September Harvest and Progress

What God has made...

...to soothe the eyes... 

...to fill the tummy:

The grocery bag, oops...

The grocery bag was picked this morning.

What my sister is making:

Well, no pictures, but she is canning these tomatoes. I'll try to post some pictures later.

What I made:

Stairs! These steps (three) lead up to the landing. The treads are, of course, temporary and will be replaced once the sheetrock is installed and all the painting is finished.

From the landing, we turn and head up to the second floor. (No, the movie screen will not be visible once the stairs are finished.) The stair jack is in place, testing to see that all is good. It now will become the pattern for marking the other two as they prepare for their date with the saw.

Final Hint

Since I only received two guesses (one came by email and the other was intentionally incorrect so I could test my comment settings) it's a good thing that the temperature cooled off around here. Interesting, though, the temperature dropped from the upper 90s to the low 50s/upper 40s in the same three to four days that gas prices went from 2.309 to 2.749. Bottom line, with the cooler weather, I don't need ice cream which is a good thing because with the increase in gas prices, all my ice cream allowance has been diverted to fuel.

Note: The temp this morning, Thursday, 20 August, is 38 degrees. That's 60 degrees colder than the high last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, just four to six days ago.

Now for the hints:

First, the other side of the wall:          

...then, the entire white paper...













...and the big picture...

...all wrapped up with a simple sign:

More than once, we have set out (paint)-buckets, popped some popcorn, invited the neighbors, and had an enjoyable evening. Our plan for when the weather cooperates is to be outside and use the side of the house facing the road instead of a wrinkled piece of paper inside.

We try to do this on Friday or Saturday evenings. You are all invited, just let me know that you are coming and I will be sure to have enough popcorn and buckets (or you can bring your own lawn chair).

Hint 2

Popcorn.

What To Do With the Little Pieces of Wood.

Those pesky little chunks of wood! Throw them into a pile out of the way. No pile of 'scraps' is ever "out of the way". Maybe I should add a pictures of my pile of scraps.

But then, along comes the electrician and gives me an 

outlet--the outlet that will someday run our refrigerator. 

In the mean time, it powers my tools.

As long as it's in the kitchen, 

why not plug in a coffee pot.

But, I have no table to put the coffee maker on.

What to do, what to do...coffee maker, water carbonater; water pitcher, battery charger. 

Pile of scrap wood.

Aha!

A coffee/drink mess and all around general purpose table!

Notice the use of those "scraps".

The table is in the laundry room where the washer and dryer will be. Initially, the coffee maker and other items were accessible from the kitchen. However, if you look at the first picture, you see a big white paper (leftover Tyvek--house wrap) stapled to the wall blocking access to the new table. 

Let's Have A Contest!

Your challenge is to tell me how 

we are using that particular piece of house wrap--no,

not to wrap the house. 

Hint 1: We now have electricity in the kitchen area. (more hints later) 

Waste no time: I win ice cream once I receive the correct answer
(or maybe each time I receive the correct answer).

Maybe the winner should buy the ice cream...hmmm...

...multiple winners...multiple hot days...

Incentive: 

The temperature here will be in the 

upper 80s to upper 90 over the next few days.

Yay!!! Visible Progress.

At long last, something to show for my efforts:

Three windows with all the concrete work completed and the finish siding installed. Now, once the concrete has cured, that, too, will be primed and painted. 

And, that's not all:

This area is also getting siding.

I went as far as I could for two reasons.

First, I ran out of siding. But, second, I only need one more piece before I reach the window. (Ignore the short pieces on the right, I just needed a place to put them, so why not on the wall, right?)

But wait! There's more:

Oops...

This is also ready for siding, well the bottom area is. It has all the concrete work finished, while the top area still has a final layer of stucco to go on.

However, both top and bottom are waiting for their doors. When they arrive and are installed, the siding will continue.

Inter(shudder)*NET*

Critter: Dear Internet, please change the name, NETs are sometimes used to catch us and...*shudder*

Critter: What is poysonem?
Clippy: I see you are asking a question. Would you like some help with that?
Critter: What is poysonem?
Clippy: Use it in a sentence.
Critter: His friend said, "If they won't go, poysonem." What is poysonem?
Clippy: Search critterpedia.net
Critter: You, too with a NET!? And, what is a critter?
Clippy: You are a critter.
Critter: Because I use a computer? Human uses a computer, is he a critter, too?
Clippy: You have exceeded the three-question limit for this session. Goodbye.

Critter: critterpedia.(shudder)net enter
Critter: poysonem search
Critterpedia: Do you mean boysenberry? A wild berry that birds and animals enjoy eating right from the bush. Humans like to take them home and make sweets with them.
Critter: No! poysonem; poysonem!
Critterpedia: Poison Oak. The berries from poison oak are essential to the diet of some birds and animals. Humans cannot eat this berry, nor even come in contact with any part of the plant that has juice in it.
Critter: Poysonem! POY-SON-EM!
Critterpedia: You sound upset. Maybe you should have a snack and try again later. Good bye.

Critters Find Safety...

in my house!

How do they (red squirrels, they are--or it is) get in?

Well, first it was through the door I made for last winter--they ate their way through the bottom of the door.

I replaced the door this summer with one from ReStore and included a metal threshold:

He ate through the water line hoping to get in that way. No pictures because I had to stop water from spraying all over. So, I put a super thick sleeve over the hose that he could not chew through.

I WIN!

(not):

"Curious, what is this?" one might ask looking at the steps at the bottom of the door.

The answer can bee seen above and to the left of the door. Notice the critter foot holds under the hole. My question: How did he know that was the easiest spot to chew through?

I'm no dummy, I put a wire mesh over the hole, but what do I find in the morning:

The mesh neatly pulled aside and hung there. Not tossed aside or dropped on the floor, hung below the hole!

The squirrel is inside, so I nailed a peace of aluminum siding over the hole in such a way that he can get out, but not back in. He hasn't come out, yet.

Where's the Sun?

Burning eyes, sneezing, sore/scratchy throat...Sounds like flue season. NOT!

No filters on the camera, this is the early afternoon sun.

 Looking at it over the house at around two or three in the afternoon.

An hour or so later,

we only have a glowing marble instead of a firery basketball.

My sister's favorite spot to photograph the setting sun...but, the day before at the same time yielded...

...no sun at all. No, there isn't a cloud in the sky.

Smoke from the forest fires in Canada, is the problem. Even today, after a good south wind, the physiological effects of the smoke linger on. 

A Window with a View to the Heavens

No, really, look:

When you look through the new window, you can see through two cupola windows right on into the heavens. Besides that, where else can one stand outside and, without moving, see all five sides of this three-dimensional pentagon?

Before I could put the window in, I had to do some stucco work--not my cup of tea, if you know what I mean.

The stucco is applied over a mesh that covers the foam. It's something I've never done before. However, it's a building technique that's been around a few centuries, so it can't be that difficult. Can it?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Hah!

It probably isn't difficult once a person learns certain tricks of the trade. I just haven't learned those tricks, yet! At least I haven't learned how to do it quickly. I did finish two windows--the one we installed upstairs, plus this one which is now waiting for its window.

Then we had rain so I did some inside work: 

(First, a peak out the newly-installed window)

The yellow beam comes across from the bedroom area on the left to the kitchen on the right. Thanks to E., installing it was not a problem. Then N. came along and helped hang the first joists from the stairs to the beam to the link, where I am standing to take this picture. With this much done, I can now, with the help of my brother, lay out, cut, and install the stringers for the stairs.

Nothing to Do With Building a Dome

I understand that the minister at the funeral spoke directly to the pall bearers, the friends and fellow partiers, of the victim. He pointed out the stupidity of mixing booze and autos, and not having a designated driver. I believe he included the folly of not wearing a seat belt--the victim was thrown from the vehicle and...

http://www.inforum.com/news/accidents/3761001-21-year-old-killed-fatal-rollover-polk-county

From what I understand, he was a well-liked, successful young man from a reputable local family, and he was not known for repeated incidents of this type of behavior. 

The town and community lost a good man to a slip in judgement.

Springtime, 2015

You probably can't see, but on the far side of the water is Mamma Duck and her four or more littles swimming along behind.

Then there are the hummingbirds. Of course, they don't hang around long enough for a picture. However, this is what they check out quite frequently. These are the brackets that will hold up the second floor of the garage. I painted them bright orange so I can see them when I drive a loaded pickup in.

The hummingbirds fly up to the bright red brackets as if looking for food.

Then there is the robin's nest on a ledge over the garage door--complete with hungry mouths to feed and an angry mamma who doesn't like me hanging around. I hope to add a picture later.

I did take a picture of a broken egg and the nest it slipped out of during a storm, but neither the picture of the egg, nor of the nest turned out.

It's Not Nice to Complain About Mother Nature

I don't think Mother Nature appreciated last night's comment about her wimpy storm. At 9:30, weather forecasters predicted the storm would not reach into Minnesota. Well, bully on them!

At around midnight, I awoke to lightening so continuous that it seemed to be a spotlight flickering off now and then, not the occasional flash of light or streak across the sky one normally expects. Soon the thunder caught up, a steady drum roll, just as persistent as the lightening.

Next, the wind and rain arrived and for a half hour or so, the noise was so loud that I couldn't distinguish between thunder, rain, or wind. The bright light continued to shine from all around, still flickering, though now to the beat of the drum roll.

The county to my west, south, and eash had hail, and the county to the north received flash-flood warnings for this morning.

The rain gauge this morning seemed to chuckle, "So it was a wimpy storm?", as I emptied out the half-inch plus of water.

I looked at my check list. It doesn't say anything about how to move from my trailer, through the lightening, wind, and rain to get to the basement...

Hang On!

I just saw the following Hazardous Weather Outlook that came in this morning from

http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=MNZ015&warncounty=MNC119&firewxzone=MNZ015&local_place1=Fosston%20MN&product1=Hazardous+Weather+Outlook&lat=47.5713&lon=-95.7291#.VW3tfNJViko

Hmmm...What to do? What to do?...Ah-ha! Make a checklist!

___1. Park vehicles in garage and shed
___2. Early supper
___3. Camera handy
___4. Move comfy chair, table, light, and entertainment into basement
___5. Hang up checklist
___6. HOLD ON!

I suppose it would be clever to keep a cell phone handy, too

 

Hazardous Weather Outlook

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
603 AM CDT TUE JUN 2 2015

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-031200-
WEST POLK-NORMAN-CLAY-KITTSON-ROSEAU-LAKE OF THE WOODS-
WEST MARSHALL-EAST MARSHALL-NORTH BELTRAMI-PENNINGTON-RED LAKE-
EAST POLK-NORTH CLEARWATER-SOUTH BELTRAMI-MAHNOMEN-
SOUTH CLEARWATER-HUBBARD-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN-
WEST OTTER TAIL-EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-TOWNER-CAVALIER-
PEMBINA-BENSON-RAMSEY-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-NELSON-
GRAND FORKS-GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT-
RICHLAND-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY-
603 AM CDT TUE JUN 2 2015

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY ACROSS EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF MINNESOTA LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND
INTO THE EVENING. THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE HAIL UP TO 2 INCHES AND
DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...AND PERHAPS AN ISOLATED TORNADO. HEAVY RAIN IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME IS ALSO POSSIBLE.

Later that day (9:30 p.m.)...

What a boring storm--sun is breaking through, 25-30 mph wind is now only a slight breeze, no rain. Hmmmph!

So, I check with Valley News Live and find that the storm does not seem to have enough oomph to cross out of the Dakotas into Minnesota. I guess I can go to bed and plop my head down onto my pillow.

Hummingbirds

ll

My First Day back at work:

Worked hard. Decided to take a little nap in the rocking chair I brought up with me. So, there I am in the machine shed, on a warm day with a nice, cool breeze blowing through, snoozing, when I hear a bird chirping and a bumble bee buzzing. No! Not a bumble bee--too loud--a humming bird?. A humming bird being chased by two swallows. I’m not sure why, but it's possible that the hummingbirds had taken over the nest that the swallows built last year.

I didn’t like the big guys picking on the little ones, so I chased them out and closed the door. I went looking for the hummingbird. These things are small and quick. I finally spotted one at the very peak of the building.

The hummingbird is the small V-shaped object in the opening. (The darker objects are structural components of the building.) My little promotional-gift camera couldn't zoom any more.

Now, remember, the peak of the shed is about 25 feet up and my camera is one of those promotional give-a-ways, so getting a clear picture is nearly impossible at that distance, but I tried.

The little bird, with outstretched wings, just floated up there--frozen. Not a twitch nor a buzz. It just hung there, an exhibit at the finest museum. I thought maybe it had died and was caught up in a spider web or something. For five minutes, I watched. Finally, I walked away and came right back—Gone!--only to be seen flying around the rafters again a bit later.

The shed has a ridge vent running the entire length of the building. This happened early afternoon on a very sunny day. Were the air currents from the warming building enough to hold the bird up there?

Speaking of Critters

They like the dome and they do not like that I try to keep them out.

The first time I went into the basement I saw a chipmunk scurry across the floor. I searched everywhere for the entry point. Finally, this is what I found:

They chewed an opening through the bottom of my make-shift door.

I put a metal trowel across the opening and that settled that...Hah, so I thought!

The next morning I came to work to discover the sound of running water. The garage floor was covered and I could see that water was spraying out of the hose that comes from the pressure tank in the basement. I thought the sharp edges of the hole in the wall had worn through the hose, so I replace the hose with a heavier one.

The next morning--same thing. This time I saw bits of hose on the floor and teeth marks on the hose. The critters we not able to get into the house because the water pressure kept them out, but they made a mess for me.

Basement Windows

They are in! Three windows. Sure, the finishing work still need to be done, both inside and out, but they are in--they open and close letting in both light and fresh air, but they keep out the critters.

I guess I need better pictures as well as one from the outside.

Putting in windows has changed a bit since I last did it. Back in the day, the windows came with brick molding (the decorative trim around the outside of the window) already attached. The window was then set in the opening, squared and plumbed, then nailed to the wall through the brick molding. That is what held the window in place.

Now, they come clad in plastic/vinyl. The vinyl extends out beyond the window and is perforated for nails which hold it in place. This system helps seal the window better from Mother Nature and gives the builder or home owner more options for the style of trim to use. The window is shaped such that no additional trim is necessary—siding or other exterior wall covering can come right up to it, just leave enough space for expansion and sealant.

My work did not go unnoticed. One critter, a chipmunk, noticed that he could see into the basement so he joyfully jumped into the window well only to learn about glass. Unable to get into the basement, he turned to run out the tunnel that he normally used only to find that it was buried under a pile of pea rock that was moved back to make room for the window.

A rather new 2X6 was put in for a ramp, but it proved too slippery. So, a weathered peace of plywood became the ramp material of choice.

I'm Back: May, 2015 (and it's snowing)

Finally! Internet issues kept me from posting earlier.

About the house...This year will start with basement windows (installed), finishing the painting (five gallons applied so far, another four, or so, to go.), water proofing, and finishing any stucco that is patiently waiting to be done. Time and funds permitting, I will also install windows in the first and second floors, and then some of the doors in the house. Hopefully, I will also be able to do some work in the garage, starting with framing out the big garage door and the three upstairs windows.

Tomorrow, I will stop by ReStore to see if I can pick up an entry door or anything else I might need. ReStore is Habitat for Humanity's Goodwill of construction materials, new and used. It is absolutely a good place to check out for anyone doing anything in their house. I recently purchased stair risers for $7.00 each in Baltimore--these run around $35.00 if bought in a flooring or big-box store. There are at least four ReStore locations around Baltimore. (I stopped at ReStore in Moorhead and picked up a solid wood door with oak veneer and solid oak frame for $15.00.)

The door with its frame and threshold. Notice the basement windows.

Actually, I have been in the state for over a week (Nearly a month by now.). During this time, I had the privilege of helping one of my sisters install a new laminate floor, another with un-carpeting and woodifying (Yes, it's a word--I just used it, so it must be!) her stairs (actually I just helped cut new risers, she and her son did the rest), and then gave minimal advice, well support, to a third sister about a plumbing issue. (As it turned out, my advice was incorrect—it was the fresh-water line that had cracked.) With the help of other siblings, I delivered and set up mobility devices for a brother--a stair lift and a motorized wheel chair, and, again with sibling support, I delivered my travel trailer and my sister's motor home to the construction site. The trailer is ready for occupancy, and I will be in it, getting to work starting tomorrow.

I will be at my brother's tomorrow morning while a service man finishes installing and maintaining the stair lift--a seven-year-old Bruno. The technician said that it looks to be in very good shape. Tomorrow, he will bolt it in place, then clean, lubricate, and adjust it as necessary. These things (stair lifts) are expensive, but I came across this one on Craig's list. I think that the seller was emptying out a house and needed to get it sold fast. (Completed, as expected.)

At the same time as I was finding that, one of my sisters found a motorized wheel chair for my brother. The chair is an older Hoveround that a gentleman had used while recovering from back surgery. He no longer needed it, so he sold it to my sister for an extremely good price. Sometimes things just work out.

I will try to post some pictures of these machines later.

Winter on the Farm

Not much snow, yet, but the white building just seems to disappear in what is there. The gray, cloudy sky adds to the vanishing-dome act. You can see the parts that are not yet painted. The current plan is for the trim around the door and window
openings to be the same color as the trim on the machine shed. That will stand out nicely in the winter.

From a different angle, slightly to the west, you look across the driveway. From here, the garage, without its unpainted area showing, is not so visible behind the trees.

Here we can see what the blue trim does for a white building in a snow-covered farmstead on a cold winter's day.









I guess I'd better put some coffee on, and a pot of cocoa or hot apple cider, too. Maybe stir the chili and whip up a batch of good crusty French rolls.