thu oct 1
Another dump run. 880# of debris, and I celebrated with some bread from Harvest Market.
And then I took the rest of the day off.
Once in awhile, I wish I had a bigger truck.
fri oct 2
The tractor wouldn’t start. Sigh. It looks like ‘someone’ (could of been me or it could of been mary) ran out of diesel, and the thing is notoriously hard to get started on an empty tank, especially when it’s far from the drum and straddling the mowing deck. So I un-clogged the fuel system, put it back together, and started it up.
I need to temporarily put the rocket ship on top of the spiral staircase so I can mark where the hole for the trough needs to be cut. Modelling it in CAD just won’t cut it. So this morning, I set out to move it, only to find that it’s going to be harder than it looks, because it’s really heavy and it’s gotta go really high. To my credit, I didn’t feel like hurting myself and I gave up.
Mary cooked up a storm all afternoon, and I got out of the way by going next door. I prepped the siding that had been shoved aside for the windows, so I can re-attach it, and came back physically beat. I worked on the c3pr photonfocus gui and it’s looking pretty good. Pork green chili and chocolate-walnut cheesecake and grey’s anatomy.
sat oct 3
Sorry, but my fucking low-brow blog editor deleted my daily entry, and it was a good one!
Washing windows, platform for temporary erection of the rocket ship atop the spiral staircase.
I needed to raise the rocket ship atop the spiral staircase so I could mark it for cutting. No amount of measuring was going to get it right, so I put up a shaky platform to stand on. It got the job done.
sun oct 4
Using a pvc pipe the same size as the rocket ship, I laid out the shape of the hole where the steel trough will dump it’s water, so it’s ready to cut.
We went on a foliage ride through East Hardwick, Greensboro, Glover and Albany and, while the selection of back-roads was good, the foliage just wasn’t ready yet. Stopped at Parker Pie for lunch and the place was overflowing because it was the endpoint of the Kingdom Marathon that day. It made me kind of wistful for the days when I would take off on my bicycle and enjoy the scenery for 20 or 50 miles.
Parker Pie parking lot.
There are thousands of apple trees along the country roads, and they’re all loaded with heirloom apples. It drives me crazy that they all drop and rot.
mon oct 5
Quest for wood! The saw mill in Johnson only sells hardwoods, so I went to Heath Lumber in N. Hyde Park, and got wide wood for replacement siding. The guy wanted to talk about my implant because his son may need one. I picked up flashing and supplies and hit the grocery store, where the clerk asked me: “Would you like your M&M’s to go, sir?” Absolutely.
I made it over to the green house and started work putting the siding back together, and it looks like I didn’t buy enough wood, but I made some progress and fitted some key pieces.
Pizza and Madam Secretary Season Premier and some good honest c3pr compiling.
tue oct 6
I’m trying to get into ‘winter mode,’ where I work on c3pr for a chunk of the morning and then move on to other things, and that’s what I did this morning. Halting progress. I took my wood next door and started fitting it around the new windows, and it was quickly apparent that I bought waaay too little wood. I guess I thought I’d be able to re-use more than I can. It’s kind of peaceful working on saw horses on the lawn on a cool fall day. Ran out of wood, cleaned up, came home, and resumed coding. Mary wants to pitch in by staining the siding, so we got her set up in the basement. Frozen pizza and NCIS.
I finished my book ‘Aurora’ and decided I needed a change of pace, so I downloaded The Feminine Mystique. It probably wouldn’t hurt to understand females.
wed oct 7
What a wasted day. I went to Heath for another load of wood, but all hands were busy, so I left my order and said I’d be back. Home to do c3pr for an hour, and then to the dentist. This is my first dentist visit since I started flossing my teeth, and I wondered what kind of a reaction I’d be getting. None. And when pressed, she said something vague like “there was less buildup than there would have been.” Big whoopee. Makes you want to stop flossing your teeth. So I made a quick trip to burlington for a card and then got fish at the fish store and broccoli at the broccoli store and then beelined back to the lumber yard. I helped myself to the pile of boards and the owner came and chewed me out for not asking for help. Still not sure whether he was mad or just giving me a hard time. Back home, I unloaded and fitted the last 3 big pieces, cleaned up, and came home. Whew.
Mary spread some green stain and made a fabulous cod dish, the cat passed out on the couch, and I went downstairs to stain the rest of the boards.
thu oct 8
We overslept. Mary was supposed to meet Jon in town at 9:00 and woke up at 8:15. She went from zero to 60 in the time it took to curse, and was outta here at quarter of. A new record. I messed with c3pr most of the morning. I decided I’d been doing too much incremental debugging, and what I really needed was to dig in, make a mess, and then dig myself back out, hopefully in a better place. So I dug in and made a mess of the code, which is 2 out of 3… A grilled cheese sandwich later, I was next door putting up painted siding and fitting new pieces. It was a very nice day to be doing it, but it is ugly work.
Beef stroganoff, broccoli, and then I painted siding past midnight. 6 big ones and 10 little ones.
fri oct 9
Today was a real slow day, mostly because it rained all day. And since I worked so hard next door the rest of the week, I felt like I deserved a day off. You could say I watched the paint dry on the boards I painted last night.
I’ve been telling myself that, to stay on track, I need to get into the habit of spending my mornings on c3pr, but I never quite manage to do it. Today, I did, and if you multiply:
theAmountOfProgressIMadeToday x theNumberOfBadWeatherDaysInWinter
you get a lot of progress. So I’m optimistic, and looking forward to lots of bad weather.
I welded a little, but ran out of oxygen, went to town for more, and eventually managed to cut the flute hole, where the trough feeds in. God, I sure hope I cut it in the right place.
My greatest fear was cutting this hole on the wrong side of the pipe, which is why I went thru all the trouble of raising the rocket ship the other day.
It would appear that everyone but me is having some kind of ailment lately. Whether it’s head pain, shoulder pain, chest pain, or just plain old age, we’re all falling apart. Truth be told, I have struggled for 2 weeks with the pain and emotional trauma of a large hemorrhoid. I don’t have a photo for you, and I’ll spare you the details of just how large it was, but here’s the cure: Stop taking motrin, which I’d been taking for my elbows, and which thins your blood. The minute I stopped: Bam! Better! So when I get old and they start telling me to take half an aspirin a day for my heart, No Way! I’d rather die of heart disease.
sat oct 10
It’s my anniversary. Our anniversary. And Mary was up early making muffins and bacon.
Mary had errands in town, and I spent the time doing a little c3pr and re-erecting the rocket ship atop the spiral flange. It looks like it’s going to fit pretty good, but I don’t like the look of the washers I had to use to level it up, so I made some custom spacers. It was a pain in the butt, but I gave it my best shot, and they are good looking units.
I went next door and fitted up more siding. It’s nice to be working outside.
I figured out, in c3pr, how to use scatter-gather DMA for multiple frame buffers which is a big deal. And then we went out to dinner and had a buttery meal.
The rocket is leaning a little bit to one side, so these spacers tweak it back into position.
sun oct 11
I started off by helping Mary clear out the corn in the garden. It was weedy and the raccoons ate all the good ears, and it would have hurt her arm to pull it, so I pitched in. While she continued to weed, I installed the spacers holding the rocket ship level and, after several tries, managed to mount the trough linking the gutter with the rocket ship. Now all we need is a good rainstorm, and all that runoff should tidily disappear into the ground. I hope it works. We went on a foliage ride to Montpelier, and one of the back roads I followed in Hardwick narrowed down to a very rough ATV trail, so I backed up and found a ‘real’ road back to the highway. This cast a pall, for me, over the rest of the drive, which was actually very nice. We (over) ate at an upscale Latin joint in Montpelier and I’m still full. Burp.
The trough transfers water from the gutter to the rocket ship.
The final product.
Or not. Read on.
mon oct 12
It’s Mary’s day off, and it’s in the 70’s and sunny. She worked all day in the garden, and I helped a little. ‘As little as possible,’ you might say, but enough to make a difference.
I took down the platform atop the spiral, and I think the whole project is ‘done’ for the season. I have to say that, while it may not be your own personal cup of tea, I really like the way it turned out. More to the point, I’m amazed that it turned out at all. It was a big project.
I wire-brushed, edged, and planed all the battens I’d made for the siding next door, so they’re all ready for stain. Then I went next door and cut more siding to length for the south wall, cleaned up the lawn, and gave Mary a tour of the progress. She likes it. Whew.
We needed scallions for nachos, so I took the motorcycle on a backroads tour of the town and saw the best foliage of the season. I’ve been gradually getting more comfortable on the bike, and going faster on the highways, and I wanted to see what 70 mph feels like. It is pretty fucking fast.
A campfire, nachos, and a frustrating bout with c3pr.
My pumpkin harvest.
I need to put some effort into it.
What is a fish ladder without fish?
tue oct 13
Mary made frosting for Jon and Laura’s cake, and I got to lick the bowl!
I finally got around to installing the wrench sculpture I’d made a while back. The wrenches are welded onto re-bar stakes that need to be pounded into the ground and, at the very first whack, the weld broke and the wrench fell off. Eventually, I got it done, and I really like the way it turned out.
I worked on c3pr and I’ve now got the grabber acquiring directly to a cv::Mat.
Too big a bowl of stroganoff for lunch and then went next door and replaced the window in the utility room. I was fried. We nuked saffron cod and watched the democratic debate. Clinton and OMalley won.
In order to replace this undersized window, I had to move the oversized piles of crap first.
wed oct 14
Today it rained, and I wanted to watch how well the water worked its way down the spiral/rocket ship and into the ground. Three out of four corners worked perfectly. That’s 75%. That’s a C. It goes from the gutter to the trough, from the rocket into the spiral, and from the spiral into the ground perfectly. But it seems to leak where the trough feeds the rocket ship. It’s like pouring from a pyrex measuring cup without a funnel, and it dribbles everywhere. Stay tuned.
I painted all the battens and a few of the boards and then watched them dry.
I went next door and fitted the new siding for the new utility room window and then cleaned up the yard because the roofer is going to show up tomorrow.
I tried to convert the camera to hardware triggering, but it’s not cooperating.
Mary made a pretty good red sauce and went to bed early because she’s driving to NY and back tomorrow.
thu oct 15
Up at 6:30am to meet the roofer. What’s wrong with this picture?
Mary was gone at 7:15am to drive to NYC to get Celia. She’s got a long day ahead, behind the wheel.
I got the builder started and then tried to stay out of his hair. The plan is to strip the steel and shingles, clad with sheathing, and lay down the metal roofing next week. Should be fairly straightforward. I went downstairs, turned on the fan, and painted wood siding green until I was green in the face.
I checked in next door and everything was going fine.
I took down the trough and welded some guides on, because the water in the trough was spilling, and then went to put it back up when disaster struck. It turns out that the trough pours just fine, but the rocket ship has a big blockage 3′ from the end, and it just filled up with water and overflowed. The rocket ship’s doing the dribbling, not the trough! That’s just about the worst thing that could possibly happen. I tried beating it out with re-bar, but it is rock solid. Fuck!
Then the contractor needed to talk, and the beams next door are all waaaay bowed, and the best solution is just to totally remove the roof and frame up another in its place. Again, that’s just about the worst thing that could possibly happen, but at least it’s not really a surprise. He took it in stride, (and so did I) and it’s looking like about 3 extra days of work.
So I worked on c3pr, booted to windows, and tried to build a camera file for triggered acquisition and, eventually, sort of, got it to work. Which is really impressive, by the way, so at least one thing today was not a disaster.
Then Mary got home with Celia. We had cheese and crackers and we chatted after Mary went to bed. Let me just say: “What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen?”
I took a shower and went to bed.
The new channel guides ensure that the water exits the trough in a narrow stream. Too bad this was not the problem!
Step 1: remove metal roofing and old shingles.
Step 2: take down chimney.
Step 3: All hell breaks loose.
It turns out that the beams are so bent that nothing short of replacement is going to make the roof look right, and what’s the point of ‘fixing’ it if it’s going to look like Hell? So suddenly a 1 week job is a 2 week job.
Meanwhile, I am staying out from underfoot by pre-painting siding in the basement.
fri oct 16
BZ the cat and Tara the dog survived the night and nobody got hurt. Hey, it’s a start!
The builder was here in the morning and I gave him a check to cover his expenses. Mary and Celia headed off for 1/2 day at work, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself.
So I took down the rocket ship and then headed next door to get the latest scoop from Brian. It’s going fine, but I feel a little depressed that all my month or more of hard work raising the roof is basically being re-done by his crew in a couple days, way faster, and way better than I ever did. There’s a lesson there. It turns out that one of the carpenters is a motorcycle geek. Missing teeth, tattoos up the neck, and a stiff pony tail notwithstanding, he sounds like someone I need to get to know. I collected 2 boxes of nut shells from the soffits, thinking I’ll think of a way to turn them into christmas presents. Then I scoured the town for an extension for STS impact bits, because I need to clear out whatever’s blocking the rocket ship. In the end, I had to make my own and, honestly, I don’t think it’s going to work.
Celia made meatballs for dinner, and we talked about Apple.
My hearing just sucks. My new processor is just wrong, and I’m lip-reading everything. It’s bad, and I feel for Mary for putting up with it.
In the soffits underneath the old roof were thousands and thousands of old butternut husks, each with two holes where the squirrels had gnawed out the meat. At first, I thought the squirrels had hauled them up there, but now I think the original carpenters put them there as a squirrel deterrent, because the shells are all covered with tiny, sharp spines making them uncomfortable for tender squirrel feet.
Sort of like they do with wire for pigeons in the City.
sat oct 17
Mary beat me to making coffee, so I had to make the bed.
There’ an ad on FPF for free 3-yr old horse manure. BYO shovel. So Mary called ahead, and off we went to Johnson. Big horse rehab place with lots of horses and lots of manure. And a really dirty barn cat. The pile is pure gold. Perfect stuff, and I filled the truck to the brim. We drove home on paved roads, bottoming out the shocks more than once. I backed it up to the garden and spread it. Whew. Mary and Celia are going at it in the house, and I joined the discussion. It seems that Amara and Alena are coming for dinner and I get to cook! Lists were made and they were off to the store.
I made enchilada sauce. The plan is to finally answer the question: ‘are my enchiladas too soggy?’ by making a regular batch and a batch where they’re spread out in the pan and, hence, crispy.
Then I made the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich. Fantastic.
Yesterday, I made an extra-long impact bit, and today I put it in the hammer drill and tried to drill through the blockage in the rocket ship, and it had no effect at all. So it seems I’ve got to cut the rocket ship in half and replace the blocked section. It’s the worst thing that could possibly happen. So I cut the rocket ship in half, removed the blockage, and replaced it with a short section of pipe, bevelled the edges, and spot-welded it back together.
Celia wanted a tour of the green house, and got one. She was duly impressed and had some suggestions.
The girls showed up and we all pigged out on margaritas and mexican food. Most of them seemed to prefer the soggy batch. Afterward, we all sat in the living room and helped Celia break up with her boyfriend. By text message.
The first 1000# load of horse shit
My famous enchilada sauce.
I performed a colonoscopy on the rocket ship …
And this is what I found. It’s blocked, all right.
My best guess was that there was a slug of concrete stuck inside the rocket ship, and I figured this home-made hammer drill extension should take care of it.
No such luck.
I cut the rocket ship in half and removed the blockage.
It’s some kind of industrial plug made of steel and secured firmly in place. Never seen anything like it in my life.
Remember how much trouble I went thru to make sure the hole was cut on the right side of the pipe? Imagine my anxiety while trying to re-assemble the thing with a splice where the blockage was. I got it right, though.
They’re smiling because they loved my enchiladas.
sun oct 18
I’m really pissed about this rocket ship blockage, so while Mary went to get the little girls, I welded it back together and ground it smooth. 7018 rod makes a Much nicer bead than 7014. I cleaned up next door because I was embarrassed that the builder had to work in my filth. I brought back enough wood and tools to make another platform for raising the rocket ship and then I made one. It was snowing the whole time, and the water from the gutter was splashing all over me. Suri helped with the chains and guided the pipe while I backed up. I played a game of chess with Sophia, and I beat the crap out of her. She’s about as good at chess as I am at bridge. Chris and Nina showed up and we raised the rocket ship with no trouble at all. (Everything is easier when Chris is helping out) Then we had beat up chicken for 8 and everybody left. Whew.
mon oct 19
Mary was off to work early because she was to meet Jon at the garage after dropping off her car, but Jon forgot all about it. I spent the morning tightening the bolts on the rocket ship and making sure the trough still fits. Then I took the platform down and watched it rain. All the waterfalls work now, but the perfectionist in me is unhappy about how the rocket ship drains into the spiral flange: an occasional drop would get caught in the wind and land on the stairs, and it drove me nuts. Please. Stop me if I try to fix this.
I settled in at my desk and still couldn’t get triggered mode working, so I gave up and wrote to support@bitflow.com, and asked wtf?
Then the door knocked, and Juliet was behind it. Another horse died, and my horse burial service has it’s first repeat customer. (It’s gotta be my low prices.) So I touched base with Brian, had lunch, put the backhoe on the tractor, and spilled hydraulic oil all over the garage floor. Next time, use a funnel, jerk.
I drove down the road and managed to manhandle Molly out of her stall by dragging her by her hind legs as gently as I could. Good thing she was a small horse! I pulled her into the yard with the tractor and picked her up with chains because it was the most dignified way I could think of to get the job done. I dug a hole, planted the pony, and filled it back up, and then planted yellow tulips to mark the spot.
Amara brought Mary home and it seems that the plot had thickened when Sean’s father called. Everyone is distraught, and while Mary doubled back to town for steaks, I found myself alone on the couch with a sobbing step-daughter. I am nothing if not good with comforting words, and the tears were soon gone. I’d tell you the details, but this is a blog, not a book.
Mary got back and there was more of the same, and then Juliet knocked on the door with a home made apple pie as thanks for my horsemanship.
Mary cooked the potatoes perfectly, I grilled the meat perfectly, and it was the best apple pie ever. Whew.
Molly died in her stall. Moving heavy things is my specialty.
tue oct 20
I took Mary to work today because her car is still in the garage. Her car is always in the garage. I came home and weeded the entire ellipse. I was going to stop, but I figured I’d just have to come back, so I finished it. BZ watched me dig for awhile and then started helping by digging some holes of his own. Celia is still dead in bed and I invited her to either help me get a load of manure or take a motorcycle ride. When she asked if she had time to take a shower first, I knew we weren’t going to be bonding by shovelling horseshit together. So we took a motorcycle ride. The bike is running really badly and almost wouldn’t start, but it was good enough for the trip, and the ride was really refreshing. Mary’s car was ready, so we went to town to pick it up, came back home, and she packed up to leave. A couple of hugs later, she was on the road and Mary’s got a long day ahead of her. Thinking back over the last 4 days, there were a lot of ups and downs, but in the big picture, I’m thinking to myself: “That went well.”
I’m told that my car is making funny noises and, on my knees, I see that it’s leaking something from the transmission case. So it probably wasn’t wise to go for another load of horse manure, but that’s what I did. I made it there and back fine and, although my processor was off on the drive home, I didn’t notice any worsening in the way it sounds, so how bad can it possibly be?
I tried Bitflow’s new camera file and ran into some new problems and asked for more help. I hope I’m not getting a bad reputation at Bitflow.
By then it was dark, and I went to feed the cat, but there was no cat to feed. BZ has never missed a meal, and I called and called and he never came, and I went to bed thinking the coyotes had gotten him. Poor BZ.
By now, the new roof is starting to take shape. Rain is in the forecast, though.
wed oct 21
In the morning, BZ was scratching at the glass – in the bedroom. Apparently, he’s figured out the spiral staircase. He’s been conked out on the couch ever since, but I’m glad he’s OK.
I spread the new load of manure on the ellipse and then went inside to make a deposit of my own. Lets just say that five days ago, when Celia showed up, where were 3 spare rolls of TP in the bathroom. This morning, there was not a single sheet in the room, and I got caught with my pants down. Shit!
I went downtown to Vianor to make an appt to have my car looked at and it was making noises and jerky motions all the way back. Whatever it is, it’s the first serious problem this car’s had. And the warranty has expired.
I went next door to touch base and they are doing fine. I invited the gear-head over to look at my motorcycle after work and, after a small adjustment and a test ride, he seems to think it’s running good. The man is a fanatic: he’s had 12 bikes, and he’s built a couple of choppers and, after talking for awhile he looks at me and says: “Not many people do their own work any more.” Point of pride.
Mary texted me that she’d left NYC, and I went back next door to start de-nailing the pile of boards on the lawn. Then came news that her car had crapped out again, and driving was dicy so, between us, we are kind of screwed on the transportation front. In the end, she made it back, and we met up at Phoenix for drinks and tacos – the last night before it closes for good. A shame.
The second 1000# of horse shit. Next year, my pumpkins will be bigger even if I don’t try harder.
Really really old roof beams. I need to think of a new use for them.
thu oct 22
Mary’s back at work and the builder is taking the day off, so it’s all me today.
First order of business: wtf is wrong with my car? Mary made me put oil in it last night, and I’m embarrassed that I hadn’t already tried that. I mean really? The man who fixes small engines with his bare hands doesn’t think to check the oil when the car runs funny? Well it was beyond low, so I added a few quarts I had laying around and went to town and bought more. The car runs way better now.
I farted around on the computer for awhile before deciding it was a nice day after all and took the motorcycle down to Johnson. I picked up blurbs at the pellet stove store and then checked out the bead store down the street. I bought a roll of waxed filament string that struck my fancy. I came home the hard way, over dirt roads, and the bike is running way better now that the hippie chopper guy has touched it.
I came home and pulled nails out of the old roofing boards we’re saving. Thousands and thousands of nails.
Skirt steak for dinner and then I figured out an ugly way to deal with hexadecimal values in a tcl tk label.
fri oct 23
This morning, BZ was kind of sluggish in the kitchen and when I put his bowl down, he ate a little and then lost interest. This is not like BZ at all, and around noon, I found the problem. It would seem that Saran wrap is no match for a curious cat, and BZ had been snacking on apple pie all night long. Who needs cat food when you can have apple pie? Bad cat!
Brian came over with a bill for the week’s work and I gave him a check. It was cold out and I had a hard time getting motivated to do anything outside, so I stayed inside and worked on c3pr most of the morning and then did some practice runs drilling holes thru butternut shells. It works, but it’s slow.
I finally dragged myself next door to continue de-nailing the pile of wood, and got most of it done, but when I quit, I was cold to the bone and I had my first hot cocoa of the season.
Pizza and a Grey’s Anatomy.
I pulled more than a bucket of nails out of the planks taken from the old roof. It would appear that the original wooden shingles went on with square nails. They came off at some point and the ‘new’ wooden shakes went on with round nails. So the metal roofing we’ve had up to now was the house’s 3rd roof.
sat oct 24
I polished the bf / pf gui for c3pr. It is starting to work pretty good, and I think I need to work on acquisition. I think it is really odd that, all this time when I’ve been talking to the hardware, I’ve never actually taken the cover off the lens to run it in Linux. I’m a little nervous about how badly it’s not going to work.
I went next door and put up the siding outside the utility room. There was rot to repair, and it took way too long. I hate this shit.
Zen and Motorcycles is turning out to be a very bad book.
Really good short ribs on noodles.
Typical plumbing. 1/2″ copper pipe, and and only the last 1/8″ is sweated. I shook it and it came loose.
sun-wed oct 28
It looks like I forgot to blog for a couple of days. I know you missed me.
Not to worry: not a lot happened. Mostly, I met with Meg to see if there’s a reason why my hearing has gone to shit. She took one look at my coil assembly, stifled a gasp, and held it out at arms length like it was going to make her dirty. The plastic has been dissolving for some time now from the oils that ooze from my head have turned it to mush. You’d think this would ring a bell in my head? Nope. I was fixated on: “It’s all digital, so it should either work or not work, but it shouldn’t ‘work worse’. Apparently, I was wrong. So we replaced the coil and then basically puttered around for another 30 minutes, without changing anything. I gotta tell you: I can’t tell the difference. I can’t point to a buzz that’s gone or sharper gradients or a rhythm that’s changed. It sounds to me pretty much like it sounded before. But Mary thinks it’s better. She swears that I’m hearing better than I used to, and considers the problem solved. I guess I’ll take it.
They’re making good progress next door. I’m a little humbled that, in order to fix the roof right, they had to take out the month’s worth of roofing I put in, and my interior framing only made their job that much harder. There’s a lesson there.
I’ve totally fucked up c3pr, and it’s going to take some time to un-fuck it. Next time, back up your changes, jerk! Beyond that, though, I’m having an awfully hard time getting acquisition to work right, and there seems to be a hump ahead of me that I can’t quite get over.
I decided to try making beads out of the butternut husks found in the soffits, and it took some experimenting before I figured out how to drill them out. Hand fatigue was a big deal, and this fixture is my 3rd try. It works pretty good.
thu oct 29
I made a metal collar for the flue so I can patch the hole in it. And I made a mess mixing and molding the mortar, and ran out before the hole was full.
We went to Westford and watched the Board of Abatement file in, along with the town clerk and lister, and the meeting was brought to order. First on tonight’s agenda: Reid Wistort. What’s on your mind, Reid?
“Well, Sirs, I lived here for many years and, when I sold a parcel of land back in 2013, the Grand List got messed up and I didn’t know enough to notice it. The Town sent me supersized tax bills for the next couple of years, and I’ve been paying them ever since.
We just found out about this and I forgive you. But I would really like my money back, and I’m here to ask you to do the right thing.”
“How much is it?”
“It’s about a thousand dollars, give or take.”
“All in favor of paying back whatever the amount is, plus 12% interest, say aye.”
Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye
You’ve gotta love small town governance.
We drove home over the Notch, and either couldn’t find or rejected 2 places to eat on 108, We ate in stowe. Beer and blackened, bony fish at a tony new joint with vinyl records.
The flue had an 8″ hole in it that had been open to the house for umpteen hears. Can you say carbon monoxide hazard? I sealed it with 24 ga steel inside and out, and poured cement into a hole in the jacket, using a cardboard funnel. It worked poorly, but it sort of worked.
fri oct 30
OK, I’ve got a good start on getting c3pr un-fucked. Basically, I went back to windows and showed it works poorly right out of the box. So I sent it to support@bitflow.com and I’m confident they’ll get it right.
I’m guessing I sorted and sanded 3000 butternuts, and I made a real mess while doing it. It took me about 4 hours.
Then I went and got one more load of manure. For good measure.
Then we made hamburgers and caught up on Madam Secretary.
My butternut bead making workflow starts with sanding off a flat on one end.
A big box and a bucket of butternuts about to become beads. Can you say ‘Christmas presents?’
sat oct 31 – Halloween
We were up at the usual time. OK, maybe a little bit late.
Around 10:30, I announced that I was going to unload the manure and if Mary wanted to tell me where she wanted it, she better put a sweatshirt on. She did, and we got a good start on outside chores on a beautiful fall day. I spread the latest 1000# of horseshit while she tended to the asparagus and other chores. That brings it to 3000+ pounds of manure for the gardens this year, so they ought to be very fertile next year.
This year’s garlic crop was a bust, and Mary is blaming it on low-quality seed. So after the manure, we planted 84 really healthy-looking cloves.
We took a break and then set about spreading the huge pile of mulch before it freezes, and had just enough to cover the entire front garden, plus the hillsides and a few other spots.
A lunch break, and then I headed next door to take down the sheetrock in the master bedroom. It turned out I had to move a lot of stuff that was stored in those rooms first, but when I finally got started, it was a very dirty job, and I stripped on the lawn and took a shower.
Mary made a fabulous lamb curry. I started reading American Gods.
Above the ceiling was 1 1/2″ of perlite plus about 4″ of cellulose. A lot of it was wet.
After taking down the ceiling, I looked like a zombie. I walked back home, knocked on the door, and yelled “Trick or Treat!”
I was the only trick-or-treater we got all night.