Above 1200 Sq/FT Plugger Workshop

[kaymccampbell]

Thanks for the encouragement. I recall you also redid your garage. I just plod away as I have time. The trim work is all new to me. I am practicing on the garage and garden shed before I tackle the house. I prefer the look of paint, but not the work.

Then go with PVC wood. Looks great, no painting lift. It's what I did on my house.

 

[Prospecter]

Kay. I probably will do some PVC where I am replacing wood, and where looks matter most. For the time being I am practicing on less visible buildings.

I love how your house, out buildings, and garden look. Nice looking place you have. I am sure you have a lot of efforts in behind the scenes to get them looking that way.

 

[Prospecter]

Random stuff. Slowly getting the garden harvested. The rutabagas did well. Sadly, we generally only need one. And this year our beets and cabbage failed, so we didn't need any. Those went to the local food share stand. I experimented with mixing rutabaga, broccoli, and cabbage seeds when I planted. The turnips all came up, and nothing else. Won't try that again. Poor potato crop. We likely will harvest less than we planted. While I have the potato hoe on the tractor, I turned over part of the garden in anticipation of a manure delivery. Nice thing about little tractors is little attachments. Much lighter! We did have a good crop of Marigolds, which get planted in the vegetable garden skips. Pumpkins also failed. I think these are the first pumpkins we have bought since '85 when we moved in. Two pumpkins were almost as much as the seed for the whole garden!

Our fall color is just starting. Mostly popples, beech, and birch. 2 hours north, it's well under way. Maples are turning, and the pines are ready to drop the annual 1/3 of their needles. The tamaracks have not started to turn yet though.

 

[Prospecter]

Sitting on the couch with the cat, waiting for things to warm up a bit before I head out to shingle.

Relocated my battery tools shelf, which was taken down to make room for a connecting door between the old shop and the new boathouse addition.
I finally got around to covering the holes from the old oil tanks that were removed when we installed the new central heat pump. The holes are too close to the ground to use a shingle removal tool, so I finagled the broken shingles out. Scrap aluminum pieces first for weather and rodent proofing. Then I slipped in some salvaged shingles to match the weathering. I managed to get a mismatched shingle in one spot, but it will weather to match. That battery stapler works well for this. The staples are long and sharp, so they generally don't split the shingles, and hold well.

I like to plant vegetable garden skips with annual flowers. The marigolds and cosmos are on borrowed time before frost.

When we were up north, I took a day to clean and organize the Potato Barn. Some RVs are coming to spend the winter in storage, so I needed to move everything over to the east side so the RVs can have the west side. Also needed to sweep, and pick up old nails. Their fall color is at peak. We are not quite at that point on the coast.

 

[Prospecter]

The front door I rebuilt up north. I didn't want to haul the trim bender up there for so little trim, so I did the profiles at home, and took them up. Of course I forgot some pieces, so I will get those on another trip. The ones I did bend fit well though.

I salvaged a rolling cart from the Potato Barn, which is now at home and holds my oil change, lube, and portable bandsaw tools. Needs some rust removal, primer, and paint, but that will need to wait for a while.

Flame weeding the garden. The heat reduces weed seeds and pests for next year.

Shingling the front of the boathouse, and our carrot harvest.

 

[kaymccampbell]

What do you do to get such nice carrots? Mine have always been little tiny nothings.

 

[Prospecter]

What do you do to get such nice carrots? Mine have always been little tiny nothings.

The variety is YAYA. I am not sure what to tell you. The ground is very heavy clay, which is not helpful. I do make sure I thin them so they have space to grow. I also leave them in leave them in the ground as long as possible, which seems to make them sweeter. They would still be in the ground, but I wanted to dig them before I get a manure delivery later in the week.

I've been following along. You're making great progress on that Dingo!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Great pictures of the fall foliage!

 

[Prospecter]

I finished shingling the north (door) side. Not a lot of surface, but a lot of fitting. I had enough shingles to do that side. I also finished almost the south side, also. I ran out of singles with 8 ish feet left on the last course. So off to get more shingles. Thought I would need to drive to NH to get a good price, but I found some only 50 miles away in Jefferson for the same price.

 

[jon72vega]

Those shingles look nice!

 

[Prospecter]

Those shingles look nice!

Thanks, Jon. I am slowly getting there. I started the east side yesterday. Starting takes longer because the first course is two layers, and of course low and awkward.

 

[Prospecter]

I delayed shingling during the hot weather, but sure didn't mind that I didn't need to worry about this. By the time I got to it this week, the hornets had moved on. The shingle hoard needed replenishment. I anticipated making a road trip to New Hampshire, but found reasonably priced C grade shingles for the same price at a local old timey lumber yard, which saved a lot of time.

Shingling is always a slow start. The first course is a double layer course, and the first few courses are low and awkward. I like to use a low stool for those. The lower courses also tend to have fiddly bits. I focus on getting the courses on straight until I get up about 4', when I make any adjustments I need in order to come out even at the top. Now that I have the fiddly bits done around the gas line, I will be able to add the gas line protection Kay suggested.

We've had some dry weather, so I used the potato hoe to turn over the garden and leave deep furrows, in anticipation of a manure delivery. This is 15 yards of cow manure. Black Gold. I spread the manure, and then tilled it in.

 

[Prospecter]

I spread the manure by dumping buckets into the furrows, and then back dragging down the furrows. Since I am on the tractor, I manage to stay pretty clean. The manure does get slippery though. I spun the wheels as I got down towards the end of the pile. Then I tilled it in.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Prospecter is planting bulbs. Planting bulbs and trees is always a hopeful thing, in that one anticipates seeing them as they grow. Next Spring for the bulbs, and years from now for the trees. Some of the Monarch caterpillars of course hang up in the wild. An empty chrysalid hanging from the garden wagon. Somewhere in these pics is another hanging off a pot.

Burning bush is now considered an invasive in Maine. Our clay soil contains it pretty well though, and the red color is pretty in the Fall.

After the garden was tilled and dried out, the manure seems well mixed. I have not found a source for delivered horse manure, which has a lot of wood shavings mixed in. I need something to really keep the clay broken up, so the next step is to plow the garden perpendicular to the first furrows, and add wood chips.

And mowing continues. The grass should slow down soon, which will shrink the amount I need to mow. I won't finish, though, until all the leaves are down. I am also hoping to get the field mowed again. That depends on time, and how wet it gets.

 

[Prospecter]

Pending frost means it's time to put the Brugmansia in the basement. Ordinarily, it is pretty manageable, but recent rain made a garbage can of soil quite heavy. The tractor moved it around to the cellar door just fine, and we dragged it inside. Mrs. Prospecter is also working hard to clean up the flower gardens, so I've been emptying garden trailers on a regular basis. It's very nice to have the second tractor so I am changing attachments less often.

A close up of the potato hoe I am using to turn over the garden. And the east - west furrows are done. Chips will be here next week.

 

[Prospecter]

And one last photo. The picture makes the shingle courses look off, but in real life, both sides of this corner match. I do have another corner where the courses are off a little bit. Attaching a new addition to an older, settled building has that effect. I picked the least conspicuous corner for the mismatch.

It's a sunny day, without much wind. (Wind blows the shingles around, so a little inconvenient putting them up.) Rain tomorrow, so I'll do some more shingling today. These 50 d. days are so very nice for working outdoors. I don't work very fast, but I will make some progress. Tomorrow when it's rainy, I will probably pick up, put away, clean, and sweep in the shop and boat house.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

The shingles I presume are Cedar. I’ve never used shingles either as roofing or siding. I did have a Cedar fence but had to do the oil finish to draw out the grain, my preference but the continual coating to keep it fresh was expensive and time consuming. Eventually went to a semi transparent oil which while darkening allowed some wood grain to remain. I realize you are going for the silver/gray look.

Your garden is going to be amazing with the black gold fertilizer. The blacker the better. On the farm where I grew up we hadn’t had cattle in 30+ years. There was an area near the corrals that had what was left from the cleaning. Meant to capture some but before I got to it was cleaned up. We do compost and combine by tiller for the flower beds. Years ago my Grandmother was watching my filling of the material for the flower beds. Later in the year she is telling my Mom where I had used the tilled material that the flowers simply over flowed out of the beds. My Mom lived about 1500 miles away so didn’t get to see the abundance of plant life.

Hope you get all your fall work done before the cooler temps step in. I’m kind of overwhelmed this time of year as we will be seeing freezing temps on a continual basis in the near future. Changing of 2 sets of winter tires is looming in my near future.

 

[Prospecter]

The shingles I presume are Cedar. I’ve never used shingles either as roofing or siding. I did have a Cedar fence but had to do the oil finish to draw out the grain, my preference but the continual coating to keep it fresh was expensive and time consuming. Eventually went to a semi transparent oil which while darkening allowed some wood grain to remain. I realize you are going for the silver/gray look.

Your garden is going to be amazing with the black gold fertilizer. The blacker the better. On the farm where I grew up we hadn’t had cattle in 30+ years. There was an area near the corrals that had what was left from the cleaning. Meant to capture some but before I got to it was cleaned up. We do compost and combine by tiller for the flower beds. Years ago my Grandmother was watching my filling of the material for the flower beds. Later in the year she is telling my Mom where I had used the tilled material that the flowers simply over flowed out of the beds. My Mom lived about 1500 miles away so didn’t get to see the abundance of plant life.

Hope you get all your fall work done before the cooler temps step in. I’m kind of overwhelmed this time of year as we will be seeing freezing temps on a continual basis in the near future. Changing of 2 sets of winter tires is looming in my near future.

Yes. White cedar. I do like the gray look, but around here mildew black comes up, too. It eventually fades. Oil around here is just food for mildew. Shingles take time, but there is very little waste, and very little packaging. It's easy to repair a couple shingles, and when I occasionally need to do a larger section, the waste goes through the wood stove.

I am excited about the garden. I've been ending up with clay clumps the size of bricks as I break up the hard pan. The trick will be to get enough organics mixed in to keep it from hardening up again.

I don't mind the cold temps, except it is nice not to be too bundled up when carrying a bunch of tools. As when changing tires, for example. Good luck with that.

 

[Prospecter]

Attached the spare to the tongue of the utility trailer, which means 1. I won't forget it, 2. it won't need to ride inside, or transfer between vehicles, and 3. it improves the tongue weight, which is sorely needed. I used a HF spare tire carrier.

Three months accumulation of recycling. Our pick up is once a month, and we missed the past 2 months. I've been using a pavement tamper to compact everything.

Mrs. P was asking how I manage all the trim folding and bending without making mistakes. I said, "Sometimes I do make mistakes!"

Bluebirds are still around.


Slowly making progress. I stopped here to make the fascia and soffit.

 

[Prospecter]

Then I managed to get tangled up in my stepladder and down I went. Wrenched my back. Doesn't seem to be anything a heating pad, aspirin, and time won't cure, but I did the Old Man Shuffle inside, and Mrs. P. cleaned up for me.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Yes. White cedar. I do like the gray look, but around here mildew black comes up, too. It eventually fades. Oil around here is just food for mildew. Shingles take time, but there is very little waste, and very little packaging. It's easy to repair a couple shingles, and when I occasionally need to do a larger section, the waste goes through the wood stove.

I am excited about the garden. I've been ending up with clay clumps the size of bricks as I break up the hard pan. The trick will be to get enough organics mixed in to keep it from hardening up again.

I don't mind the cold temps, except it is nice not to be too bundled up when carrying a bunch of tools. As when changing tires, for example. Good luck with that.

Would some sand help reconstitute your soil. Can’t see it hurting. I’ve got a feeling you’re cold and mine are somewhat different. But it is a dry cold.

Thought you may enjoy this video. This was courtesy of @ALinCarolina Thanks Al

 

[Prospecter]

Pontiacs: Sand probably would help. And you're correct. Our cold isn't what it used to be. We don't get below 0d. F very often. Our heat pumps do most of the heating, with a little help from the wood stoves. I plow slush more than blow snow these days, though at one point I had snow stacks above the eaves on the garage.

Making shingles with a froe is cool, though I am glad I don't need to do that. Shingle saws work on pretty much the same principle, but rotate the log so the thickness of each shingle is the same, side to side.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Pontiacs: Sand probably would help. And you're correct. Our cold isn't what it used to be. We don't get below 0d. F very often. Our heat pumps do most of the heating, with a little help from the wood stoves. I plow slush more than blow snow these days, though at one point I had snow stacks above the eaves on the garage.

Making shingles with a froe is cool, though I am glad I don't need to do that. Shingle saws work on pretty much the same principle, but rotate the log so the thickness of each shingle is the same, side to side.

You too? Our winters have gone from house covering snow drifts, feet of lingering snow, and the river frozen so you could race jeeps on it, to an occasional couple foot drift, only lingering snow in the deep shadows, and the river frozen for maybe a few weeks, barely enough for a dog to go out on it. Last year was wicked mild. We had rain instead of snow most times. The poor Dingo only got a few hours on it, with only maybe 6 inches each time.

 

[Prospecter]

Kay: Does the dog eater work in that stuff, or do you use a plow / scoop on the Dingo? We're maybe a mile from the shore, so the warming Gulf Stream likely has an impact. Too bad for Upstate NY. I love snow. My dad grew up between Buffalo and Rochester. 'Nuff said.

On another topic, I like your craft fair production. Do you also attend and do the selling?

 

[kaymccampbell]

Kay: Does the dog eater work in that stuff, or do you use a plow / scoop on the Dingo? We're maybe a mile from the shore, so the warming Gulf Stream likely has an impact. Too bad for Upstate NY. I love snow. My dad grew up between Buffalo and Rochester. 'Nuff said.

On another topic, I like your craft fair production. Do you also attend and do the selling?

Dogeater is pretty good with sloppy snow. And, it can just be the plow as well. It's almost like a snow box. I do have a 4' and 6' plow for the Dingo, but the dogeater is usually quicker, cause there's not any double plowing, or strategic stacking to get the stuff off the driveway.

I enjoy the designing and making, as does Judy. However, she's the one that doesn't mind sitting there staring at goofers, er, potential customers, all day. That said, there are times I tend the booth as well.

 

[Prospecter]

It's been a week or so since I've done an update. Back is still recovering from the stepladder mishap, so I've been taking it easy. (Annoying!!!) A new plate holder was needed on one of the trailers. A load of wood chips for the garden. I used the potato hoe to turn the soil after spreading manure. The chips were dumped and back dragged into the furrows, and then tilled under. That put the garden to bed for the winter.

 

[Prospecter]

A few more back friendly small jobs off the list. The tongue jack on the small red trailer needed replacing. The jacks take a lot of abuse, but make it convenient to swap them around as they fill with garden detritus and need emptying. Not too expensive at Harbor Freight, though some shimming was required.

Time to put attachments away in the shed until summer. The shed is difficult to access once snow arrives, so good to get this done. Bucket forks mean no lifting needed.

Prefinished some trim for up north. Spoilers: Looks like it is a little thick, and I will need to plane down the backs to fit.

My grandmother's old laundry table updated with a granite top. Just needs some paint to finish it off.

Also a small table. I knocked that table together for a high school play a few years ago. Somehow, it became a cherished porch side table, so a quick sand and some paint make it furniture that it ain't.

 

[Prospecter]

I chased wires for the porch circuits. Two light circuits, and a receptacle. All sorted, and receptacle replaced.

Nail filled scrap wood to the fire ring. A lot of scrap wood passes through our various wood stoves, but there is only so much scrap one needs. We kept the fire ring filled to overflowing all day, and the potato barn is not empty yet.

A trailer was dismantled. The bed is headed to the transfer station, and the frame is destined to be a 4' firewood trailer. I have had others that would carry 1 - 2 cords. Those are heavy to move around, and more work to fill. A little one is sufficient.

 

[Prospecter]

A little snow and sleet in The County yesterday. Lots more to come!

Remains of the burn pile from the Potato Barn cleanup.

Multiple runs to the transfer station Saturday. Some sad trailers. Old track rail.

Painted and burned off the wood stove.

 

[Prospecter]

An unexpected project. A hawk flew into and broke the outside pane of a picture window. The inspector says it needs to be fixed.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

So, do you need to train the cat to not sit in the window looking like an easy meal?

 

[Prospecter]

He’s a funny guy. Always in the middle of things. Very interested in any project!

 

[Prospecter]

We finished cleaning out the Potato Barn in Benedicta. I'd asked that the new tenants be sure to leave me room to move around, which they did. . . but no extra. The fifth wheel and boat are huge!

When we got home, I had some accumulation from multiple projects. A before picture of my outfeed table.

For the first time, ever, we had to buy pumpkins. With only two, no power tools were needed.

The slabs for the boat house and the shop were slightly different levels, so I made a small ramp between the two with patching cement. Also leveled out the passage door to the shop with the leftovers.

I've been working on an upgrade to my socket organization. I prefer to sort by socket size, rather than by set, so I am working out what that might look like.

 

[Prospecter]

I'm alternating jobs a lot. Steady progress on the trim and siding on the Boathouse. Now done with that. I do the final mow on a section of lawn at a time. I should be pretty close to the end of the fuel by the time I finish mowing and chopping leaves.

 

[Prospecter]

The jig for cutting the angled shingles on the gable. The pitch on the Boathouse is only 5:12, so a jig that would cut all the angled shingles for a side would be very large. This jig is a compromise. I use the table saw for the first 2', then do the rest by hand. The jig makes the thickest cuts, and the rest I can trim easily with a knife or metal snips.

 

[Prospecter]

Putting gardens to bed. Working away and ceiling insulation and plywood panels as shoulders allow. Plow markers going in on the driveway.

 

[Prospecter]

More insulating and plywood panels on the ceiling as my body allows. I've gotten all the way along the south side, except for the ends where there is more fiddling and where I still need access. I've finished about 1/3 of the way north.

Meanwhile, I finished the final grass mow. It was very cold in the lower and shadier parts, which is the reason for the fat squirrel look. (That image only loads as a thumbnail, which is probably a good thing!) Also hunting season, so lots of orange. I also got the last of the leaves chopped up. The oaks and the copper beech hold on to their leaves for most of the winter, so no point in waiting for those. I can winterize the mower.

 

[Prospecter]

I planted the last of the plow stakes. Check that off.

We (Mrs. P.) are making progress on reducing "Winter Interest" in the garden.

And I am gradually getting the larger stones racked up in the gravel driveway. I've been dodging those all summer with the mower, and don't want to throw them around all winter with the snow blower. I can only manage an hour a day at that, so it is not going very quickly. Mrs. P. likes rocks. I am not exactly sure what constitutes a "good" rock" but I try to save some. She also picks over the piles before I dump them.

A fill in project when I get tired of racking stones. I am upgrading my socket storage from bins to racks. Of course my sockets are a mixed bag of brands, and sorted by size, rather than set. It's been fun to compare the different brands. Old Craftsman, Herbrand, Williams, and Snapon seem about the best. Nice tooling, and finish. Seems to be no difference between Kobalt, Quinn and Pittsburg. Next quality level are Husky, Newer Craftsman (not V series), and recent Armstrong. I just toss the cheapo ones that came in huge sets.

The wooden scribe was my father's. I never saw him use it, so probably a hand me down from my grandfather. I've used it a few times. Ok for soft wood.

 

[Prospecter]

We drove to Portland yesterday to pick up some Lithium batteries for the new outboard motor. West Marine had a substantial discount, and picking them up saved hazardous shipping costs. I was concerned that they would sell out if I waited until Spring. That has happened the past few years.

West Marine shares a parking lot with Trader Joe's, so Mrs. P. went one way, I went the other, and we were very efficient. We stopped at Maine Marine Salvage, which is a pick-a-part and salvage yard for boats. Much fun, like any junk yard, and they have an antique section, too. The fellow who bought the property a few years ago is not adding to inventory, and seems to just be trying to reduce inventory to reduce cleanup costs. Nothing is priced, and the eventual charge seems like about 10-20% of retail.

A stop for pizza, and another at the grocery store on the way home. Beautiful, sunny, crisp fall day.

 

[Prospecter]

Tulips and daffodils have been adequately chilled, and moved to the garage to prevent freezing. We will bring in a pot at a time after we dismantle Christmas to keep us hopeful until Spring.

I've been trying to walk the perimeter of the field every day. Some days I have company.

Colder and wetter weather means I have been doing some workshop projects. The boat ladder was mostly done, but the last bolt hole was difficult. Stainless steel tubing, probably work hardened by me. I dulled several bits before I sought out some better quality cobalt bits from our local supplier. New bits, slow drill speed, lots of cutting oil, and lots of patience finally got the job done. The core was, of course, excessively drilled, so I filled the hole with JB Weld. Then redrilled the hole, inserted the bolt, and done.

In other news, I am close enough to completion to think I might actually splash the boat next summer. Electric motors have sold out quickly during the boating season the past few years. With the model I wanted in stock, and with the looming threat of tariffs, this seemed a good time to buy. I lucked out, because Torqeedo just came out with a 5hp equivalent motor with the integrated battery. Much better than the 3.5 hp equivalent I had been planning on.

And I shuffled stuff around in the Boathouse, so all the equipment is under cover, I can park the van inside, and even have an empty bay in the workshop!

 

[Prospecter]

We have a granite bench made from foundation stones salvaged when we replaced the house foundation. After 20+ years, the stones had shifted, and plantings had crowded the bench so I could not get the mower around it. Time to relocate.

The weight of the cross piece was right at the limit of my rear forks. I nudged the forks underneath, worked the piece as close as I could get it to the tractor, and used a pry bar to help the 3ph lift it. Once lifted, the tractor could hold it up. Levers and tractors are amazing tools!