The electricity is almost all wired in, there was just a problem with too much junk obstructing access, which has since been resolved (thank you). The electrical boxes have mostly been installed, and the wiring is up next. One problem that I didn’t think was an issue is the main wire leading to the barn. Apparently it’s too small to accommodate a dwelling, and now we’re going to have to run a bigger line over. This involves digging a trench, which I’m told is not a huge deal because it only has to be a couple of feet deep. Easy for a professional to say.

Either way, what has to be done, has to be done. Once the electrical is all done, we have to insulate, and then the drywall will go up. After that, I’m guessing the floor will get done, and then we have to think about kitchen cabinets. Yikes, tell me it isn’t so. How the heck do people design their own houses? It’s way too much to think about.

Just a side note, the insulation estimate came out outrageously high. Granted, a really accurate assessment would require that they come out and take measurements, but the rough number they gave me was well over $10,000 for the spray foam. No way, Jose. KB seems to discourage fiberglass, and on the one hand I understand, but our house is insulated with fiberglass, and it’s drafty but comfortable enough. We don’t need perfect insulation, especially with a boiler and wood stove. This aspect of the barn will be interesting. I only know spray foam ain’t gonna happen. I personally think fiberglass, but that’s the frugal side of me. I don’t want to argue too much with KB because he’ll beat me with his Estwing.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to nail in some joist supports, something my Mentor told me to do two years ago. If he’s reading this right now, he’s saying to himself, “I hate to say I told you so, but...”

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Real Man’s Work

KB has been working hard at the barn, and it’s moving along like I can’t believe. While I am not actually involved in what’s been happening, and believe me when I tell you that a lot has been happening, I can still report on what’s being done. Plus, I’ve been given a list of jobs to do by KB, and when you’re training to be a real man, you can’t let established real-men down when they give you a job.

With this in mind, I have a few weeks to accomplish said goals, and there’s no time to waste, especially in light of the fact that I tend to work at a snail’s pace (lots of wasted time daydreaming of being a real man). Not having a clue contributes greatly to this phenomenon. The first order of business is to get some door knobs, and of course when I went to Home Depot, there were about 1000 choices, so I left empty handed. Typical.

Next, I need to clean up the barn. Since it’s been laying dormant for so many years, naturally it’s become a storage space for assorted projects in limbo. What’s truly amazing is the amount of junk you can collect over a few years. There are tools, gas cans, windows, blocks of wood, sheets of plywood, etc. The problem I face is where to put it. Normally I just move things around to make space to work in, but since the barn is moving towards becoming a home, temporary fixes won’t do. What I’ll have to do is get a bunch of pallets, which I thankfully already have, and lay the big stuff on it outside the barn, then cover it with a plastic tarp. Eventually the stuff will either get used or sold, but until then, I need space, or should I say, KB needs space, especially along the walls to put in the electrical.

I also need to rip these eight food 2X4s into 2 inch strips to extend out the wall. This is a pain, aggravated by the fact that the wood is wet. KB said my table saw is probably not strong enough to do the job, and I might need to rip it by had. Bummer, the table saw makes it so much easier, though the wood is heavy and the cuts are narrow. I asked him how I can tell if the saw is too weak, and he said the saw will start smoking. Yikes, was he kidding? Sometimes contractors like to give neophytes like myself a hard time. Then again, as I’ve found throughout life, you hear all sorts of stuff, but you never know until you try. With this in mind, I’ll try the table saw and see what happens.

Next up, I have to nail in the rafter brackets, which I was told I needed to do about three years ago by My Mentor. He recommended getting a nail gun, which would make my life much easier, but when have I ever tried to do things the easy way? Besides, nail guns are kind of serious, and not only do they scare me, but I need a compressor as well. By the time I round all that stuff up, I could just nail the darn things in. We’ll see.

Finally, I have to rip sheets of blue board and fill in sections of the wall before we insulate. KB keeps calling these sections something and I forget their names, so I can’t tell you exactly what it’s called. Ripping blue board is pretty easy, it’s foam board, after all, it’s just that it makes a complete mess. Fortunately, the weather is warming up, so I can work outside... in the mud.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

The Return to the Barn

The barn project has come back to life, thanks mainly to KB. The original plan was for me to do as much of it as I could, which basically meant that nothing got done, or rather, some things got done, and it took 4 years to do them. Not very high marks on the progress front.

We finally broke down and I had to accept my limitations and the fact that I just couldn't do it. As much as this hurts my male pride, I have to confess, it's pretty impressive how things get done when you hire a professional, and it gets done right. I love when that happens.

For now, I'm going to start writing more in this blog even though a lot of the progress and work isn't being done by me. That's beside the point, and I will have a hand in certain things, so it's not completely without merit.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Life Imitates Art

We watched a couple of the Pink Panther movies with the kids, and they sure loved them. Actually, what they really loved was Clouseau, and he wasn’t as prominent of a figure in the first Pink Panther movie, and was definitely not as bumbling and funny. It was the Return of the Pink Panther that the kids really loved, though I recall one of my favorites was Strikes Again. Either way, in the Return, there is a cool scene where the jewel thief sneaks into a museum and steals the Pink Panther diamond. In order to pull this off, he has to escape all sorts of traps and alarms, and this really inspired the kids.

What they ended up doing was setting all these traps around the house with trip wires. They were very clever about it, using electronic sirens and buzzers with insulators that would slip out when we walked through the wire. I actually contributed to the mix by suggesting they tie a thread to a jar of marbles and placing it on a metal tray. When the trap gets set off, the marbles roll around the metal, making a raucous noise. It’s cool that they were so creative about it, but I set the traps off about two dozen times a day. This, as you might have guessed, amuses the kids to no end.

Oh well, you reap what you sow, right? Until the next time, thanks for reading.