Arriving - Warren has already cut the trees off the road so it should be clear sailing.
ll the utilities seem to be working in the Hill House. No leaks so far.
The log cabin looks OK from the outside, I'll look inside later.
Looking north toward the point I don't see any downed trees this year.
Loons, ducks, swans and geese are all here already.
These are those creeping phlox that I planted last fall. These will green up when it gets warm won't they?
The deck is set up and the bird feeds are out. Time for a nap.
That old toaster (we've had it since Arlington Heights I think) finally gave up the ghost. Will this new one last that long?
Swans feeding in front of the log cabin.
Finally looked inside the log cabin. No mice - everything looks just as I left it.
Unrolled the car port.
I started raking today (oh boy). Day 1 - rake the area north of the hill house.
Hung the swing under the porch.
Raking: day 2 - the area west of the hill house above the crest of the hill. Luckily I have a swing to rest on between piles.
Raking: day 3 - the hill behind the log cabin. It got cold again.
Raking: day 4 - behind the log cabin. It's still cold.
Raking: day 5 - north of the log cabin. Ticks are out early this year.
Raking: day 6 - south of the hill cabin. I'm tired of raking - tomorrow something completely different.
Hill house bathroom: before.
Everything off the walls and the vanity and toilet tank are removed.
Walls are primed and holes are patched. A little more prep work and then I need to choose a color and paint.
A night visitor. I had to chase him off the deck in order to save the hummingbird feeder. He's not afraid of much.
The walls are painted and this is the new vanity. The top is on order and will be here in about two weeks.
I decided to try a calibrachoa in the hanging basket this year instead of my usual fuchsia.
In the pot by the gate it's a wave petunia.
Rain this evening and then the sun came out.
Finally, a dry day that isn't windy. I can spray some water sealer on the dock boards.
It was a real pain this year putting out the dock. I had to dig new holes for the shore anchors.
Hummingbirds are back.
Boat in the water and motor on. Getting the motor on the boat without falling in always feel like a little victory.
Raking: day 7 - south of the log cabin.
Plumbing today. I need to replace the old faucet on the utility sink.
At last a decision on the bathroom and hall floor (and maybe the kitchen too). New plank on top of existing bedroom floor.
Planted the barrel by the garage door.
Raking: day 8 - the hill in front of the hill house (south of the stairs). The end is in sight.
Let's see how hard it is to strip off this old linoleum in the hall.
Note to Rob: This shingle removal shovel you bought is the perfect tool to lift up the linoleum and the 1/4" underlayment
A little messy but not too bad - about 2 hours. (The bathroom and the kitchen will come later.)
Chris arrives, just in time to help with the bathroom.
This hole is where the old light/fan/heater used to be. The attic up there is a nasty place.
The new vent fan is a little smaller so I'll need to put up a sliver of drywall and some plaster.
Today's goal: a light in the bathroom. I hope I'm done going into the attic for a while.
All right, I'll give this creepy phlox one more try. If this doesn't survive I'll go to snow-on-the-mountain, or maybe mint - Dorothy says that mint is indestructible.
Two dorks in their new bass fishing t-shirts. I'm the Bass Player and Chris is The Bass Whisperer. Thank you Dorothy.
Bathroom ceiling patched and painted.
Flooring put down in the hall between the bedroom and the bathroom.
This new oscillating saw is an amazing tool. I don't know how we would have been able to lay down the floor without it.
A table saw, miter saw and a jigsaw are also pretty essential tools too.
I really shouldn't be surprised that there were rotted boards under the linoleum around the toilet.
Rotted boards removed and replaced.
New floor laid in bathroom.
Crap! The new toilet won't fit with the existing plumbing. Do I change the plumbing or take back the new toilet.
New vanity and top installed but I reinstalled the old toilet.
Reinstalled the baseboard in the hall and the bathroom.
A couple of dead balsams to cut down and cut up behind the hill house. We did several north of the log cabin a few days ago.
A brew and a little breather before fishing.
I'm told by reliable sources that a whole house water filter will mitigate the iron stains in the sink and tub.
No turning back now. I'm using Shark Bite solderless connectors - very cool.
I'll let you know if the iron staining goes away.
The outboard motor keeps dying. We suspect a carburetor problem.
A YouTube video showing how to remove and clean this carburetor gave us the courage to try it. The end result: it's running like a champ. I AM SO HAPPY!
These are the hot & cold feeds up to the bathroom toilet and sink.
These are the hot and cold feeds behind the toilet. These pipes are the reason the new toilet will not fit.
I've cut a hole in the plaster so I can unsolder that hot pipe coming out. (That's aluminum foil behind the pipe so I don't burn down the house.)
Now I just have a single cold water pipe behind the john. It's still on the wrong side but an 18" flexible hose will reach the tank fitting.
Summer has arrived.
Finally a good rain. I'm feeding three separate burn piles to get rid of all the brush we've cut.
1.6gpf toilet redux. Tip from Handyman magazine: outline toilet position with tape and apply a bead of caulk inside tape.
There! That was easy.
Now all that's left is to get a bucket of golf balls and test it.
Original old john back in place. Alas, some things just weren't meant to be.
Fresh bass on the grill, coleslaw and corn bread. It doesn't get any better.
It's been raining for two days.
I'm replacing the linoleum floor in the kitchen today. It's only 60 sq ft - this will be a breeze.
What could go wrong? OMG, the underlayment was glued to the subfloor. Neither the bedroom, bathroom nor hallway was glued.
Also the underlayment was put down before the cabinets were installed so I have to cut it at the edge of the cabinets. (I did kind of expect that.)
But having to get up all that black mastic glue was not something I planned for.
At last (9:00) and I'm finally ready to put down the new floor. The glue took about 5 hours to remove.
Like I said, this was a breeze. (There were 0 boards left over.)
Here's Chris prepping the north side of the log cabin for staining. We'll need to re-caulk around the fireplace too.
This is me trying out a new product called Wet&Forget. We'll know in a month or so if it really kills moss.
Chris staining the north side of the log cabin. This should only take a couple of days.
The grass I planted behind the log cabin is starting to show.
Note to self: do not leave the storage room door open and unattended (for even 30 minutes) if I want to keep my sunflower seeds safe from squirrels.
Oak boards from Menards are individually shrink wrapped.
Chris with a personal best: 5.2 pounds.
I think I'll use a layout like this for the top of the sofa table.
Big burn tonight. (Note: spent propane canister in fire - major disappointment.)
This big balsam has started to lean even more toward the house.
All the rain this spring may have contributed to the tree leaning more. Anyway it'
Here's an early fitting (pre-glue, pre-biscuit) of the table top. There is certainly a difference between working with oak versus pine.
Cutting slots for biscuits to assemble the table top.
The top is is almost ready for glue.
After a hot walk in the woods we salute out halcyon days in Florida with some frozen daiquiris. How did I do this every weekend?
I'll split the wood from that big balsam and burn it in the fireplace this fall.
The rest of it goes up in smoke today.
I originally tried to glue up 7 of the 9 pieces that make up the top all at one time - epic fail!
I then did it in steps. This is the 4th step which completes the 7 segments that comprise the center of the top. Much better.
I added the last 2 segments of the top (the 5" end caps). A little preliminary sanding and then on to the bottom shelf.
Below 90 today so Chris and I cut down 4 dead birch trees north of the log cabin. More stuff to split later.
Chris is trying to give this old lawn mower one more shot at a new life. We'll see.
This is the jig I'm using to put a taper on the lower insides of the table legs.
Here it is in action.
This is the bottom shelf with the corners clipped off.
This a jig to cut a dado along the inside of the table legs.
It took me a few tries to get the correct width for the dado blade.
Here I am finally cutting the dadoes. (My right index finger still twitches whenever I use this blade.)
A close-up of how these are going together.
And here is the first opportunity to put some of these pieces together into something that resembles a table.
-- Final Score --
Bill 160.6 (72)
Chris 135.9 (65)
Average size:
2009: 1.83 (71)
2010: 1.84 (53)
2011: 1.94 (92)
2012: 2.23 (72)
(Let us hope that Kookemup was wrong.)
Chris leaves. Thanks for all your help.
Here are the stiles and rails for the grid section. I decided to use dowels.
Here they are dry fitted.
Here is another early mock-up to give me a chance to see if I like the proportions.
Here is a first stab at the horizontal grid elements with the half-laps cut in.
A new blade for the table saw. It does make a difference.
If I don't get faster making these half-lap joints I won't get this thing done before it snows.
I'm almost done with the first grid. I am getting faster with this but it still takes me way too long to do these.
Rob, Terri, Brandon and Andrew (NP) arrive.
I started work on the second grid.
The second grid is ready for glue up.
Can you see the wild turkeys. They are very skittish - hard to get a good picture.
The two grids are done. I can get a better sense of what it will look like now.
I'm ready to glue up the boards that will be used for the center shelf and supports.
It's often said that you can never have too many clamps. How true.
Making progress on the center shelf supports. I'm almost done cutting wood.
Here we have the back supports dry fitted. The rear vertical support and the front grid have a dado to receive the side.
I decided to continue with dowels to connect the rails to the legs.
I will need to cut a stopped dado in the bottom shelf to allow the side support to nestle into.
And this would be classified as an error. Note to self: be sure the fence is securely locked down before plowing in dadoes.
Rob with one of his many fish.
Rob, Terri & Brandon hit the road for Denver. (Andrew flew back to Houston EARLY this morning.) Congrats Brandon on winning the fishing tournament.
It would be really bad if I screwed up this stopped dado. Check and double check. The vertical side supports will fit into these.
A rare change to use a hand tool. All went well.
Here's another cut I don't want to screw up - the two verticals are laid side by side so I can plow a dado for the center shelf with one pass.
Looks good.
These are top caps over the verticals. The table top will rest on these.
I've elected to use dowels to fix the grids to the legs ...
... and biscuits to align the grids with the bottom shelf.
Everything was already sanded smooth, so I just need to sand off the pencil marks. I now have no excuse for delaying the glue up.
OK, no more procrastination, this is the left side glued up.
So, here we are, all glued together. A little final sanding with some 220 grit and then I have to decide what to do about a finish.
This is the scheme I'm using to attach the top. (Thanks to Geoff for the idea.)
This is what it looks like attached.
This is the first look with everything assembled. Now a finish. (I'm leaning towards Watco Natural Danish Oil and a clear satin lacquer.)
Left 1/3: bare wood Center 1/3: Danish Oil Right 1/3: Danish Oil + lacquer
After some time off I'm back to work on the table. Here we have the Danish oil applied.
This is a hummingbird feeder with no hummingbirds. Despite the fine weather they have all left.
It was cold today! I decided it was time to start splitting some wood.
Dinner tonight at The Pines with Barbara, Bob and Helen.
Hello Dorothy - that's Bemidji international airport in the background.
It's time to stop screwing around with this.
Now I need to find stuff to put in and on it.
Maybe some speakers in the side sections and a small stereo.
Little projects today. Here we have the old bookcase in the log cabin bedroom (books already gone).
And now we have an empty corner ready for ... I don't know, something else.
This is the wood box in the hill house. It's always bothered me that it doesn't fit tight to the wall.
So I cut the baseboard behind it and now I'm not bothered any more.
Just like hummingbirds leaving and leaves changing this is another sure sign that summer is over.
An objet d'art for the bathroom
Dorothy abandons the tranquility of the north woods for the relative chaos of Detroit.
OK Dorothy, here's a picture of the fireplace. This is what I've been doing since you left.
I don't know if you can tell here but the lake is as low as I've ever seen it.
I installed some retractable wheels on the assembly table so now I can easily move it by myself.
Snow already? I hope there are still some warm days ahead because I've got a lot of outside stuff yet to do.
Someone to help me bring in the dock and boat.
The ducks are tucked away for the winter.
Everything stowed away.
Another season is almost over.
I thought this was interesting. This is that old house on the left of 90 (down a steep slope) - kind of across from Astrid's place. Know which one I mean?
So anyway, it's going to be moved. It took one day to get those giant I-beams underneath the floor.
Looks like no new activity today. There is some steep and rough terrain to navigate before this can get to the road. I don't see how.
Breakfast with Trish this morning.
I guess these guys know what they're doing.
The house is off the foundation.
... and ready to get eased down the hill.
All three guys are under the house while they're lowering it. That shows a certain amount of confidence in your work.
It's almost like it was never there. But where is it?
Here it is. They drove it about a half mile across the field and are getting ready to go up onto the road.
Hill cabin all closed up.
Log cabin is closed up too.
And here I am leaving. The end of another great summer.