I love waking up on spring mornings. It is wonderful to go out early in the morning and enjoy the wonderful smells of spring and snow???? WTF??? It is supposed to be spring. The vernal equinox was 9 days ago. Where is all this snow coming from?
By now, the only thing that still loves the snow is Targa. Even the boys are sick of the snow.I think Targa would like it to snow year round. Stupid dog.
Susanna’s parents are visiting from Sweden this week – they say this is their first taste of winter this year. Welcome to New England.
At least it warmed up today. Enough for a nice walk in the morning, and a fire in the fire pit by the patio. By mid-afternoon it had warmed up enough to start to feel like mid-March. Warm for all of us to sit at the patio without winter coats on and enjoy the afternoon sun.
It has been a busy couple of weeks here. The snow is starting to melt. It is warm enough for nice afternoon walks and evenings in the workshop without the kerosene heater running the whole time.
My shop assistant for the evening. He is reminding me to stay focused. On him. And to not drop boxes on his head (Sorry Tucker).
I have one toybox sitting in the shop completed awaiting delivery. It looks like the snow will melt enough this week to get the trailer out and deliver it. The final box is making progress – I can complete it by the end of this weekend if I focus on it. But of course there is a very good chance I will get distracted sometime before Sunday night.
The boat finally thawed enough for me to pump out the bilge. I’m planning on doing some small boat upgrades before launching in May. I would like to add a permanent fresh water tank and plumbing to the sink. I also want to add some cushions in the cockpit and a new cushion on the port settee.
New cushions will require sewing. Sewing required a working sewing machine. We had an old Singer in stuffed away in storage that I’ve been keeping limping along over the years. This year I replaced a drive belt and various smaller plastic parts that have fallen apart over the years. I’ll have to build a table on the second floor of the loft to sew the cushion covers. I learned that trying to cut the fabric on the dining room table just doesn’t work. And we have the space for a full 4×8 table, so why not use the space. And then to YouTube to figure out how to make cushion covers.
Time to get going on the projects so I’ll have enough completed to relax this summer!
What a beautiful day. The morning started out with a spring snow. The temperature was just above freezing and the snowflakes huge. This afternoon the sun found its way out from behind the clouds and the temperatures soared into the mid-40s.
My Stanley No. 45 combination plane after making a 1/4″ rabbet on a piece of scrap pine.
The yard is still covered with nearly 2-feet of snow, but with warm temperatures I am able to keep the workshop comfortable with just a small electric heater. The kerosene heater puts out a lot of warmth, but at a cost. It is loud.
I put Pandora radio on the computer and spent the day cleaning the workshop. And throwing things away. I have way too much stuff in the shop. I didn’t get the font half of the shop cleaned, but I got the back half looking pretty good (for me). I even dug out an antique Stanley No. 45 plane and got it working – though the blade needs to be sharpened.
A reasonably clean workshop. I even vacuumed the floor. I still have more stuff than I need, but it is heading in the right direction.
I decided to reorganize the “office” corner of the workshop. It is too cold to get too much woodworking done, but it is nice to reorganize things.
One of the biggest additions is a computer. Ben and I had picked up a handful of $20 small desktop computes for the boys Minecraft party in March. It is pretty slow, but it works. I set it up and added it to the wireless network. Now I can stream Pandora, write in my blog, and even play Minecraft with the boys. Though the computer can really only handle one thing at a time.
The weather service is predicting a huge snow storm tonight and tomorrow. Up to 2-feet of snow overnight and maybe more tomorrow morning.
Normally I don’t spent too much effort to prepare for things like storms. We usually have enough on hand to get by. But today I decided to head out of work when the active duty staff in the building were told to go home and had two hours to kill before the boys got home from their half-day of school. So, what the heck, I may as well prepare for the storm.
We already have a couple of bottles of wine and plenty of beer. Susanna did grocery shopping yesterday. So we were good in the food and drink category. That left getting ready for a couple of days without power as well as heat for workshop. What the heck is the point of a snow day if I can’t get into the shop for a little bit? I mean, one can only watch the kids shovel snow for so long.
The generator was filled with fresh gas and moved out of the back corner of the garage. I ran the generator a couple of weeks ago, so I didn’t feel the need to start it today. No point in really being 100% prepared when 90% will do. Anyway, I’d rather sleep tonight with the belief that the generator will start right up rather than know it will start, but is a pain in the ass to get running. I also replaced the flat tire on the generator so it sits level now (and is easier to move around).
I filled the jeep up with gas – even though it will probably be buried beneath the workshop for a couple of weeks and not be driven – at least there is more gas available there if we really lose power for a couple of days. And heck, if we get two days at home, the boys will need a good project like digging the jeep out anyway.
And of course, I topped off the kerosene can for the workshop heater. Now to clean up the house a bit until the boys get home (and make it dirty again).
Workbench moved away from the back wall and rotated.
Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking. What about the mud room? Of course you must have done that last little push to completion before diving back into the workshop. Or, will the mud room fall to the bin of ADHD unfinished projects?
Well, no, the mud room isn’t finished. And yes, I know, all of us with ADHD have basements/workshops/houses filled with great intentions and unfinished projects. Heck, come to think of it, there is probably still a sixth-grade science fair project sitting in my lifelong unfinished projects bin. But I promise, the mud room won’t be put in that bin. Of course, saying I’ll finish a project and actually finishing it are two different things.
It is always easy to make an excuse for an unfinished project – so I’ll make one now – I’m waiting on the paint to dry on the last two window sashes. They should be dry by tomorrow, so hopefully by this weekend I’ll be able to finish that window (and for the most part, the mud room) and post that to the blog.
But back to the workshop. I recently added a thermostat for the kerosene heater, and have started adding insulation so the heater would actually head the space to a usable temperature. I spent several evenings over the past week working on odds and ends projects in the workshop and the house.
In the shop I cleaned up most of the mess that had accumulated through a fall house renovation project. I also decided to move the workbench away from the wall – I think it may be useful to be able to access the back side of the bench while I’m working on a project. I’ll have to see how it works.
More progress in the workshop.
I also moved the dust collector back to the center of the shop, and moved the tablesaw and jointer over a little bit (to accommodate the dust collector). The bandsaw was moved to the corner where the dust collector had been, but it isn’t a great place for the bandsaw. I’ll still have to find a better home for that tool.
In addition to cleaning and improving insulation in the shop, I was able to get back to the toy box construction. The second box is nearly complete. I attached the top this week and glued up the door panels today. If the weather/heating supports finishing, I should be done with the second box by the end of this week.
We hosted a New Year’s Eve party here – the first real party here since our wedding reception. Thankfully the New Year’s Eve party needed less preparation than the wedding reception. Of course, (mostly) due to Susanna’s work, the party was a success. I think all had fun. Even Will, who was grumpy the two days leading up to the party, wound up having fun at the end.
Of course, what does this have to do with my resolutions/plans for 2015? Well, one of the games at the party was an ice-breaker where we introduced someone else at the party to the group. One of the questions we needed to ask the person we were introducing was what he/she was making for a new year’s resolution. The questions were posted on the wall at least 24 hours prior to the party, so maybe I shouldn’t have been caught off-guard when I was asked what my resolutions were. But I was. I didn’t have an answer. So after a few beers some reflection I have come up with the following goals for 2015:
In the workshop:
Build at least one piece of furniture
Finish the toy boxes
Improve insulation and replace the front door to the shop.
Finish one wall and improve organization.
Replace the bulkhead walls on the sailboat.
For the house:
Finish the mud room/laundry room
Build cubbies for the mud room.
Add switches and outlets to the master bedroom.
Reorganize and clean the basement.
Finish re-plumbing the house with PEX.
Add grape vines and blueberry bushes to the back yard and clean up the netting for the berries.
With the family:
Go on vacation to Mexico.
Go to Sweden for Sofia’s wedding.
Road trip to St. Louis to visit family.
Get out overnight on the sailboat.
Do more hikes/bike rides with the family.
Spend less time playing on electronics and more time enjoying life.
Personal Goals:
Exercise more.
If the opportunity opens up, sail to Block Island again.
Today we started the new year off right with a short 2.5-mile hike on the Narragansett Trail. The section of the trail we hiked was a short drive from our home. The whole family (minus chickens and cat) went on the hike. We hiked out to a beaver dam and lake. And Tucker didn’t even throw up in the car (he did however throw up on the walk).
… and why do I want to keep adding a “n” to the end of beaver dam? I can tell what vocabulary I am used to writing. I guess I need to find more water slowing features to describe and lay off the cursing in 2015.
Will and Ben playing by the beaver dam.A view from our turnaround point on our hike today.
