April 6-7, 2012

Sawdust

I needed sawdust for the Loveable Loo. I called 5 places before Tina at White River Hardwoods took the time to go ask a guy in the custom shop. They don't sell it, but would let me have some given my purpose -- for a composting toilet. I went by during Thursday lunch and they helped me load up these three bags. I didn't realize their bags were so big. But heck, I won't have to be back for more in a long long time. I actually left one bag at home to use for the same purpose the guy in the shop said he used it -- to fill holes. I do appreciate them sharing.

(I also put the loo to the test Saturday morning, and didn't notice any odor when I re-visited it later that day. We also bought some composting trash bags to line the buckets with – it's supposed to help with the cleanup.)

Kathy's House Burned

What a surprise we had when driving in and found our neighbors house burned to the ground. About 18 years ago Kathy bought our place and added the well, plumbing, septic, and did major finishing work inside the house as well as building the barn. She had two young girls at the time and raised llamas, but only staid about 4 years. She met a fellow and moved, selling our farm to Eddie and Virginia. They added the siding to the house and the extension, and sold it to us after 4 years. About 5 years ago Kathy bought Vito's place up the hill from us. We never saw much of her, but feel for her loss. We found a report online that said the fire was Sunday night (we left Saturday the previous weekend) and that no one was injured. Her horses are still there.

Snowball/Blue Birds

This snowball bush has gotten huge and was in full bloom. Still no blue bird nest in this house -- no nest at all, but there was one tiny egg. I'm not even sure it was a bird egg. We took it out and left it on the ground. (Blue bird eggs were still in the house down by the pond, and I saw a blue bird leave the house on the hill as I drove the mower up.)

Mowing

The flat tire I had taken in to town to air up was still holding, so I put it back on and then jumped the mower. It cranked a bit, but finally started in a billow of smoke. I took off the jumpers and was ready to go to work, but I couldn't engage the blades. I had to shut it down and review the work I had done last fall when I had the deck off for repairs. I finally figured out that I had attached a lever below rather than above a connector. Of course the mower wouldn't start on its own, so I had to repeat the jump starting process. I mowed everything except the very back of the house and area across from the spring. The grass was so thick and high down by the two Sycamores that I could only get through it by going up next to the fence. Jeff's cows have kept the grass low there by sticking their heads through and eating it. I did a little weed eating with the John Deere as well, deferring heavier work another week.

Bell

Sally wanted the tall cedar posts out front (part of the fence) cut off, and I wanted to move the bell. The bell was beside the garage but had been swallowed by honeysuckle and ivy. So I cut both posts but left one high enough to mount the bell. I had to trim it a second time because the donger was hitting the top of the post, but it came out pretty good and looks nice in the front. It still tends to wobble from side to side when you ring it, but at least now it can be used. It has the year 1886 stamped on it.

Deck

I had purchased some deck screws and was anxious to get this thing put back together. First I had to get the big nails out of the header that had pulled loose from the two joists. This was by far the hardest part of the job, partly due to the Iris growing there not providing much room to work. (Some were sacrificed.) Then I propped up the two joist using rocks, drilled some pilot holes, and screwed in a couple of 3.5 inch lag bolts. They drew the joist in great and will certainly hold better than those nails. I also added some screws to a few of the corners.

I went around again pulling any nails I could, and started replacing them with screws. I then started putting boards back down, but didn't get far before the battery ran down on my drill. I set it to charge and moved on to the barn.

Limbs for Chipping

The rails I had split, thinking I would use them on the Loveable Loo house, needed to be brought back down to the barn to be used in decorating somehow. So I loaded these up and also collected two loads of limbs from beside the road coming down – mostly pines downed by the ice storm (the trunks I had already collected and used on the hill side to slow the erosion). The limbs were an eye sore I need to gather material to chip to cover the ground in the back of the barn. It was messy hard work for an old man.

While at the barn with the truck, I hauled all the cedar post short pieces I had cut off over to the road by the spring. I still need to stack them to build up the road there.

Barn, SW Corner

As I was sweeping up, Tender came bounding down and then Sally. We tackled the Southwest corner where more trash and used building materials were stored. We put things like the old shower door and side panels into the trailer. The decent wood I moved over to the neater stacks I had started in the Northeast corner. The three pallets I put in the truck and plan to use them to build a compost bin up by the house – which Sally doesn't really approve of. We also loaded lots of scrap pieces of wood to burn. When we finished we only had this old coffee table that had been left by one of the previous owners, something we feel is nice enough that it could be used somewhere (outside). After sweeping it was all really beginning to look nice. I'm still not sure about the power washing idea, as I am afraid we would just end up with a lot of mud. I may bring my blower out and try that first.

Rain/Walnuts

A little shower blew up Saturday afternoon, so I never got to finish up the deck. During a break I started cracking walnuts, but then it started raining again and that was it for the day. It did stop before we started heading back.