Skirt Boards and Christmas Wreaths

63 degrees - saw a Cardinal, Bluejay, Wren, Finch and Woodpecker today.

The weather was great this weekend and I spent most of it outside working in the yard and eventually a little bit of time on Sunday working on the Pointed Playhouse.  On Saturday I got up early and picked up Devon from an overnight sleepover that was held at her school gym.  This was part of her "outdoor education" program but I did notice the ceiling in the room where they were sleeping (indoor education?).  I then went to pick up nosegay flowers from the florist for Lauren as she had a dance on Saturday night at Cotillion and I was expected to dance with her.  I then went to the gas station and filled up the car and also a small one gallon can for the gas blower back home.

It took about five hours to blow most of the very small and thin leaves from the Willow Oak tree and to also get up on the roof and get the small fallen branches off and then blow leaves down from there too.  I used up the gallon of gas and still had a little left to do in the front yard but I will leave that for next week.  I got the white lights up on the two trees in the front, took a shower, put on a tie and ran off with Lauren to the dance.  I did not step on her foot once but she did step on mine several times.  I think she was too caught up in all of the spinning that she was doing when dancing to the Cuban Shuffle.

On Sunday I took some time to think about how I wanted to detail the skirt board that will be wrapped around the base of the small house.  I again could not find examples on the Internet of what I wanted to do and thought that this will be a large piece of exposed wood and it will be best to keep it simple.  Finally I decided on the correct size of the round over bit to use for the top and then I used a "V" groove bit in another router for the bottom.  This groove will be cut a couple inches from the bottom of the board and so I had to use a fence with the router.  I setup the two saw horses and first sanded the outside surface and then cut the two routed details and then cut the forty five degree ends before gluing and nailing them onto the house.  I also had to use my battery powered circular saw to even up some of the exterior plywood that was previously attached to the outside of the house that was not even.  In the end I had to take only about a half inch off of one side of the wall behind the tree.

Cutting the ends.

Getting a little help with the longer boards.

Skirt board wrapped around the base of the house.

My neighbor Joe came over and said that he was getting rid of some cabinets and an unused laminated counter and asked if I wanted them.  Of course!

Not in its final position but these cabinets will work well.

As always, dark fell on us, which means that I have more to finish up next weekend.  Once the skirt board is installed I can then begin putting up the trim work that will resemble the half timbers.

I was at Trader Joe's on Friday to get the required chocolate chip cookies for Devon's sleepover and saw these nice, small and real Christmas wreaths.  A couple small nails and wire got them to stay put on the doors.

Diesel, Turkey, Primer and Fire

71 degrees - incredible warm and sunny weather over the four day Thanksgiving weekend.

Contraband Turkey

I was woken again early this morning by the low-tone drumming noise of the diesel engines on the crab boats on the James River as they collect more blue crab so that "she crab soup" can be canned and sold.  I actually like hearing these boats because it is the only thing that lets me know that we are close to the water as we don't have a view.  The sound of the engines was a little louder this morning and that may be due to the lack of leaves on the trees now that Fall is giving way to Winter next month.

We enjoyed a simple Thanksgiving at home this year with my wife's mother, Jill, and her friend "Bobcat."  It is always a bit of a trick to sneak a turkey into this house and this is the only time that I'm allowed to get away with it.  Our very nice neighbors Diane and Bill down on the river had setup the carriage rides again this year and we were slowly pulled around our little streets and got the chance to smell the smell of horses.  The one clydesdale, called Clyde was "driving" our carriage and we were followed by a second beautiful horse that we were told was born all black but is slowly turning white.

Clyde with his one-horse-power engine running at full throttle.

Maybe this would be cheaper than the school bus?

Nothing was done on the Pointed Playhouse on Thursday but we did work off our turkey skin on Friday and Saturday when the entire family got out in the yard to rake and blow the leaves while I finished painting the primer on the top end walls and installed the last three windows.  I also moved all of the remaining scrap wood that I may use next year to a neat pile on the far side next to the pump house where we cannot easily see it.

Bobcat setup a small fire pit that we used to burn some of the small scrap pieces of wood on Saturday evening.  We enjoyed a little red wine and got to hear Devon read some ghost stories from a book while Lauren drew on the brick with the ashes from a thin stick that she was burning in the fire.

Ghost stories told here...

It is now time to get the finished paint up on the exterior walls and nail on the skirt board and faux timbers.  More next week.

Bark, Bark, the Roof is Done!

73 degrees - I saw two bees flying around today and two deer run across the yard after dark.

At 9:00 AM the father-in-law of one of my colleagues at work stopped by to look at the Pointed Playhouse and give me an understanding of what will be needed to wire a new sub-panel from the main panel in the house.  He is an electrician and should be able to give me an estimate of the total cost and possibly help with the permit that will be required.

Once I got the extension cord run across the yard again and Pandora playing Gershwin through my one speaker I got back into the harness and worked on the ridge cap for the small dormer roof.  This little roof was fairly difficult to do because it terminates into the other roof surface and I had to make up for a slight difference in the height of the tiles that came up on either side of the dormer.  I actually had to remove some of the tiles that I already nailed down on the right side to get my edge lines strait and because I did not want to have to get back up there again after someone noticed an uneven roof months from now. 

It took just about all day to finish the small dormer ridge cap and then the main roof ridge cap.  As I was close to the center of the main ridge I had to remove the harness mount that tied me to the roof for safety.  The last five small ridge tiles went in without a rope attached to me, which felt really strange and made me feel uneasy.

Up on the roof without a safety harness - I survived.

Once the roof was done I unscrewed the walking boards and the red braces and then painted the primer coat on the three sides of the dormer.

I'm sure glad that I survived the "roof experience!"  I'll install the three windows if I get time this week but we are expecting some rain.

Free the Tree

55 degrees - nice weekend after a long week.

It felt like a long and difficult week at work and to top it off on Wednesday I noticed a thumping feeling and banging noise while driving the Touareg to work.  I pulled over immediately because my first instinct was to check for a flat tire.  All tires looked good and so I got back in the car and drove in through the NASA gate and the thumping came back.  I decided to continue driving but at a slow speed and I looked a little more closely at all four wheels once parked and saw that the balance weight was missing on the front right wheel.  Great!  I should be able to get this fixed for under $20 and at lunch I drove it over to the VW dealer and they rebalanced the tire for free, which was nice since they put the tire on in the first place.

Wheel caps - $16 for four on eBay.

I could not believe it when I got back on the road and the thumping vibration was back; now getting even more pronounced.  Later that evening I scoured the Internet to find a wide variety of similar symptoms and solutions from other Touareg, Q7 and Cayenne owners.  This looks like it is going to be expensive.  If it is just one of the air suspension struts I'm looking at around $2300.  I brought it back the next day and talked to the head mechanic and he said that it definitely sounds like the drive shaft and he confirmed that after a short test drive.  The work was done on Friday and they also flushed the coolant and replaced the brake fluid and gave me a free oil change and wash.  It feels good to have a vehicle that is now running well and I spent a little bit of time this morning gluing a piece of trim back on at the base of the door that I accidentally kicked off several times and I also replaced the VW wheel caps that were either missing or badly damaged after driving for almost eight years.  The Touareg took a little of my time and a lot of my money away from the Pointed Playhouse this week.  Frustrierend!

Just before lunch on Saturday I cut some more shingles and another heavy bag on the standing support outside the second floor window.  Once up on the roof I worked to weave the tiles on the left side of the dormer window and the large facing surface on the north side of the house.  I used a lot of the roofing tar that comes in a tube with the expectation that this will keep the tiles glued onto the roof during a strong storm.

It was quickly getting dark with the short days and I decided to hold off putting the last ridge cap tiles over the top of the dormer and main roof until tomorrow.  With the hour that I had left to work I got back up on the standing support over the roof and up on the little ladder and threw the yellow rope attached to the boom over the tree branch and went back downstairs to pull at the two connected ropes to pull the boom off of the hinge pins on the tree.  I don't need this hoist any more and this is my last chance to get it down while I have the standing support and ladder up on the roof.  I pulled the boom up and two of the hinges cleared the pins but the middle one got hung up and I had to go up there and pull at the two ropes and slip the boom over and off the pin by hand.  I then used the ropes to lower the boom and removed the straps that tied the other side of the hinge on the tree while I was up on the ladder.  The hoist was now down.

Boom now on the ground.

Hinge pin piece that was strapped to the tree.

Tomorrow I plan to finish installing the ridge caps and paint primer on the exterior walls and then get the three upstairs windows installed before it rains this week.  I have been pretty fortunate to have nice weather on most weekends and some rain during the week over the past month.

Tree with one less arm.

I'm on the roof while cat is in the fireplace

76 degrees - is it November in Virginia?

Okay - the big news today is that when I came back inside the house it was already dark outside and I heard Lucy (the cat) meow once and then I could not find her.  Tuesdays are my night as the girls are off with their piano lessons and theory class until nine thirty.  I took my shower and came back downstairs and opened her food and scooped a glob into her dish and then rang her bell as I brought it to her eating area.  Why the bell?  Well, Ivan Pavlov had a dog and we have a cat.  Early on I decided to ring this little bell that we acquired while in Thailand visiting a Buddhist monastery as a way to associate something that she really likes (eating) with something that I can control (the bell).  I thought that if she were to run outside that I could simply ring the bell to have her run back but this has not worked out so far.  Anyway, she did not come running to eat and I was immediately concerned that she may have gotten out when I came in through the garage.  I looked in the yard and could not find her.  I looked all over the inside and eventually I heard the one meow again.  I was close to the den and soon found her inside the fireplace and behind the screen.  She must have climbed up and over the screen and as it opened just far enough for her to climb inside it then closed tight.

Yeah, I'm cool even when wet.

I thought that cats don't like water and Lucy does not like a shower but she also does not do much complaining.  I had to take this picture.

Back to the Pointed Playhouse - I spent that last few days working on more of the roof and it has not been eventful.  I must admit that putting on the roof has surpassed the foundation on my list of least favorite parts of building the playhouse.  So, it goes something like this - roof, foundation, eaten by mosquitoes, stacking the plywood, etc..  I have about another day to complete the roof but it may rain over the next couple days as a cold front moves over the east coast so I will take a break until the weekend.  I was able to get the more difficult right side of the dormer roof done and much of the front facing roof completed today.  Here are some pictures.

I love the Fall weather.  It was fun to cut the roofing tiles around the tree.

Flashing around the side of the dormer.

Weaved the tiles into the corner of the dormer roof and main building roof.

The tar paper is up and should protect the playhouse from rain.

Earlier in the day - getting ready to work on the difficult side of the dormer.  Not much room to stand.

I'm getting ready to take down the hoist and will miss Lauren coming out and playing with it.  I know that she had fun and I had to balance that fun with safety and I prevented her from getting too high but I think the fun won out.  As soon as I take down the walking supports I will not easily be able to remove the boom from the tree so it will probably come down this weekend.

Up

Up...

And away...

Too much fun.

I'm listening to Missing Persons and old U2 and enjoying a very recent Trader Joe's Chardonnay (made with organically grown Chardonnay grapes, so it says).  More next weekend.

Ibuprofen Helps Install the Roof

58 degrees with a chance of darkness falling a little earlier.

After buying an "old man" style sleeping bag I was kind of getting excited about the camping trip this weekend.  When I was very little my parents had a canvas tent that was larger than some of the hotel rooms that I now stay in when traveling for work and we also had a very comfortable set of green cotton sleeping bags.  Since I started Scouting around the age of nine I was convinced that mummy bags were the bag to have, which is correct if you plan to carry the darn thing way up a mountain.  However, the camping that Devon is doing through the school appears to be very comfortable and since my tent was just going to be a trip and a stumble away from the car I decided to go for an old style bag that is also a bit heavy.  As soon as I inflated my air mattress and rolled out my bag on the living room floor the girls each tried it out and were convinced that once again Daddy knew what he was doing because he is so old.

But on Wednesday Devon came home from school and said that I may not be needed during the camping trip because a few kids dropped out and there are now seven adults.  Oh well - I rolled my bag up and put it in the corner for next time.  Now I can get a little more work done on the Pointed Playhouse during the Veteran's Day three day weekend.

On Friday I did much preparation work by measuring the lengths of tar paper that I will need on the back side of the small house - sixteen feet and six inches.  I cut several lengths and got up on the roof with Royden's ladder and used the staple hammer like a mad man.  The paper kept rolling down at the far end that was not yet stapled because I'm doing this alone and it was a windy day.  Once the first couple courses of paper were up I cut tabs off several tiles for the first layer that will be later covered by the first real course of asphalt tiles.  I soon found out that these large sheets of asphalt tiles are a bit like working with very coarse sandpaper.  The ends of my gloves were shredded but this was good because I needed to feel the edges of the tiles as I laid them down to get the alignment just right.

On the public radio station that I was listening to they announced that in a few minutes the date would be 11-11-11 and the time will be 11:11:11.  I wanted to call my brother because it was his birthday and because I'm pretty sure that we talked about this moment when we were little kids.  I was up on the ladder and tied into the harness and the seriousness of putting on the roof got in the way of calling my brother.  Too bad - happy birthday anyway Peter.

After the first few courses of tiles were nailed into place with zinc coated aluminum nails I installed four adjustable braces and twelve foot by ten inch boards to support me while working on the rest of the roof.  These boards hung out over the ends of the roof but I knew not to step into this area but used the space to stage the tiles that were to go up and sometimes my roofing tar that was loaded into the caulking gun.  Here is what it looked like from the sides and back on Friday afternoon.

Nice to have the braces and long boards up there to walk on.  This is really a steep roof.

Boards hung out well beyond the ends of the roof.

I really wanted a slate look on the playhouse and while I was at the home center I decided to go with an architectural tile that had an aged look.  You really need to see the finished roof to appreciate the look over a large surface.  I'm sure some folks will not but I like it and I know that I cannot afford real slate.

Holes in the fingers of my gloves.

Setup area where I cut the ends of the tiles.

I worked my way up the roof and cut the tiles just like the directions on the side of the carton say to do.  Just like microwaving soup.  Every once in a while I snapped an even line across the roof to keep the rows strait.  When cutting the first tile is full length, then six inches cut from the next, then eleven and finally seventeen inches.  All of this cutting ensured that the edges of the tiles did not overlap with the one below.  I then put tape on my square to make it easy for me to quickly cut the tiles.

It is higher than it looks.  I did not look down and concentrated on keeping my lines even.

This side is done - now I need to finish the other side and paint the house and then apply the faux half timbers.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I will be back up there working on the other side that has the dormer window.  It will be fun and I now have a plan to use the harness and braces to hold me up while putting on the roof.  I'm now listening to the Cowboy Junkies on Spotify and I'm getting hungry.  I'll write a little more tomorrow evening.

Pointed Playhouse building fact - it takes three Ibuprofen each day to put on a roof.  My left elbow and the carpal tendons on my right arm are really bothering me.  I never had this problem before and look forward to reading about it in AARP magazine in about five years.

Today I Was Rescued by a Ten Year Old

52 degrees - a beautiful day here in Southern Virginia.

Now that the roof is up I thought this would be a good day to open up the ceiling to the second floor loft.  Okay - for a moment imagine the cartoon that you saw when you where a kid where the guy is sawing the tree limb off the tree while sitting on the end of the limb.  Well, that is not exactly what happened to me today but I certainly thought about it as I was standing on the center area of the upstairs floor that I was cutting out with a circular saw.  I knew I was not cutting all the way through the joists below so it should hold my weight.  I cut through the plywood and then went downstairs to finish cutting the joists and the upper floor was now hanging by a thread.  Just the corner pieces of plywood were left to cut last so that I can control the falling of the floor.  There was a lot on my mind as I wanted to ensure that the cut was clean along the edges and I also put an eight foot 2x4 vertically over the window to protect it.  I stood over the last corner sawing away and finally the opening appears as the large plywood and two joists now cut free crashed to the floor below.

You can probably guess what happened next.  I had to yell out the dormer window for Lauren to bring me a ladder so that I could get down.  Elizabeth and Devon where in Virginia Beach for volleyball practice and if they had taken Lauren I would have been stuck upstairs until past 7:00 PM.  She setup the small ladder and I was able to get my foot on the very top step, the one that says "No Step", and make my way down.  It all worked out and I was very happy to see the tall vaulted ceiling right as you enter the tiny house.

Now I can see out the door and the upper window.

It feels like a very large space now that the ceiling has been cut away.

I stood the pieces of the floor up to remove the nails.  The joists were recycled and later placed on the outside edges of the opening.

After I cleaned up the mess I began to measure the left and right opening to fit 2x6s on the sides to support the narrow ledge above.  The opening is sixty one inches deep and about seven feet across.

The joists are now nailed into the left and right existing framing.

What a difference!

Earlier in the day I spent several hours cutting and fitting some of the plywood trim that will be necessary when I install the pressure treated 1x6 and 1x8 over this foundation to create the half timber look.  All of the sides of the house are now ready for paint and I will also be adding a large 2x10 apron that will go around the bottom that will get a routed detail on the top edge and another "V" groove toward the bottom.  More on this later.

Not very exciting but I had to glue and nail this edge trim to the existing plywood.

All of this gets painted except for the beams.

And now the penguin.  Devon and I stayed up late last night and worked on the project that she was to do all on her own.  I did my best to get her to lay out the grid pattern on a small photo of an Emperor Penguin to then be scaled up to a large model.  She did most of the cutting in the shop with the jigsaw and spent some time today painting one side after the primer that we put on last night has dried.

Still need to make feet - a stand out of hardwood.

I'm not going to get much done on the Pointed Playhouse this week - Elizabeth and I are celebrating out 20th anniversary, Devon turns 13 and I'm being forced to go on a camping trip with Devon's class next weekend.  If I have time I would like to build a "Bumper Dumper" because it shows my maturity.