4.25.2019

Jim continued working on the top of the workbench this morning.  He plugged the screw holes on the sides and sanded the rest of the top.

Using the air compressor hose to blow all the sanding dust off...

Then he started rolling on the first coat of polyurethane...

 Looks beautiful!

In the afternoon, we headed back out to work on the driveway - we basically finished everything up that we wanted so we're thrilled that that job is done.  It looks so nice now to drive in and not see any gravel in the yard - I'm sure the grass will be much healthier now too!

After we caught our breath from that job, time to cut down the other tree that we wanted down.  You can see how it's leaning towards the carriage house.

Jim did some prep work first - since he was able to save the small pine trees when he cut the other tree down, he didn't want to knock them down with this tree if he could help it.  So he used a big log to kind of act as a bumper if the tree were to fall on them.

Next, he had to maneuver his machines behind this tree.  You can see that the path was filled with small pine trees, including some fuzzy pines that we like.  Jim did his best to avoid those.

Both machines are now in place bracing the trunk so that it can't fall backwards...

Then he starts to cut...

 Coming down!

Down!

Check out how close to those little pine trees Jim dropped it!

A close up of the hinge on the trunk...

Starting to cut off all the branches...

Continuing to cut through a mass of branches...

All the branches are off and I stacked them in our ever-growing pile to be chipped.  Then Jim started cutting up the trunk...

A view from the cut side...

And from the top. 

So glad that both of those trees are down safely - big relief!

High 63/Low 43

4.24.2019

Jim continued working this morning on the microwave cabinet.  He started just fitting things together where they will go and trying to figure out how best to make a shelf so I have some storage room in this cabinet around the vent pipe.

He has to do some hand work on the back of the face frame but he was showing me how it's all going to fit together.

He's putting these ledger boards on the wall - that way he can put the cabinet up on top of these boards and it will be in the perfect position...

Trying it out for size - perfect!

Doing some hand sanding on the workbench top - he got about half done...

It was much cooler today - about 20 degrees cooler plus a brisk wind.  But we went down to work more on the gravel by the driveway.

 We got another big area done - here Jim's blowing the leaves off the driveway...

Next it was time to clean up all the big timber from the tree Jim cut down yesterday - loading up the logs on the forks of the Bobcat...

And dumping them up on our ever-growing pile!

We also picked up the smaller logs left from the tree we cleaned up earlier...

All cleaned up - ready for the next one to come down!

High 51/Low 35

4.23.2019

This was the official day that Jim turned off the furnace!  It only ran a few minutes yesterday.  He may have to put it back on - the temperatures are supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow.  But a definite sign of spring!

Jim continued to work on the microwave cabinet this morning.  He cut and rounded all the edges for the vent pipe at the top of the cabinet...

Next he had to use their drawing to transfer the opening dimensions for the microwave vent onto the bottom piece of the cabinet...

Using the bandsaw to cut the opening...

He does the finish work by hand - looks pretty!

After lunch, we headed back outside, working on the gravel first...

We got another good portion finished...

Then it was time to cut down another big tree at the back of the house.  But first, Jim had to cut the stump closer to the ground so it wouldn't be in the way...

 Cut through...

This tree is leaning slightly towards the carriage house - which is why it needs to come down.  Check out the size of this tree compared to the Bobcat!  Jim positioned the Bobcat behind the tree to brace it so that it couldn't fall backwards...

Then he brought the excavator back and did the same...

Making the first cut...

 
Starting to come down...

It got to this point and stopped...

By then, Jim knew that it was heading in the right direction, so he slipped in to just cut a few fibers hanging on.  If you look closely, you can see him underneath the bucket of the Bobcat.

Then down it came...

On the ground...

 But here's the amazing part - when we started talking through how Jim was going to take the tree down, he said that he would try to get it to come down between these pines but we were also okay with losing them if that happened.  Check out how the tree fell - just inches away from the small pines and right in the middle like he planned!

This picture doesn't do it justice, but the sap pouring out of this tree since it's early spring and waking up was amazing - it was just like water flowing.

Clean up time!

Making good progress...

All the small branches are all cut off...

I dragged all of them to a pile - we have lots of chipping in our future!

Finally, Jim started cutting the trunk into sections...

Trunks are all sectioned off - we'll move them tomorrow.

Another good day's work - time to sit down and relax with a glass of wine!

High 70/Low 44