Follow-up on Pictures

I forgot some updates yesterday. J spent some time stacking all the wood from our tree-felling party in March and wanted documentation. Thanks again to sibling #5 and her hubby!

Sending out the latest shed pictures in our family emails generated a lot of complimentary comments. Our favorite was from my uncle (who is only 3 years older than I, and was in J's class in high school) who is also a J:

"Ahhh Grasshoppa... when you can find any tool with your eyes closed...you may go out into the world and build..."

 

the Zen of Tools

by Master J.

 

" G. Damn it, Reb have you seen my duct tape (substitute hammer, adjustable wrench, etc. etc.)? Oh I think Anders had it last. Oh no, that's right, Grant stopped by yesterday, looking for some. Did you check in Maizie's room??

 

the Chaos Theory of Tools

by" another trip to the hardware store"-(uncle) J. O.

And to wind this up, I have to include a shot of my tools. I had to fight for this, as J didn't think it was a problem to trek out to his shed to get a hammer when all I wanted was to fix the loose nail in one lousy window shade bracket. This is the back of our cellar door, hidden from the public, but used frequently by me.

Even I get 3, count 'em, 3 tape measures! Plus a yard stick.

Odds and Ends

Several projects advanced this weekend- not to completion, but a step closer. Speaking of steps, we have moved from planning to acquisition of material for Ms M's and Mr C's replacement steps.  This is what the house came with:

Amazingly they held up during the move of all the large pieces through this porch. They just settled a bit further askew. Oddly, the step tops are hinged. Why? It's a little big to hide a key. Would you store gardening tools there? I wouldn't.We offered to build a new set for them and J was able to score some pressure treated cull wood on Friday.

Saturday we got that last bench built in the shed, and we have power out there now! Not warm enough today to paint the shelves, but it will be soon. Notice the clever spaces left underneath for the shop vac and the kerosene heater to be stored when not in use.

Today, we spent some time spring cleaning the kitchen- the ceiling, the knickknacks above the cabinets, etc. The dusty stuff you don't notice everyday, but you do when company is coming.  And we are having company next week! One of my sisters, #5, and her husband are driving my parents up for a 3 day visit.

My father has been told he will need dialysis in the near future, probably within 6 months, and then travel will become more problematic. He is a bladder cancer survivor, but scarring from several operations have caused his kidneys to slowly fail. One quit years ago, and the other is down to working at about 14% capacity. Apparently the scarring makes an organ donation out of the question. We'll plan on getting them up here once more during the warm weather.

Lastly, Shoeshine sent a picture yesterday that has J green with envy.

I added a picture of J, just to show that he does not need a(nother) St. Patrick's hat. 

 And neither do his ghoulies.

Gettin' her done

We didn't get the new bench up after all, since we found we didn't have the right size lumber. But we did add a storage shelf to the second bench J had painted, and made a clever support for the chop saw. It is level with the benches on either side, so we can use them for supports while sawing. Great, eh? I saw this in an article.

 

 

Still very much a work in progress, but it's getting there. J's moved in a lot of his special racks, etc. to temporary places.

The coffee cans each have a different size screw or nail, all labeled and usually with a sample attached to the outside.

These are the smaller wood and metal screws, nuts and bolts. And yes, those blue boxes on the end are made of cardboard from beer boxes. The smaller boxes inside are made of Prince spaghetti boxes, so the colors match. (J had several layoffs during the 90's and put his downtime to good use. And again yes, I worried about him and his box-making, but it kept him happy)

Oops, I just realized I didn't take any photos of his lights- be right back. 

Over the years, J has saved any number of fixtures that other people have decided were outdated, old or ugly. These have been hanging from the rafters in our old shed, and now are being put to good use. We are definitely cheap packrats environmentally conscious recyclers. Ignore the wiring hanging hither and yon- they are temporary placements while he figures out where he wants them.

(Ha. I just noticed his Kerry/Edwards sign prominently posted here. J collects political bumper stickers and signs, but lets just say this is not one that reflects his opinions. We have a mixed marriage)

J has the wiring all set from our breaker box out to the old shed, through underground conduit to a little breaker box in the new shed.  He just has to run the rest of it inside, meanwhile he is using extension cords.

Let's see, the last fixture is the wood stove that he will have for heat next year. It looks like we'll have to pay for the double-walled stove pipe, which is not something people get rid of. Not in usable condition anyway.  We have our .10 tiles ready anyway. J has it lying on the floor for looks- when we install it, it will probably be built up a little off the floor.

     Looks sort of like a giant bug in this photo. Kind of.

I can't figure out why the old shed doesn't look any emptier yet.

The shed is here!

Our new shed was delivered today, in time for me to see it in place before going to work. John stopped traffic (or he would have had there been any) as the truck backed into the driveway.

It was so cool to see the big trailer tip up to slide it off-something got stuck on the first attempt, so it was lowered, the delivery man poked a pipe up underneath it, and the second try worked.

There was a set of 4 smaller wheels that lowered to adjust the trailer right and left to get it centered on the gravel.

I am proud to say the wheels barely dented the base, however we could have had a  leetle bit more gravel. We were told to have a foot extra all the way around, which we did, but we'll have to shovel a bit more under the very ends of the supports, since they hang a few inches.  However, the shed is level- we checked.

Of course, J would have loved a bigger shed, but 14x24 will be fine, although we will fill it up fast.  J put up a little insulation and moved in a few saws while I was gone.

The table saw is sitting on a solid core door that we bought today for only $8.00 at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Lewiston. We had never been there before, and it is not terribly big, but they have lots of stuff there that has been taken out of old buildings and can still be used. I think we'll go back and see if we can pick up a few more doors, since they will make great workbenches.

First job will be the electricity. Since Sunday is supposed to get up to 60, that will work out great for J to get that done without having to thaw out his fingers often. I guess I will be cleaning leaves out of the gutters.

We are very happy with the color we chose, since we were hoping to have it remind us of our old barn that we had to take down, due to years of neglect. We loved the storage and the kids played in the hay loft and the stalls, but it eventually was becoming unsafe. We would have loved to have been able to renovate it and keep it, but didn't have the money.

The new shed is almost exactly where the barn stood and it looks good. Even if it is a quarter of the size. Probably less. No matter, we love it already.

Slinging dirt

J had today off and we hoped to have our neighbor down to smooth out our mountain o'dirt for us.  His son duly showed up on a wonderful piece of machinery and did a great job of eyeballing the levelness from his lofty perch.

 

He toodled off home and we went out to do our own eyeballing. I should mention here that J has a visual handicap- he can't see straight worth @!*&.  When we work together I point out where the nails need to be to go through the wood and nudge the drill level for him. I am sure he hates appreciates my interference assistance.

It started out well, it was obvious the front needed to be higher, so J started scooping. Then, it went rapidly downhill (as did the dirt) as we crouched down ala Tiger Woods to  look from the side. I could clearly see the crown in the middle that needed to be removed, and assumed (I know, I know) that J could as well. He made it very clear that he did not see it and we stomped around angrily I drew a line in the sand. Literally. Move that dirt over here. It got very silent for awhile, but you know, adrenaline does help a job go faster. And keeps you warmer.

 

It turned out pretty darn level, or as we like to say, "good enough, dammit".

A friend who is a carpenter stopped by today and told J that we did a good job of leveling it, so yay!  AND, he complimented us on our awesome stairs!  Double yay!

If that cat of ours goes out there and uses it as a sandbox, she better be smoothing it behind her!