A Break in the Clouds

We got a break in the rain today, long enough that we were able to spend Christmas Eve day building sub-assemblies for the roof shelter. Lisa used a pipe bender to bend the sections of electrical conduit pipe she's using for the structure to the shape she wanted, then drilled holes in them and drove screws to join them together. Most of the assemblies were left over from the previous structure, but we did have to replace those that broke when the tree branch fell on them. Lisa wielded the drill and screwdriver while I toted pipe and held things where she told me to hold them.

When we were finished, we had ten vertical supports (five pairs of two, one for each side of the trailer) and five A-frame roof sections. She still needs to drill a cross-piece across the top of the A, but when that's done, we can put the vertical supports into concrete blocks on the side of the trailer, then lift the roof sections up and attach them to the vertical supports. (This is tricky, as they then have to be drilled in place to secure them to each other.)

Building sub-assemblies took most of the afternoon, by which time we were both pretty cold and it had started to rain again, so we put things away and went inside for dinner. In the evening, though, the rain cleared, and even the clouds rolled away, so we actually got to see Mars high and bright in the sky near the Moon. We took advantage of the clear weather to go for a walk after dinner over to Lyons across the river, where we walked through the neighborhood looking at all of the Christmas light displays. Our timing was good, for fog rolled in as we headed home.

Tree Time

After watching A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it was time to decorate the Christmas tree. The trailer here in Oregon is very small, and Lisa gets an appropriately sized tree.



This tree fits on a little platform that Lisa built for it, just the right size to go where the television sits when we're using it. Space is so tight in the trailer that Lisa keeps the TV put away under the bed when not in use.



Note that tree is decorated with both colored lights and origami cranes that Lisa folded.



And it wouldn't be a proper Christmas tree in our house without a train. Lisa built a tiny track on the tree platform. The curves are quite sharp, sharper than standard-diameter curves. If this was full-scale, these curves would be similar to the sharp curves on streetcar tracks, and would derail any modern locomotive. This Santa Fe "caboose hop" manages to just barely hold on to the tracks as it circles the tree.