9.30.2019

I had to run some errands today - when I got home in the afternoon, Jim had assembled all the window frames for the windows in the wood shop, permanently fastened the inner frames for all three windows, took the blinds down, and attached the window frames - they are all done!  And they look so nice when you walk in.  We'll order blinds for these windows as well as our stairwell dormer window soon.

Jim also is starting to plan out a concrete pour around the house.  This pour won't be as easy to prepare for since we use the garage bays.  He has the side line marked...

Jim also did some truck work.  Jim ordered a new acceleration cable for the truck over the weekend and wants to replace that when it comes in.  He only got one interested person from the listing in the Albany craigslist and that guy didn't want to negotiate on price.  Everybody always wants something for nothing.  Over the weekend, Jim listed the truck in the New York City craigslist as well as on eBay.  He already has one person who has emailed him from the craigslist add and over 200 people have looked at the ad on eBay!  So we're hopeful...

The tree butcher (our new name for him) was back today, crushing my hopes that he was done cutting down trees.  At the end of the day, we went exploring again.  Jim wanted to find the back pin on our property.  That leg of the property (it's a different shaped parcel) is over 800' so Jim tried walking in a straight line back from the pin midway back estimating distance.  Not easy - at some point, the stone walls get destroyed since it's on a big hill so you can't follow those.  But we actually came out pretty close and found the pin...

Thankfully, it's no where near where they are timbering but we are still keeping our eyes open to see what's happening.  It's odd because it appears that they are working on a few different properties - we just want them to stay away from ours!

Walking through the woods is such a magical thing - plus you see some crazy things.  Like this...

And how trees grow over stumps...

 

High 61/Low 52 - cool start but great day!

9.29.2019

Jim did some work in the wood shop this morning on window/door frames - an exciting new step.  He first had to straighten some wood and put a new cutting blade in the molder.  This is the first time Jim has used the molder since it was a casualty of moving and he had to get a bunch of new parts and rebuild it.  The first cut he is making is the relief cut on the back of the wood to allow it to fit flat against both sides of the window and the wall.

After making the first cut down both sides.

Then he had bought a speciality knife to cut the actual molding shape - Jim has to feed the wood through slowly but it makes all these cuts in one pass.  It looks beautiful!  Jim may have to get a smaller width knife of the same design for the windows to make installation with the steel frame more doable.  But this design will work perfectly on the door frames.

Jim then lightly sanded all the window frame pieces and put the final coat of polyurethane on them.

Another job on Jim's to do list before winter is to put an epoxy coating on the 2 sections of the auto bay where we park our cars.  He's already done a lot of work to get the bays cleared out but there will be more moving in our future.  However, floor prep is the next step.  Jim first had to clean out the cuts in the concrete with a sharp tool and then vacuumed.

He had bought this backer rod that he then places in the crack, pushing it down so that it is below the surface...

Then he tried a new type of self-leveling caulk made to fill in cracks in concrete - he's pleased with what he's done so far.  He already went through 2 tubes of caulk so he'll definitely have to get more.

High 63/Low 37 - nice!

9.28.2019

Now that the outside work is in good shape for the generator project, Jim did some inside prep work today.

He needs to drill two 3" holes in the back of the switch box.  He first took apart some of his secondary work bench area to accommodate being able to lay the box flat (there is a connector sticking out).  Then he clamped it down to the bench...

He also made a jig to hold the hole saw bit in precisely the right location.  Lots of specialty clamps later, he's all set up...

And starting to drill...

First perfect hole!

The conduit adapter fits perfectly...

And the hanging bracket he made will as well...

Getting all the burrs and sharp edges off...

The other hole is on the bottom of the box so a completely different set up...

But the same perfect result!  It was a good thing that Jim had taken all the electronics out because besides the vibration, the bottom was full of metal shavings.

After cleaning up from that job and reassembling his work bench, Jim put the first coat of polyurethane on the window frame pieces.  The tops and bottoms are over on his saw outfeed table.

In the little time before we had to get ready for church, Jim did some truck work.  The battery was dead again so he had to use the Bobcat to take the generator out, use the battery charger and get it going.  Then he took it around the block just to run it a bit.

High 77/Low 52 - beautiful!

9.27.2019

Jim worked in the wood shop this morning on the window frames.  He first had to take apart the frames and he started staining...

All done!

After lunch, we headed outside to work on the electric line for the generator.  Jim had already sized and assembled the conduit going into the generator.  Once he made sure it all fit, he started gluing the pieces...

Then he fed one end of the electric wire through the conduit and pull elbow box...

Then locking the conduit into place inside the generator...

Next we put the electric wire into the trench...

All laid out nicely in the line with plenty of room on the end to go up the conduit into the switch box...

Time to put a nice layer of sand on top...

Then a layer of dirt...

Both the gas line and the electric wire are all safely buried...

 Continuing down putting sand over the electric wire...

Just for safety precautions, we brought out the red caution tape to go on top of the lines before putting more dirt on top.

Once Jim had everything secure, he was able to use the Bobcat to fill in the rest of the trench...

Looks really nice!

Jim dug down a little more but still hasn't found the bottom of the conduit.

We had all this gravel behind the stairwell because that's where we had our original small propane tanks.  So we shoveled that into the Bobcat...

 More shoveling...

Jim dumped the gravel near the concrete pad for now.

Jim spent some time leveling out the concrete pad area...

At the end of the day, we continued our surveillance of the timbering.  We heard the sounds of cutting early this morning, but nothing the rest of the day.  I'm sure it's wishful thinking, but I've got my fingers crossed that he's done!  Pictures of the devastation...

Just so sad...

 Wanted to be sure and wish our Aunt Sandy back in Ohio a very happy birthday!  We love you!

High 66/Low 48 - beautiful!

9.26.2019

Jim called the electric supply company this morning to insure that his electric service wire came in.  It did, so he took off to go pick that up.  Here he's showing me the inside of the cable...

We were hoping we would be able to get the wire placed in the ditch and covered up, but once Jim got home we checked the weather app and it said light rain would start in 1 minute!  So we decided not to even start that project.

Instead, we again continued our surveillance of the timbering going on near us.  We followed their tracks out of the woods.  We felt a bit better because it came out behind the corner neighbor and his sheep farm - not another neighbor's like we originally thought.  However, this picture shows the property lines so they get close, although this is down the hill closer to the road.  The guy told Jim that he has an app on his phone that detects property lines, which is good.

Jim has been saying he doesn't get many rainy days so he called this one an inside work day and continued work on the wood shop window frames.  He probably spent over 3 hours just drilling holes, by the time he cleaned up the machine to get rid of steel shavings in preparation for using wood, getting the machine set up, then he had to drill the 2-step hole which required him to readjust settings.  He drilled over 100 holes!

Putting the frames together...

By the end of the day, he had all three frames assembled!

High 63/Low 42 - on/off light rain