Erbs for Sale

84 degrees - severe lightning storm and winds up to 50 mph.  Mosquitoes flying by so fast you cannot see them.

On my way home from work on Friday I picked up several containers of herbs from the home center with a plan to sell them the following morning during our community garage sale.  The driveway still has a mountain of mulch so I told the girls that we would use the Pointed Playhouse as a place to sell things that we no longer need along with some plants that we can separate out into their own biodegradable pots.  Elizabeth did a great job tying a piece of twine in a bow around the herbs and I think they looked nice.  Lauren stayed up late with me standing on the brick in front of the playhouse while putting the herbs into their new homes.  We fortunately had the bright light of a Coleman lantern so that we could see.

Herbs that survived the storm did not all survive the sale the next morning.

There was a little lightening coming from the west that we could see in the distance but I had no idea just how bad the storm was about to get.  We finished just in time and as we got into bed the full fury of the storm hit our neighborhood.  It seemed like lightening would strike every few seconds and we could hear the crash of branches coming down from the trees.  The tops of the trees whipped around and seemed to almost touch the ground.  I watched the large pine tree sway violently over the roof but it held and I know that the playhouse would be no match for a tree that size if it were to give up.

We woke early and I checked on the herbs that I had fortunately placed in a wheelbarrow and rolled under the large sheet of plywood that sat on saw horses and was used as a table the night before.  The plants were fine but the yard was a disaster - limbs, twigs and leaves scattered everywhere and later in the day we noticed a small bird that must have been blown down from a nest during the wind.  I spent a considerable amount of time picking up what I could but knew that another storm was due to hit the area later today.  One of the gates that I built a few years ago on the other side of the house is now missing its lower half, which was probably the result of being beaten up like a loose shutter during the storm.

I recently read or heard somewhere that everyone should work retail at least once during their life and that selling something is an important lesson.  The girls sold mint-lime-aide for a quarter and also helped some friends sell a few of their things in the process.  They were the ones who showed us the area about seven years ago, subsequently lived a half a block away and now are in the process of moving up to Boston.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Removing leaves from the storm off the makeshift table.

Cinco de Mayo in the German playhouse.

Ready to part with part of their childhood.

They started at $2.50 but were quickly reduced to $1.50 due to the recession.

Everyone liked making signs.

Hot cakes!  Get your hot cakes!

Flying the fish to attract customers.

This is how we spell pepper.

The basil was a hot seller.

Had to take a picture of this peony that decided to bloom during the storm.

Many people stopped by and had questions about the playhouse and the girls had fun giving the tour.  I don't think that we made enough money to pay for a dinner out but everyone had a good time and we now have a little more space in our home to buy new things.  I think it is time for a beer.

Pointed Playhouse and Garden

71 degrees, dry and sunny.  The smell of mosquito spray is in the air.

Over the past week and a half we have had cold weather, rain, high winds and warm sunny weather.  Much work was done putting in the garden with help from my daughters and I was also very fortunate to have my brother Peter fly out and help put together the interior and even spread some mulch.

The nursery said that I should be careful what I wish for when planting wisteria but I decided to give it a try on the far, lower corner that will hopefully hide some of the pump station that sits next to the Pointed Playhouse.  I might have to move it later if it gets out of control.  I ordered ten yards of mulch and six of compost and have continued to expand the beds a little on the lower, west side of the house and also on the other side of the bricked in area on the east side.  The compost is all in and about half the mulch still sits on the driveway covered with a blue tarp (I have great neighbors that have not complained thus far).  Some of the other plants are hosta, columbine, hydrangea and forget-me-nots, egg plant and two types of squash and more that I cannot remember at this time. 

Some of the plants are in the expanded beds before the mulch went in.

In goes the egg plant.

Planting the yellow squash.

Found a toad in the corner.

I had to run into the office for a meeting during one day this week and Peter offered to spread a little mulch.  I thought that it was going to require about five or ten wheel barrows of mulch but when I came back he said that he counted about twenty five.  A great workout!

Mulch keeps the water in the soil, the weeds down and builds muscle.

About three inches gets the ground covered.

Found another frog on the east side.

Peter said that this plant (right) is poisonous.

An old piece of carpet that we had from when we had the office carpeted several years ago went up in the loft area.  A German baby crib that is made from pine and well over a hundred years old also went up in the loft to act as a temporary railing until I get the time to put in an actual railing that will attach to the loft floor.  I've decided that the aluminum ladder will also need to be replaced with a wood ladder and I'm thinking that I will build bookshelves on the left as you enter through the doors and incorporate the ladder to make it look a little like shelving that can be climbed to get to the loft.  I could also create a raised area for the electric wood stove, which provides a little heat, into the bookshelf system.  A lamp, table and two bean bags give the girls enough to get some reading done.  An old thatched roof doll house that I built for the girls sits on the floor.

Relaxing with the spiders.

My favorite project this week was the refinishing of the kitchen cabinets.  We sanded, primed and painted the boxes and made a breakfast bar out of the smaller of the two cabinets that my neighbor gave to me.  Turned feet were attached to the underside and Peter came up with a scallop design that went around the top edge and even a small strip went above the small kitchen window.  The color for the cabinets was premixed in a quart can that I had stored in the garage and might have been used to test a color before we bought a full gallon.  It is a light sage color but darker than what went up on the outside of the playhouse.  I added a little bit of green to this paint in another cup for the scallop trim.  The two paint colors go well together.  The counter tops were made from large solid pine boards made from smaller pine pieced that have been finger jointed on the ends where we could not see them.  The eight foot piece against the back wall is beautiful and made from two boards that we glued together using biscuits and has wood knots running throughout.  The stain on the wood counter tops is called Ipswitch Pine.  A small facing edge was added to the larger counter and we used the palm router to round over the top edge.  After we added a small back splash made from the same material it all came together and I'm very pleased with our work.

Master craftsman Peter "Norm" Trepp

Is that a fridge?  Gosh, if we only knew what we could put  inside.

As you can see from the above picture the back wall appears to have rough cut pine boards installed vertically.  Well, sort of.  It is actually the very real looking paneling that we found at the home center for only $15 per sheet.  We also picked up some lighting that was strung across a beam over the breakfast bar and put the print of the original Pointed House in a frame that is now hung on the back wall.  A couple stools and cut evergreens to go in our Irish tap (thanks Nanna) in the corner and it all really came together.

A mat to keep the girls feet clean before they walk on the Qashqai kilim.

Small inexpensive lantern hangs outside.

Scallop detail, cabinet boxes and even the door hardware has been painted.

Small bird paintings that the girls have done hang on the wall.

It was a fun but tiring week.  I'm very appreciative of my brother for taking the time away from his family and flying all this way from the west coast.  I drove him back to the airport at noon and the girls soon had ballet rehearsal and I was left alone to carve up some cheese and sit in my chair and think about our accomplishments. 

It started to get cold again and so it was time to lock things up and get some rest.  I'll write a little more when more happens.

Life is a Pile of Dirty Socks

56 degrees and the first skeeters were out.

My wife has complained about my dirty socks and I try everything possible to keep the dirt from saturating the socks but nothing seems to help.  I'm not taking my shoes off and running around in the dirt but at the end of the day my socks are covered with dirt.

At least I turn them right-side-out.

I looked at the weather forecast last weekend and saw that there are storms headed our way.  Vacation time away from work was used yesterday and then again today to get some work done on the Pointed Playhouse even though I did a little work on a company project at home and also dialed into a teleconference at noon.  My goal was to try to get as much work done on the outside as possible before the rain so that I can work on the gardening when things clear up.  I put most of the tools that I stored in the playhouse back in the garage now that the construction phase has completed.

On Tuesday I removed the plywood sheets from the backs of the windows and cut some plexy glass to fit the opening.  Eight holes were drilled around the edges and then small stainless steel screws were used to attach the glass to the doors.  It looks really good but I know that it is somewhat temporary until I can set aside a couple weeks to do a complete restore of the doors.

I know...hard to tell but the plexy glass in installed on the inside of the opening.

One of the more important accomplishments was to clean up and return my neighbors ladder to him on Tuesday.  It was great to be able to use the ladder and I definitely owe Royden and nice bottle of wine.  Soon after he walked across the street to take a look at the progress and to checkout the finials.  While we were standing there I explained that I used paint remover to get rid of the white paint at the very bottom of the doors on the temporary piece of wood that I installed to cover the gap and to prevent the French Rats from coming in.  The color was not right after the paint was removed and Royden suggested that a stain could be used to get the color close to the aged wood of the doors.  It worked pretty well but another coat of stain will probably be needed.

Bottom of the doors now stained to match the aged wood.

As you can see from the above picture I have been working on the faux timbers again.  The downstairs corners are now wrapped in pressure treated 1x6 material.  Most of the day on Wednesday was spent laying out, cutting, gluing and nailing the many timber pieces to all four sides.  Some of the pieces are strait and require only a forty five degree cut to meet the adjoining timber but many others require a more complicated angle and even curves cut along the side to mimic how timbers would really appear.  At the very end of the day I installed and planted the flower hangers under the two downstairs windows along with a cedar "bed" that I made last year and now moved from the patio and planted the three remaining ivy Geraniums.

Installing the upper diagonal timbers.

Little house in the wood?

All of the timbers are installed.

A little like a jigsaw puzzle but there is a madness to the layout.  If you were a real timber where would you be?

Confusing corner of timber.

Six Geraniums in this one three foot window container.

The flower "bed" container was moved next to the chair.

Washed down the bricks and watered the plants.

Glad to be done.

This must be where Lauren will tie her horse up to the tree.

Fini!

Well, there you have it.  The construction is now done.  It is a boat rack, a playhouse for the girls and a time to remember.  I'm going to take some time off from this little house and work on the interior as time permits.  Thanks for reading along and I hope that you enjoyed this possibly feeble attempt.  Time to wash my socks.

Ready for Seeds

84 degrees and many bugs but no biters.

This weekend I spent time working on the remaining upstairs faux timbers and trim around the windows.  I'm pretty much done with my neighbor's ladder and really would like to get it back to him but my better half reminded me that I need to put screens up on the south facing windows of the girl's rooms before the weather gets too hot.  I made screens for all of the windows of the main house a couple years ago but they sit in the attic waiting for their chance to meet the mosquitoes.

As I write this entry in the blog I'm looking out the dining room window at the Pointed Playhouse and see how really different it looks and think back to last August when I was taking down the many limbs of the trees and shrubs where the structure sits today.  Then came the leveling of the foundation, cinder blocks, etc... and now I see Geraniums in the windows.  Here are a few pictures of the finial and timbers going up on the west side.

As you can see I had a blowout in finial #2 due to rot (bugs or moisture in the firewood).

Turning the third finial.

Added some tongue oil before I cut it off the lathe.

Good finial and the blown out finial.  As you can see this one is pointed, which signifies the direction of the sun as it slips beyond the west horizon.

The bottom left and right timber is actually curved.

Almost done.

I worked for about four hours on Friday at home on a project for the company and had time to get some of this done in the afternoon.  On Saturday I worked on the dormer window.  I don't know why such a small window has taken so much time but the trim around the window and the detail just above took almost the entire day.

Top detail of dormer window.

I used biscuits to hold the pressure treated wood tight around the corner.  I do this for woodworking project inside and hope that it will hold up on the exterior trim.

Possibly the last time I use the tall ladder.

The upstairs is now done and the plants are hung.

We got up late this morning on a Sunday and Lucy (our cat) decided to go "dumpster diving" in my wife's sock drawer.  I took a picture with my phone and was the first to go down and get coffee with the anticipation of working on the small seed incubator.

Lucy thinks she is a tube sock today...

The glass top that I bought for the seed box is really a storm window but fits nicely into a frame that I made from two long 2x6 pressure treated boards that I ripped down on my table saw to the correct dimension.  I used a half lap joint along with exterior grade wood glue and four galvanized screws at each corner, which will hopefully hold up in our tough Al Gore winters here in southern Virginia.

Framing in the box that will be used to germinate the seeds.

All put together, primed and waiting for a final coat of paint.

Side view that shows how the top latches to the house.

And so goes the end to another beautiful weekend.  I'm happy to be done with the upstairs and plan to finish painting the seed box some day after work this week and get the last of the faux timbers up on the downstairs to include the hanging Geraniums under the last two windows.

A good weekend.

Over the next week you can expect to see the completion of the exterior and more compost and mulch going in around the Pointed Playhouse and the planting of yellow squash, butternut squash, eggplant and hostas in the beds.

Oh, I ordered six yards of compost and ten of mulch.  Come on over!