Above 1200 Sq/FT Plugger Workshop

[Prospecter]

Thank you for checking in, Mr. Onetwo. There are a few of us GJ'ers in the area. Good luck on your move. 28 acres is a nice size property. Small enough to keep up with, but big enough to keep you busy.

 

[Prospecter]

Finished up the cultivator. Lucky for me I have a grinder and paint. I could see some improvement in the welds as I went along, but nothing to be proud of.

Vegetable garden is embarrassing, and it's on me. Just too much to do this year. Flowers are doing well though. (Flowers are Mrs. P's domain.)

The monarchs are having a pretty good year. Gathering milkweed to feed the herd always results in some additions to the herd. (Mrs. P's project. - My job is to make sure I don't mow the milkweed!)

 

[Prospecter]

Up North.
First Monarch hatched.

I seem to have the picture sorting thing figured out. The first image is always un-numbered. Beginning with the second image, they are numbered consecutively, beginning with one. So I I number the first image "0" then they seem to load in order. You probably knew, but news to me.

I made enough progress on the tool room to pull it down. I had cut off a 3' section by the breaker panel and door to take down later piece by piece. Sadly something caught and took that down, too. Nobody hurt. It's a good day. Breaker panel was at the back, so not damaged. (Cover is under the pile, so we'll see how that did!) The passage door is a casualty in spectacular fashion. Tempered glass shatters in such a satisfying manner. The door needed to be replaced, and just moved up on the To Do List.

 

[Mr onetwo]

I'm tired from just looking at those pictures.

 

[Mr onetwo]

Thank you for checking in, Mr. Onetwo. There are a few of us GJ'ers in the area. Good luck on your move. 28 acres is a nice size property. Small enough to keep up with, but big enough to keep you busy.

You are welcome.It will be a huge challenge (some would say an impossible one) since I have one leg and I basically drag it around behind me when I am not in a wheelchair. I'm too stubborn to not take it on. I will start my own thread when things start happening.

 

[Prospecter]

You are welcome.It will be a huge challenge (some would say an impossible one) since I have one leg and I basically drag it around behind me when I am not in a wheelchair. I'm too stubborn to not take it on. I will start my own thread when things start happening.

I am making some progress. Given my options, this was the most comfortable. Sometimes it just feels good to get filthy dirty at something where I can see progress.

I look forward to your thread. I imagine you will have interesting projects and solutions.

 

[Prospecter]

A blue heron on the pond. The tool room is now demolished and mostly cleaned up. I ordered a pneumatic denailer to clean up the boards. Small pieces are separated out for the wood stove. I can work on the wood pile at my leisure. The passage door suffered when part of the old tool room crashed into it. Not a huge loss, since it needed replacing, but not something I had wanted to do now. Oh, well. I had a lot of butterflies about. They were looking for moisture from the condensation on the floor until it dried out.

 

[Prospecter]

Our gardens are having a moment. The vegetable garden is one of the worst I've ever grown. No time and too wet this year. However, the sunflowers and gladiolas are doing well. The garden along the house is planted backwards (low plants behind the tall ones) so we can see them from the kitchen. The Monarch hatchery is in full swing. After several very poor years, the numbers are back up where we are accustomed to. The ones that feed on fresh milkweed tend to be much larger and healthier.

 

[Mr onetwo]

from wiki how. I always thought Monarchs were a sign of good luck

 

[Prospecter]

Onetwo: First I've heard of that. Some encouraging thoughts there! Mostly allowing the milkweed to grow and helping the Monarchs along is just something we've found interesting and something we've always done.

 

[Prospecter]

The grass just keeps growing. I really should be mowing every five days, but generally rain gets in the way, so I typically manage about once a week. Some sections are very ragged.

I've been working on grading in front of the Boat House. Took my best shot when it was dry, and relocated excess gravel to the field. The goal was to get as close as I could before big rain came. Then I used the puddles to determine level, and adjusted to get the water to drain off to the side. Like a little kid, but with bigger toys.

The Monarchs are hatching out. We still find new caterpillers on the leaves we bring in to feed the herd.

Using a trick I learned on Garage Journal, I spread out a can of paint with unknown provenance to dry so it could be tossed.

Tomatoes are especially good, though the plants are awful. With all the wet, and so much to do this summer, the garden has been neglected.

 

[Bob Heine]

I used the puddles to determine level

@Prospecter, you're in good company. When we visited the Pyramids at Giza back in 1984 we saw channels cut in the bedrock near one of the pyramids. They flooded the area, leveled the floor and cut a checkerboard of channels in an area of relatively soft bedrock. The builders supposedly cut perfectly square stones using 3:4:5 triangle squares. My crappy photo doesn't capture it very well.

This article describes the process: https://aeraweb.org/great-pyramid-quarry/

 

[Prospecter]

@Prospecter, you're in good company. When we visited the Pyramids at Giza back in 1984 we saw channels cut in the bedrock near one of the pyramids. They flooded the area and cut a checkerboard of perfectly level channels in an area of weak bedrock. The builders abandoned that area and changed the pyramid's location. I don't think we would have otherwise known about that technique. My crappy photo doesn't capture it very well.

Wow, Bob. That's really interesting! You are a font of interesting experiences.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

@Prospecter You have developed alot of thread content in a very short period of time. Everything from the wild life, flora fauna, vegetables and of course Mia. The saving/reusing, rebuilds, new construction are right up my alley. You sure keep yourself busy. I totally like the prefinished plywood you have sourced.
i had never seen your thread earlier and kept at it till I caught all your input and a good portion of the remainder of all the comments. To tell you the truth I never even seen you emoji/ handle until you visited my thread and it piqued my interest.
You have a great thread just tell us a little more about yourself. As for myself I like the little personal items etc. My hero/Grandson just turned 4 today, we had a family Birthday supper and tomorrow is the Friends and Neighbours event which involve a wack of kids, parents, family and a big mother of a BBQ. I hope I remember to take some photos.
Keep up the great work and I’ll catch you later.

 

[Mr onetwo]

Onetwo: First I've heard of that. Some encouraging thoughts there! Mostly allowing the milkweed to grow and helping the Monarchs along is just something we've found interesting and something we've always done.

Part of the reason I am getting my own patch of paradise is to be able to do things such as feeding monarch butterflies.Good for the body,mind and soul.

 

[Prospecter]

Pontiacs: Thanks for checking in and the feedback. Good of you to go back to the beginning.

 

[Prospecter]

It was a very random kind of weekend due to rain, and hot, humid weather. Humid enough that my glasses fogged over when I went outside from AC cooled interiors. So my activities were based on 1. Undercover? and 2. Not too hot? I finished off a corner of the Boathouse, and punched some conduit through the wall into the boathouse. Also put up a clamp rack, which was converted from a hammer rack I removed when I installed the connecting door to the Boathouse. And much picking up and putting away of various projects. I did my put away stuff tally sheet. One mark for every item put away so I could see progress. I would step into the unconditioned world to do small things, and then back into AC to cool off. Back and forth all day, which worked pretty well and I got a lot of puttering done. Also some random pictures of flowers and a hatched Monarch. We ordered random Gladiolas this year to supplement last year's crop, so it is an adventure to see what we will get.

Blue skies today, and nice temps, so I am off to Lowes to pick up a load of ceiling insulation. R-49 batts. So much easier than 25 years ago when I could not get those values without doubling up. Of course if it was anything other than a barely conditioned work space, I'd be doubling up to get even higher R values these days!

 

[Prospecter]

Some more random weekend pics. The Monarchs do very well in hot, humid weather, which is keeping the maternity nurse busy resupplying fresh milkweed leaves. I managed to get the receptacle circuit installed. I still need to test the devices and install cover plates. Mia supervised all weekend from the couch. Her Majesty prefers to be "Near by" but aloof.

 

[jon72vega]

Beautiful pictures, and Mia looks like she has it all under control!

 

[Jayman17]

I like the randomness of your thread, it's like checking in to see what your friend has been up to.
I enjoy seeing the photos of your butterfly project. So you grow the milkweed on your property and harvest the leaves to use in the hatchery? Do you order the caterpillars online?

 

[Prospecter]

Thanks, Jayman. The milkweed grows on its own. Mostly I just need to not mow it. If you have milkweed and Monarchs, you also have the caterpillars. We just help them along by making sure some of them get a good diet of fresh milkweed leaves. Of course, in harvesting fresh leaves, we also find more caterpillars!

 

[Prospecter]

Yesterday's projects were acquiring ceiling insulation and kitchen support.
For something like insulation, I like to order online for curbside pickup. In this case, I went with Lowes, because they had the R 49 I wanted. By ordering online, they have it palletized and a fork truck driver lined up which speeds things up quite a bit. My trailer easily accommodates a pallet. Usually, the pallet is nicely loaded. This time not so much. I got home ok with the first load, but the second trip I redistributed some of the upper bales. Worked much better.

The store does need a little time to get the load ready. In between times I picked and husked corn. Mrs. P. washed, cooked and froze it for next winter. I have a sad garden this year, so yields are much reduced. Kind of nice to dispatch that job so quickly, though. She also made summer squash disks, breaded with crumbs and parmesan cheese. (Woohoo!!!!)

 

[Prospecter]

Turkey taking a dust bath.
Insulation in the Boat House. My improvised panel lift. Since we already have "Stuff" in the Boat House, I work on one section at a time, trying to not move the "Stuff" too many times.
Many chrysalis (chrysali?) hung up.

 

[Prospecter]

I made some more progress on the ceiling in the Boat House. I have a system down now, so I'll move stuff around today and try to do a little more. The R 49 insulation is bulky and more awkward to manage than lower R insulation I've used. Seems to work well if I rest the batt on my head, which frees my hands and starts a V shaped crease the length of the batt. I can push it into the truss cavity and it will stay until I can get a few staples in it. Then I can finish insulating a section and follow up with the plywood panels. The N95 masks work very nicely for the insulation.

It was hot, so I took a break to put the covers on the receptacles and then use the tester. I treat myself to large boxes, which makes the wiring easy. The only EMT connectors at the box stores are the ones with set screws. Not my favorite, but certainly quick and easy. I am quite pleased with my bends. (The hole position in the boxes means the connections do not need offsets, which I think are difficult.) I get my bends in mostly the right place, though I still give myself a small margin for error, and cut off a couple inches to fit exactly. Another luxury I can afford since I am doing it myself.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Just looking at your pics makes me itch! Went thru that years ago myself. Hope you are done with all that insulation soon.

 

[Prospecter]

Just looking at your pics makes me itch! Went thru that years ago myself. Hope you are done with all that insulation soon.

It has been a little itchy, but not awful. I can pretty much stay on the paper side, which helps. I checked today. 5 Bags up. 17 to go!

 

[Prospecter]

It's been a busy few weeks. Sometimes life takes us away from GJ. I did finish up the framing and decking up north. I am very pleased to still be able to horse around 6x6 PT timbers. However, even the pond dried 5/4 PT decking was heavy, and I did wear out sooner than I liked each day. Used the track saw some. Love it! I also put in some time in the Potato Barn using the de-nailer gun to process wood.

 

[Prospecter]

We also left for Portland at 5 am, so elected to have coffee and snacks when we got there. Croissants, lemon tarts, and sticky buns. No need for lunch! We ate on Portland's Promenade.

 

[jon72vega]

Wow, you’ve been busy!
That is a lot of physical work, don’t think I could do all that anymore.

 

[Prospecter]

Wow, you’ve been busy!
That is a lot of physical work, don’t think I could do all that anymore.

Thanks. Retirement means every day is a lazy weekend day. I can't do weekend warrior anymore, but if I take it easy, and think things through, I can do most stuff I want to do. And I have a built in excuse for stuff I no longer want to do!

I love following your cars, cats, and doings.

 

[Prospecter]

Odd schedule today, which gives me a chance to catch up on small projects, like sending off pics! The new dryer was overheating and then quit. I looked it over to make sure it was not something simple, and then arranged for warranty service. I am pleased to say that I correctly diagnosed a faulty cycle sensor, which resulted in overheating, and then a blown high temp fuse. Just one of those things. I've never called for service of an appliance before, but since it was under warranty, why not?

I'm making progress on the aluminum trim. A new endeavor for me, and a learning process. Looks ok so far.

The Monarchs continue to hatch. The first picture is a wild one. The second is of two we raised and registered.

We were not home for last month's recycling pick up, so I've been compacting the recycling to get to this month. Sadly, we forgot this morning was September recycling, so next month we will have a 3 month accumulation.

I started shingling the south side of the Boathouse. The first course is a double course. I snap a line. Then trim all the shingles to the same length and set them to the line. The siding gun is incredibly helpful. Not only for it's speed, but also because the gun means I can nail with only one hand, and use the other to hold the shingle. Without the gun, I need to hold both the nail and the shingle with one hand. A much slower process. The last picture is of the finished south side, though I'll send a few more in process pictures in a moment.

I plant the garden skips in annual flowers. Since it was a poor garden year, there were lots of skips, and therefore, lots of annuals.

 

[Prospecter]

More pictures of flowers, Monarchs, and shingling. Neighbor to the south is putting in a new field road, septic, and well. I haven't bumped into him yet to see what's up. One chrysalid hung itself up in a cellar window.

Someone missed the curve in front of the house again the other night. Seems I just get the last scars repaired when someone else comes along to do it again. When I went out before I mowed to check for debris, I found a Stiletto hammer. I always wanted one, but since they start at over $100, I never bought one. It is nice. Made of titanium, so a 16 oz. swings like a framing hammer. Oddly, though, I think I prefer my 16 oz. steel / leather handled Estwing.

Progress pictures on shingling. I've always used the guide boards to maintain lines and spacing. Works pretty well, and anyone who can swing a hammer can get the shingles straight. I do double check measurements midway up the wall. In this case, I'd let one end get a little low, and needed to realign over several courses. My fault. On the house, I needed to make corrections due to settled foundation walls, etc. The south wall is done. Slow going. The shingles absorb a lot of heat, and that wall is protected from breeze, so it gets well into the 90s, even when air temps are only in the 70s. Hence the reason I put off working there this summer. It was nice for the guys working there in early spring, though! I still have 4 bundles of left over shingles, which is probably enough to finish the front, which is mostly garage doors and trim. The left over shingles were $16 a bundle at the sawmill when we started on the house. Now they are over $100 just for C grade, unless I find a deal somewhere.

Mrs. P is well into this year's seed saving. She spends very little on seeds each year.

 

[Prospecter]

More seed saving. More shingling. Scaffold makes the top rows a little more convenient, and I will need the scaffold to do the gable end anyway. 2x10 - 8' planks work well for the scaffold. Usually, after I finish a project, I'll use up the planks on various needs, such as shelving, beginning with the worst planks. Then, when I run short the next time time I use the scaffold, I buy more. By cycling through the planks, I have less to store, and always have newer planks for standing on.

Gardeners euphemistically call the brown leavings from a garden, "Winter Interest." In an effort to reduce the Winter Interest and get an earlier start in the flower gardens, Mrs. P. is culling the stuff that has gone by. My role is to load it up and haul it away. Several trailers so far. It all loads and unloads easily with a fork.

We looked at newer vans this fall, both new and used. And found them quite expensive. The new ones actually don't meet our people and stuff hauling needs as well as the one we have, and ours gets as good or better mileage. So in the end, we decided to put some $$$ in ours. New mats from Rock Auto. A new door stopper from Amazon. New windshield from Safelite. Maaco will do the body repairs next month. I need to look at the brakes and suspension/steering when I get a chance. Possible upgrade there.

 

[Prospecter]

Another load of "Winter Interest" off to the dump pile.

My present self is grateful that my past self installed risers over the septic tank. Remove a dozen screws, pry off the lids, and we have access. It's the little things in life that bring joy!

Safelite in the driveway installing the new van windshield. It had several chips, an expanding crack, and lots of scratches. Night driving will be much easier without scratches, and parking in the Boathouse will reduce new scratches.

And that's the news from Mid-coast Maine.

 

[madison069]

Just clicked on your thread today, and now added it to my watch list. Something about getting a new building built huh!

 

[madison069]

I really need to remember this when the time comes, why buy a drywall lift when I might could use the engine lift with a nice wood cradle for the drywall sheet?!?! I know a drywall lift will only be used for one job and then I will either sell it or have it sit in the corner collecting dust.

 

[Prospecter]

Just clicked on your thread today, and now added it to my watch list. Something about getting a new building built huh!

Welcome Madison. It is really nice to have the extra space. And yes, amazing to see it built. A first for me. The engine lift is working well for me on the 2x4 plywood panels. I am much slower than I used to be, and like to work at my own pace. On the other hand, nothing like a sheetrock lift to handle 12' sheetrock. I generally rented a sheetrock lift. Not much money, and gone when done. But I was faster in those days. Of course, now I don't even want to handle 8' sheetrock.

 

[Prospecter]

Not much water coming over the dam these days. It's been very dry. The granite blocks were likely cut from the quarry up the road.

I put the top pieces of wood over the garage doors, and bent/installed most of the trim stock. The small bits of shingling take a surprising amount of time. The bottom, double course gets aligned with the bottom. Then finagling so the courses look aligned with the old garage, and come out in an acceptable place at the top of the new garage / Boathouse. Amazingly, once the bottom aligned, the new courses aligned with the old were only 1/2" off the top of the door trim. Not much finagling. The courses are so short that by the time I had the two sides of the courses nailed on, I was looking for shingles to fit the remaining space in the middle.

 

[jon72vega]

That's good progress on the garage.

 

[Prospecter]

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.