deconstructing because of changing ideas

That sharpening truck I was building?  Yeah.  I took it apart Wednesday and Thursday.  Yes, I worked on Thanksgiving.  It is okay because it was a low key Thanksgiving for us but I think I might have preferred to work on some of my own projects.

My Beloved and his engineering friend decided what I was building was not going to work in the long run.  Mostly hold up.  I can be okay with that.  Since I had problems taking parts of it apart, that may not be a true statement but I can change.  It seems like most wood projects that my Beloved is part of change scope.  The question is how many times do they change scope!  If this is the only one, cool!  But if not, I have ideas on how to do this build better.  Part of building is taking things apart.

I drove a couple hours one way yesterday to look at a different solution.  I could not see it in that form.  We are going to go look at a different solution on Monday.  I did get to eat Thanksgiving leftovers outside in a rest area yesterday!  I did realize that I wanted to keep going west.  North would have been good too.

Am I in the holiday spirit?  Not really.  Though have downloaded a radio app on my phone for a station that only plays Christmas music between now and Christmas.  I like the decorations.  The music.  Some of the food.  I like making things for people but time might be very limited this year.  I will do what I can.  I will take care of the Bear and the Velociraptor.  Then, it will be my Beloved and the Tall Short Person.  Everything else may be limited except for my Mom's stocking, which I normally do.  Instead of cookies, I am thinking about sending everyone scones and homemade jam.  Because the jam is already made and the scones are much less work then dozens of cookies.

I will have Koda Bear help me hang the tree when he gets home tomorrow.  We may have an actual tree as well this year.  Though I am thinking about purchasing the live Alberta spruce I saw at the grocery store.  It might survive in the yard if I plant it!

go devil

We like watching Discovery's Alaska: The Last Frontier.  As we told our neighbors down the mountain from us, it reminds us of the mountain even when we are living five minutes from downtown.  Just a little bit more remote maybe.  I think there are the same numbe of characters though.  We have fun when we are there.

On Alaska:  The Last Frontier, Otto had built a Go Devil.  It is a log sled.  Since we are going to have many trees to move, which will be many times in the form of logs, the boyos decided to build a go devil. 

I think every male in the shop had input.  It so so completely over engineered it is hilarious.

But they all had fun.

And we now have a sled to attach to the tractor to move logs.  Or maybe a four wheeler when we get one.  This is actually not the final version.  Paint got added to protect the metal.  It was hauled in a Subaru up a mountain to its home.

Yes, this is my life.  Like I can dig in the garden with an apron over my work dress, stockings, gloves, and boots and get less on me then when I go eat tacos.  True story from this evening.  So very me.  But the dug garden is much bigger!

earth plastering

This weekend was all about horrible allergies and working on the back bathroom.  Many years ago, the Tall Short Person came to us and said "there is a hole in the bathtub."  After talking to some contractor friends, we found out the bathtub had be installed incorrectly.  Therefore, it cracked and a hole developed.  That had to come out.  The carpet had to come out.  

It took more years then I would like to admit for us to do something about it.  This back bathroom has very strange dimensions which made finding a tub to fit it a difficult proposition.  The better statement is an affordable bathtub was hard to find.  But I did recently.  

We had our handy man come in and fix my Beloved's sheetrock job.  Mr. Hill said it was not the worst he had ever seen.  Especially for the first time doing sheetrock.

On Saturday, out came the earth plaster.  It is clay and sand with water and pigment mixed in.

Then many hands got to work.  Small Mister kept saying "DIRTY!"  It is mud.  

By the end of the weekend, we even got a laminate floor installed.  The tub is sitting the bathroom now but it is not plumped.  Now, I will freely admit that the floor and the baseboards are not perfect but there is nothing square, flat, and true about this room.  I am a bit amazed they look as good as they do.  I am very pleased, especially since I have felt like total crud most of this long weekend.  Something blows in in the evenings or opens up and I can no longer breath.

Next week will be better.  Mountains, here we come!

boxes

I have been thinking that I needed some wooden boxes for a while now.  Growing up, my Dad always built them so I was used to having them around.  Especially with Small Mister so much in our home, the boxes kept sounding like a good idea.  My Dad suggested that we use 1/4" plywood with 1" x 12" x 16" ends.  No supports down the seems.

We have five boxes made now.  I cut the tops today so the three we have with the chairs have tops.  I am actually going to retrofit 1"x 1" supports on the bottoms.  I pull out the hand tools.  My Beloved pulls out the power tools.  I guess that tells you a lot, yes?

I am also going to pick up some 1/2" plywood and build some more boxes.  There is going to be a kitchen camping box and a clothes box.  Two boxes to throw in the back of the Suburban.  With a cooler, we would be almost ready to go except for bedding.  

I have been enjoying working with wood lately.  There is a table I want but I do not have the need.  But I may build all my own kitchen counters and storage underneath.  I really like the old European kitchens I see where everything is wood and open shelving.  It gives me thoughts.  And the need for my hand tools.

adirondack

I like adirondack chairs.  I actually have an adirondack rocker that I bought myself during graduate school.  It was the one gift I bought myself as a summer intern when I was making three times a month what I made during the school year.  Since I only worked 2 1/2 months, I saved the rest for when it got tight or little tiny things like Christmas or birthdays.

When the Small Mister was born, we let the Tall Short Person use my Beloved's overstuffed rocker.  This means we have been without a chair for a bit of time.  There is a blog I read, Ana White's blog, that had a couple of adirondack designs.  Ana White actually did a class for Home Depot.  After reading this blog, my thought on most furniture is "I can do that."  Like I need anymore projects!  But this one I really wanted to do.

I bought the lumber with the help of my Beloved and Small Mister.

You have to realize that I thought I was building this but due to wood and power tools being involved, I became the assistant.

I had lots of help measuring.

With a few screw ups, the chair went together in a couple of hours.

We used plane white board (fir or pine, cheapest on the shelf).

And exterior screws.  The screws were the most expensive bit of the whole project.  The project called for wood glue but we did not use any.

We have a new chair.  I find it very comfortable.

We pushed back the mess and the chair has found a home in our main living space.  Actually, mess is gone too.  What an impetuous to clean:  new furniture.  I have a place to sit now when I come home from work.  We need to make a few of these for the land.  Maybe even one with rockers so I can still have a rocking chair.  Short people have a tendency to end up in my lap and spin or read or rock.