Scattered Thoughts . . .

I had a busy day today cutting up lumber to make our butcher block countertops for the outdoor kitchen.  It was like a typical Monday today though. First, I couldn't get the table saw adjusted correctly.  Then, when I finally got the saw adjusted well enough, I had problems with the lumber.  As I ripped the lumber it was binding the saw and then bending into crazy shapes after it was ripped to rough size.  I then needed another two passes in the saw to get them to manageable pieces of lumber.   Then, I whacked my head again...   then again...  at that point, I went inside to retrieve my bump hat.  I think I whacked my head another ten times while wearing the bump hat!  It was one of those days.  (I have a headache again this evening.) I managed to get the countertops assembled, cut to size and they are now set in place on top of the cabinets.  For now, they are simply clamped down to the cabinets.   I still have a lot of sanding to do before I can stain and f

After a trip to Lowes the other night for more building supplies, I started my day yesterday by moving all the lumber we bought from my car to dry areas I have setup in our yard.  Then I got started on pulling power tools out of the shed and collecting all the other tools I would need for the day.   Once everything was organized and setup, I began cutting and assembling the back of the base cabinets and end panels on the base cabinets for our outdoor kitchen.  This actually went fairly quickly but all the bending and twisting was brutal on my spinal injuries.  This is the view as you are coming up the stone path to our back door... Here you can see how the cabinets form a "U".  I still need to cut and assemble the face frames for the left and the back side of the "U".  The wood you see in the photo is actually the back panel.  Since there is no countertop in place yet (I haven't even begun to cut and assemble the butcher block countertop yet), the insid

Yesterday, Sheila helped me install the ridge cap on the play house and outdoor grill kitchen.  Once we had the roof all sealed up, we then tackled some electrical including installing the lighting.  It looks pretty good! Even though we made some noticeable progress yesterday, it was slow going.  First, I needed to remember how to join the ridge cap for intersecting ridges.  Then, I had to cut, then bend, then flash, then install.  This first piece of ridge cap was bent in a way so it could be folded over the adjoining perpendicular ridge.  I also added some flashing that was cut and bent to shape.   Installing was slow going because it was difficult to reach the area where the two ridges meet.  I had to lay across some boards on the roof while Sheila held the step ladder in place.  Plus it was hot up on that metal roof and the sun was blindingly bright reflecting off the new shiny roof! The second piece of ridge cap was also cut and bent so it could fit right on top of t

The sky cleared up today and we haven't had any rain falling from the sky so I headed outside to see if I could accomplish something with one of the larger projects on my To-Do list.  I had previously cut all the supports necessary for the outdoor kitchen roof structure so I decided it was time to install those supports so I could remove the temporary supports. So, now I have clear headroom when I walk into this little kitchen area.  ( As a sidenote...  I wore my new ball-cap hard hat today...  good thing because I slammed my head about eight times today while I was installing the collar beams.  My mild-TBI headache is back but I'm certain that it would have been far worse if I wasn't wearing the new hard hat.) Every support that I added today was both glued and bolted.  I bolted everything with 3/8" galvanized bolts.  This support, below, forms a nice stiff triangle of support keeping the column upright... This is the same type of support on the opposite c

The other day, I finally started on our outdoor kitchen/grill project.  I already had all the lumber on hand that is seen in these photos...  two 4x4 posts and a bunch of 2x4's...  and it was long past time to get started on this project.   Actually...  since this structure ties in with the playhouse roof, the playhouse is getting a nice upgrade rebuild and renovation so this is really a two part project. Our dryer broke so that is now slowing me down a bit but I have made a significant amount of headway on this project....  hmmm...  headway...   that reminds me...  I also whacked my head twice during this project already! On our previous big project, I also whacked my head hard enough to see stars, gray-out and buckle me at the knees.  That resulted in about a month of nothingness as my mild traumatic brain injury healed a bit.   I had a couple of temporary supports holding things in place on that project.  They were supports that weren't a part of the structure so I

Our new weather station. We've had a weather station here in the house ever since I've lived here. Actually, when I moved in with Sheila, I brought my weather station at the time with me to Sheila's house.  Every few years, better weather stations at more affordable prices are manufactured so we've upgrade to newer models every five years or so. The weather station we've had for the past four or five years was okay but it was difficult to read in our hallway. We have a small area in our hallway just outside our kitchen where we have the house controls... our thermostat, our telephone/intercom base unit (yes, we still have a landline-based VOIP telephone system... two line... two remote handsets... because cell service is spotty, almost non-existent in our neck of the woods not to mention obscenely expensive) ... the weather station...  and this area is adjacent to our half bath and laundry room. It is just a nice common area of the house in close proximity