Everything looks OK. It's a little colder than I thought it would be.
Can you see the ice sheet out there?
A few trees across the road but Warren cut a path for me before I came.
A little work with the chain saw and the road will be fine.
The car port is up - just in time to beat the rain.
Last night there was ice covering most of the bay, this morning it's gone.
It's only a dusting, but still...
Still raking.
Dock out.
First hummingbird of the season.
This bear was on the deck. Standing on his hind legs he's over 6' tall.
Chris arrives.
I'm betting on no more frost, so I've planted flowers in the barrel.
First fish of the season - 3 1/2 pounds - huha!
I still cannot buy 1x8 drop siding with the same profile that we use here.
So I need to cut down a standard 1x8.
Finished product.
Rotted boards on the back of the boathouse.
Mice have chewed a tunnel right through the rotted sill plate.
Old siding removed...
As well as the rotted portion of the sill plate.
New PT 2x4 sill plate.
We had to apply some pressure to get the new T&G siding to mate properly.
Not bad! Just a little brown paint to finish up.
A Brand new sheet of 3/4" plywood.
Putting a 3/4" rabbit on the back of one side.
One cabinet almost done.
Scrubbing 10 years of moss off the roof - a nasty job.
Drilling peg holes to hold some shelves.
Another dead birch tree ...
... becomes fire wood.
Two narrow cabinet carcasses ready for face frames.
Using pocket screws ...
... to make the face frames.
I routed a slot at the top of the face frame for a cutting board.
Face frame attached.
Here are grooved thingies for the cutting board to slide in.
I'm trying to recycle the old doors - cut down, round over and rabbit.
Now I need to match this stain.
Huge dead birch behind the cabin needs to come down.
We removed the railing just in case, but it wasn't necessary. I should have had more faith.
It took 3 hours but ... success.
Ruth's cat
?/?/1989 - 6/11/2011
Almost done with the stain and shellac. Tomorrow is installation day.
This is a "before" picture.
Now there is no turning back.
First surprise: the base under the range cabinet runs under the left hand cabinets too.
Attaching new side cabinets.
I still need to modify the old counter top to accept the new range.
Since my kitchen is all torn up Trish invited Chris and me over for dinner.
Here I am expanding the size of the cutout in the old counter top.
Side cabinets and counter top just waiting for something new.
The new range arrived and it fit!
Rain all day today so here is the first burn of the year.
Bear at the cabin again.
I need to do something with the space where the old oven used to be and fix those burn marks.
I need to at least put on a door and a bottom shelf.
Painting today: Chris doing the back of the boat house ...
... and me priming the deck.
Shelves for side cabinets - plywood with edge banding. (Is that cheating?)
One more board to replace on the boat house.
Here's Chris staining the south side of the log cabin. (Me, I'm still working on the deck.)
Chris finished staining the south side of the log cabin this morning. (Can't you tell?)
Finishing up on the white trim around the windows. Now the south side is done.
Now THIS is a mess.
I'll replace these old shelves.
New shelves - I'm sure everything will be neat and orderly from now on.
Some extra 2x6s and 1x6s that want to be made into something.
I've cut the 2x6s into three 27" and three 30" pieces.
Here's a jig to help me route out 3/4" from the ends of the 2x6s. That's a 60 degree angle there.
Here I am using the jig. There's too much wood to remove using just the router.
So I'm using a stacked dado blade to remove everything from the initial cut out to the end.
I want to remove about 1/8" from part of the 2x6 to get rid of that little radius that is on the edges of dimensional lumber.
Here are two of the 2x6s so you can see the half lap joint. Now you see why I needed to trim off that 1/8".
The initial glue up of the half lap joints. There are three of these.
I knew that there was a reason why I kept that scrap of hardboard for the last ten years.
The hardboard makes a perfect template.
I now need to route out 3/8" off of each side of the half lap up about 4" from the peak.
This is what it looks like after removing the 3/8".
Here is the glue up of the 3/8" scab that will hopefully reenforce the half lap joint.
We were going to have bass for dinner last night but when we went to get them the live box was empty.
Here are the rough cut 2x6 pieces. I needed to add two more 2' pieces.
This is how I hope to trim the 2x6s to their exact shapes.
And it worked pretty well.
I'm almost done shaping these pieces, just some final finishing touches and then I can move on to the 1x6s.
Chris cleaned up the south side of the log cabin. Now I need some nice shade tolerant perennials - any suggestions?
I'm using a dowel to guide this forstner bit so I can counter sink this hole.
It actually worked.
Here's an early mock-up.
I want to put some sort of carving on the ends but this is way out of my comfort zone.
Maybe another template and I can use the router again.
OK, here's the decoration on the ends. An artist would have just carved this with a set of chisels, I used a router - I'm no artist.
Here's a patch for the live box. Now all we need are a couple of fish.
Bill 178.1 (92)
Chris 171.1 (93)
Final score
YAHOO
Chris leaves. As always thanks for all your help.
Rob, Terri, Brandon and his girl friend arrive (boat in tow).
Here are the components of the porch swing; primed and with one coat of paint. Some assembly required.
And here it is put together. I can't believe it, I need at least one more slat.
Enough rain today to finally burn this pile of brush that's been here for weeks.
Andrew arrives, still with a bum knee.
I added some more slats - it's ready to hang.
Here is how the 1/2" rope will thread through the front.
And the peak will use this stuff.
This is the eye bolt secured to a joist.
And finally - the finished swing.
Rob caught this 48" (20 lb) muskie on a scum frog.
Rob, Terri, Andrew, Brandon, Ashton and Bandit leave (early in the morning).
Jim, Aubrey & Taylor roll in at 10:30.
I have this partial sheet of plywood left over from the kitchen project.
"A good carpenter lets no wood go unused"
It's been 5 years since this has seen the light of day.
This little project won't be as much fun as the swing.
Jim and the girls leave this morning in a drizzling rain.
I put a semi-transparent stain on the deck today.
This is the miter saw cart I'm building. It still needs wheels, a drawer and doors.
After experimenting with several exotic schemes to hold the wings up ...
... I finally opted for a simple, low tech, solution.
I finally got the drawer slides from Amazon so I could build the drawer.
I really do not like to paint above my head. That's why the underside of the deck is taking so long.
I'd much rather putter around with my woodworking projects.
I had to get a 1 3/8" Forstner bit before I could install these hidden hinges.
This pileated woodpecker hung around for about an hour.
Dorothy arrived yesterday, just in time to help me finish the miter saw cart today.
No hummingbirds for the last couple of days. Is summer ending?
I'm adding an outlet outside which will piggyback off of this inside socket.
Here is the outside box.
And here is the finished outside outlet.
Dorothy leaves - thanks for your help.
I decided to try blue creeping phlox as the ground cover next to the cabin.
We'll see next spring how much of this stuff survives.
I finally built a shelf for that old clock from grandma Allen.
This is me finishing up with the underside of the deck. That was easy.
It's too warm to stay inside so ... I suppose I can refinish the boat seats.
There's two of them. If the weather stays nice maybe I can do the two with the swivel seats.
Trish and I found this little drop-leaf side table in Bemidji.
I think it's just right for next to the chair.
Before. One end table next to the sofa, leaving the far end of the room too dark.
After. An end table on both sides of the sofa and some much needed light.
I brought in the dock today. It's freakishly warm up here - 20 degrees above normal. I usually wait until it's cold and rainy. (Still working on the boat seats.)
Boat seats done: sanded, stained and many coats of polyurethane. How long will this last?
All the toys are stowed away for the winter. You're right Jim, it is kind of sad - the end of another season.
Even the ducks look a little melancholy.
Log cabin all buttoned up for the winter.
Car port rolled up.
Everything is in the shed that is suppose to be there. I did close the window.
The water is off, the pipes are drained, and the water softener has been emptied.
The grill, deck furniture and swing are in the garage.
One last soulful look at the lake.
And a parting shot of the hill house in the rear-view mirror - I'm out of here.