Friday's Accomplishments
Aug. 7th, 2010 06:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeTrudging onward, one task at at time.
Not too long ago, Lisa was "beating the bounds" of the property and found an old tree branch that had fallen at least a year ago or more. It being within reach of our extension cords, she was able to cut it down to pieces that filled the small hand cart. As the wood was already dried, I took it straight to her father's house and filled his wood box, so there's wood already laid in for the first need this winter.
We had the chainsaw out because we'd set up a work area near the pump house (there being a power outlet there) where we brought some of the pieces of wood that I had been unable to split on account of them being excessively gnarled. Lisa sawed them into burnable-sized pieces and we took them to the wood shed.
Incidentally, we did look into renting a wood splitter. It would cost $80/day, and it's likely that most of the pieces of wood we have left are actually too large for the splitter. They're certainly too heavy for us to pick up. That's too expensive, particularly as I think I'd have to probably take several days off from work to make proper use of the tool. For now, we're stuck with pounding away on the remaining wood as best we can, slowly as my time and energy permits.
Lisa declared the utility trailer to be back in service again after attaching the piece of plywood to the base boards using wood screws so that it can be removed and replaced relatively easily. There are still upper boards that need to be replaced, but after almost two years, we think the trailer is road-worthy again. My job while Lisa attached the plywood was to sit on the tongue of the trailer so it would not tip over with her inside it and send her flying.
While the trailer is usable again, the vehicle we use for moving it around the property (the John Deere mower) is tied up (literally!) as one of the anchors for the safety rope for work on That Darn Roof.
Speaking of which, here's what the roof looked like from a distance on Saturday morning. Lisa put two gallons of Gray Goo on the roof on Friday night, working almost until there was no more light by which to work.
Incidentally, to the right-center of this photo is the apple tree which we severely pruned back a few months ago. Compare it to this photo taken shortly after we trimmed nearly every branch off of it in March.
Lisa finished stapling the roofing cloth to the lath on Friday and started laying down Gray Goo. Two gallons were not enough to completely cover this section; however, she did a pretty good job sealing most of the seams between the major sections and covering the "leading edge" of the cloth, sealing it to the roof surface so that it will not flap in the breeze. (You can see the bottom edge hanging off the roof flapping slightly in a light breeze that was blowing as I took these photos on Saturday morning.)
On Saturday morning, I spent a couple of hours splitting another log into pieces small enough to be carted for sawing into burnable pieces later, and then I took the "pole-axe" (extensible pole with a saw on the end of it) and cut some old, dead branches off the fir tree that looms over the walkway across the property. That tree has dropped piles of branches in bad weather, and I would prefer to cut it back on our own schedule rather than deal with the mess in a snowstorm.
In the afternoon, Lisa took me and her father in to Stayton to buy four more gallons of Gray Goo, as we have exhausted the supply from the local hardware store for now. A five gallon bucket of the goo would cost less than four one-gallon cans; however, it would be too heavy to transport to the roof, and we figure we would waste at least a gallon of the stuff trying to refill smaller cans and take it up top. Oh, sure, if we'd bought a bunch of scaffolding and put a block-and-tackle arrangement in place, it wouldn't be a problem. Of course, this is why professional roofers wanted $15,000 to repair the roof.
When we got back from lunch and shopping in Stayton, I found myself unexpectedly tired and fell into bed for a three-hour nap. Lisa went and cut small brush on the property while I slept. It's a pity in some ways, as it's very cloudy and cooler today than most of the past week, so I could have gotten more work done today if I'd been up to it physically, but my body let me down. We do expect to put in another session of Goopery on the roof this evening, however, which (we hope) will end with the new section of roof cloth completely covered in Gray Goo.
Not too long ago, Lisa was "beating the bounds" of the property and found an old tree branch that had fallen at least a year ago or more. It being within reach of our extension cords, she was able to cut it down to pieces that filled the small hand cart. As the wood was already dried, I took it straight to her father's house and filled his wood box, so there's wood already laid in for the first need this winter.
We had the chainsaw out because we'd set up a work area near the pump house (there being a power outlet there) where we brought some of the pieces of wood that I had been unable to split on account of them being excessively gnarled. Lisa sawed them into burnable-sized pieces and we took them to the wood shed.
Incidentally, we did look into renting a wood splitter. It would cost $80/day, and it's likely that most of the pieces of wood we have left are actually too large for the splitter. They're certainly too heavy for us to pick up. That's too expensive, particularly as I think I'd have to probably take several days off from work to make proper use of the tool. For now, we're stuck with pounding away on the remaining wood as best we can, slowly as my time and energy permits.
Lisa declared the utility trailer to be back in service again after attaching the piece of plywood to the base boards using wood screws so that it can be removed and replaced relatively easily. There are still upper boards that need to be replaced, but after almost two years, we think the trailer is road-worthy again. My job while Lisa attached the plywood was to sit on the tongue of the trailer so it would not tip over with her inside it and send her flying.
While the trailer is usable again, the vehicle we use for moving it around the property (the John Deere mower) is tied up (literally!) as one of the anchors for the safety rope for work on That Darn Roof.
Speaking of which, here's what the roof looked like from a distance on Saturday morning. Lisa put two gallons of Gray Goo on the roof on Friday night, working almost until there was no more light by which to work.
Incidentally, to the right-center of this photo is the apple tree which we severely pruned back a few months ago. Compare it to this photo taken shortly after we trimmed nearly every branch off of it in March.
Lisa finished stapling the roofing cloth to the lath on Friday and started laying down Gray Goo. Two gallons were not enough to completely cover this section; however, she did a pretty good job sealing most of the seams between the major sections and covering the "leading edge" of the cloth, sealing it to the roof surface so that it will not flap in the breeze. (You can see the bottom edge hanging off the roof flapping slightly in a light breeze that was blowing as I took these photos on Saturday morning.)
On Saturday morning, I spent a couple of hours splitting another log into pieces small enough to be carted for sawing into burnable pieces later, and then I took the "pole-axe" (extensible pole with a saw on the end of it) and cut some old, dead branches off the fir tree that looms over the walkway across the property. That tree has dropped piles of branches in bad weather, and I would prefer to cut it back on our own schedule rather than deal with the mess in a snowstorm.
In the afternoon, Lisa took me and her father in to Stayton to buy four more gallons of Gray Goo, as we have exhausted the supply from the local hardware store for now. A five gallon bucket of the goo would cost less than four one-gallon cans; however, it would be too heavy to transport to the roof, and we figure we would waste at least a gallon of the stuff trying to refill smaller cans and take it up top. Oh, sure, if we'd bought a bunch of scaffolding and put a block-and-tackle arrangement in place, it wouldn't be a problem. Of course, this is why professional roofers wanted $15,000 to repair the roof.
When we got back from lunch and shopping in Stayton, I found myself unexpectedly tired and fell into bed for a three-hour nap. Lisa went and cut small brush on the property while I slept. It's a pity in some ways, as it's very cloudy and cooler today than most of the past week, so I could have gotten more work done today if I'd been up to it physically, but my body let me down. We do expect to put in another session of Goopery on the roof this evening, however, which (we hope) will end with the new section of roof cloth completely covered in Gray Goo.
