Thursday was a good day

Today was a pretty good day for me. In fact, it was like a Saturday for me. How do you make a Thursday feel like a Saturday?

Don’t go to work! I took eight hours of vacation time in order to stay home and work with the carpenter in the project bunk room. We accomplished a lot in six hours – finishing bunk one, framing bunk two and getting it’s back wall about half hung with pine and finished up the wiring almost. There are still a couple of boxes to be put in and all the plugs and switches to be wired in but nothing complicated. I’m putting out the call to all my local friends. If I can get my hands on a finish nail gun and compressor I think I should be able to finish hanging the pine myself. The alcove that used to be the closet needs to have sheetrock hung and I need to repair and mud where the bunks join the ceiling sheetrock. I’ve never done any of that but I can’t do worse than the last guy up there and there are a few small projects that need doing in the basement that I can use as learning/testing opportunities.

I took this out when cutting out the pony walls. In the heart it says, "Meg was here" and below that in flowing cursive, "Barbra." I've known Meg since we were both about five or six. You know, you're a little kid, scribbling in your crawl space and then twenty five years later, some guy puts your writing up on the Internet for the whole world to see. Who'd have guessed? I work with her mom now. Maybe she'll want this to put on her desk for a while. Maybe I'll send it inter-office.




Bunk #2, looking good. Do you like what we've done with the sheetrock? I call it, "And then I learned how to use my box knife."

Prediction of time left on project:

• Hanging the rest of the pine – 1.5 full days
• Getting the carpenter back to hang the shelf boxes he is building – one half day a few weeks from now.
• Finishing sanding the floor – 2 days
• Sealing the floor – one day
• Sheetrock – one day

Total: About 5 – 6 more Saturday or vacations days

I see the light at the end of the tunnel. We’re getting dangerously close to project completion here.

I've been framed! Today we framed in the shelf box frames from Bunk #2 and started to pine up the back.

All day long I was up on my feet, then on my knees, then on my back, then up again so good footwear and clothing were very important. The carpenter (who I will henceforth refer to as “Dan”) had on a pair of Carhart carpenters bibs. They have an integral apron and pockets for knee pads. Because the pads are built in there is no elastic strap to bind up behind your knee and drive you crazy. Also, you don’t have to mess with suspenders or saggy belt syndrome with the apron. He told me that after he bought his first pair and wore them for a day, he could imagine ever not having them. At first I though to myself they would be nice to have but I couldn’t justify buying a pair because I don’t really do that type of work often enough. Then I thought, “I am going to be spending a sizeable portion of my free or free-able time doing just this sort of thing until we either sell this place or I kick off and am in fact deed.” After dinner we went to Bob’s and I bought me some in size 42. T. got some tracks for his trains (percy-thomas-toby-jake-gordon, percy, percy? peeerrrccccyyyyy!!!!). I’m wearing them now. Am I joking? I guess you’ll never know, will you?


The only thing left for Bunk #1 is to finish the edge between the sheetrock and the pine and put corner guards on all the corners. Well, I guess there is actually still quite a lot to do, like bleaching my hemlock face plates so they'll better match the pine, figuring out what to seal all this with, and hunting up carpet remnants for the floor.

I took this picture while sitting in my son’s bunk, or what I predict will be the bunk my oldest son chooses when we move him in there. How long will the boys sleep up here before one or both claims the basement with its own bathroom and built in sneak out at night opportunities? How many nights will he look at this same wall before going to sleep? Who else will sleep here? Will they smoke? I hope not. The pine is currently very fragrant and fun to work with, both because it smells good and because it is so pliable. Today we were ripping salvaged old growth fir 2x4s down to modern size to use in framing. Every time, the room filled with a blast of great sap smell. I can tell you that perfume makers really haven’t figured out the male market yet. If they had there would be billboards for “Kalvin Klein’s Hops” or “Old Growth Fir – put some behind your ear.”

I hop, You hop, We hop, Uh Huh

In beer news; I transferred both Pale Ale #1 and Stout #1 from their primary fermenters to secondaries. I siphoned off a few ounces of each into glasses and found them both to be super yummy already, even though they were both 70 degrees warm and flat. The pale is hoppy, super hoppy like I like a pale ale to be (More hoppy that Bridgeport IPA, even). The stout has a nice series of flavors and smells really good. I have decided that my beers will be referred to as Stout I, Batch 1, Stout I, Batch 2, etc. When I get a particular recipe down to a regularly reproducible, predictable success, it will get a name of its own and stop being referred to by batch. Currently I’m favoring DFK, or Dirty Faced Kid for the stout and Lucky Dog for the pale (named for the pale dog down the road who isn’t so lucky).

I took this picture because I’m not afraid to share with the world that yes, I am brewing beer in my shed on a worktable that is built, in part, from a circa 1985 color, simulated wood television set, complete with fake drawer handles. Despite this reality, I do not have any refrigerators on my porch, have regular trash service, running water (hot and cold), and several toilets that flush. I’m holding onto the T.V. in case I get a hankering to watch reruns of Solid Gold Dance Fever.

posted by Scott in Washington at 9:50 PM |