Category: Personal

Frozen

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A cold morning in Preston, CT
A cold morning in Preston, CT

The thermometer read -7 this morning. Well, it started at -4 when I woke up and then dropped to -7. Apparently it is warmer in Anchorage, Alaska then in Connecticut this morning.

It has been too cold to do much in the workshop in the evenings this week. Maybe it will warm up enough this weekend to get time to do work. If not, I’ll be stuck doing house projects (which wouldn’t be that bad).

I still have a couple of house projects that I need to finish. I have one more door to replace hinges in. I could add an outlet and switch to the bedroom, but if it is too cold to work in the shop, it is probably too cold to work in the attic. At least last weekend was warm enough to get some shop time. I even was able to insulate one of the doors – hopefully that will help me be able to heat the space.

The chickens have been surviving the cold. But, I don’t think they like the snow. I think we will add two more chickens to the flock next summer – that should help next winter. I’ll probably also insulate the roof of the coop. I probably won’t add heat to the coop, but I’ll probably add a water heater so I don’t have to water the birds several times a day when the weather is this cold.

Game Room Renovation

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Targa and Tucker checking out the new booths
Targa and Tucker checking out the new booths

Susanna and I decided that one of the Christmas gifts for the boys will be to renovate their play room/game room. It is a large room over two bays of the garage and had become a collection of broken and dirty toys.  We are turning it from a play room to a game room/rec room – a place for them to hang out as they get older and want space with their friends.

With Christmas approaching, and not too many weekends free when the boys aren’t here, I had to make some progress over Thanksgiving on the project.

The first step was to clean out everything, toys, furniture, etc. I vacuumed and shampooed the carpet. Early last week I found a couch and loveseat free on Craigslist. The first project was moving them to the loft. That took removing some barn boards on the stairs to get room to get them up the narrow stairs. I shampooed the couch and washed the cushions.  I moved the old TV and stand up into a corner – a place for them to watch movies or maybe set up a Xbox or Wii if we let them get one.  The couch and loveseat are ugly, but pretty well built – perfect for them to jump on and destroy (without me caring).

On Friday afternoon, I drove up past Providence to pick up some old restaurant booths that were offered for sale on Craigslist. I was able to get the two booths and tables for $45 – a pretty good deal. I spent yesterday morning and this morning moving the booths upstairs and installing the tables.

TV and couches
TV and couches

Susanna and I will move the soda machine up to the loft one evening when the boys aren’t here, and we will need to wash the booths and tables as well as vacuum the floor again. But I think the room is pretty close right now. 

I still need to add more lights to the room, and an electric heater on a timer. The space isn’t insulated, but it isn’t that large, and will only need to be heated when the boys are using it.

I think there is room for a pool table still, as long as the table isn’t too big. We will need to get rid of the futon (which I stuffed into a corner) if we add a pool table.  I may also add two more window son the south-facing wall to bring in more natural light. I’ll see what the boys want to do with the space.

Now off to watch Ben play soccer and then back to the workshop to finish the second nightstand.

Three Years of Blogging

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Shop Dog
Shop Dog

Three years ago today I started this blog. The fist post was a short “I am trying to start a new blog….  We will see how it goes.”  Well, here it is three years later.

I have over 300 posts. Most of them are longer than the first one. Hopefully some of them are more interesting than the first post. I have added over 500 pictures to the blog as well as written almost 90,000 words over three years.

Here is to the next three years. I hope they are as much fun as the past three years have been.

ADHD

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Opening gifts on Ben's birthday.
Opening gifts on Ben’s birthday. Why this picture? Because, what is a post without a picture. Even if it doesn’t have much to do with the topic.

I love going back and reading my old posts. I almost never have two posts in a row on the same topic. I would like to think of this blog as a great canvas, where I can paint a wonderful picture with my thoughtful words and insightful ideas. However, it is more like an out of focus picture. But at least there are nice colors in it. And it is my picture. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

William likes to say that all dogs have ADHD. So, maybe this is more like a blog that a dog would write. Though not a beagle, I’m pretty sure (not enough smells, and too many colors). However, if you read Will and Ben’s blogs, you will see that their posts wander more than mine. But they are 9 and 10, so they have an excuse.

It really is kind of fun to go back and look at what I wrote. At least it is for me – I can’t say that it would be fun for anyone else. Heck, Susanna has read them all once when they were written. I’m sure reading them all once is plenty.  Well, I assume it is. Someday I’ll have to read them all myself.  Granted, I wrote them all, but clearly there are posts I never read before posting. Hopefully my writing would have been better if I had actually proofread them.

As I approach 300 posts and 3 years writing in this blog, I hope I will find the focus to write 300 more posts over the next three years. Maybe one of these days I’ll actually find something interesting to write about. Once I do that, I’ll then have to try to find words that make me sound like I know what I’m talking about. What are the chances of that happening?

Mid-September update (or rather, random thoughts for the night)

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Taking a snack break with the boys while out bicycling earlier this month
Taking a snack break with the boys while out bicycling earlier this month

I haven’t found much to blog about this month. It isn’t that I have been bored. I have been very busy. But I think I’m still working on getting used to the fall routine. I have to keep reminding myself that writing is a good way to focus on things at home. It gives me motivation to finish projects. It is certainly fun in an ADHD way to start projects. But it is no fun to only blog about starting projects. It is much more fun to write about finishing projects.

I decided to do a little more than just clean the workshop. I am doing a reorganization of the entire shop, and adding a new floor (just rough pine 1×10 boards on top of the existing floor).  I moved my workbench to the back wall, under the window. I will move the table saw back a foot or two to allow for more room when cutting long boards. So far about 1/3 of the floor is installed. I’m also adding insulation around the bottom half of the walls.  Pictures will follow when the workshop no longer looks like an example of typical ADHD organization (or a 10-year old’s room). Really, I will get it organized. It will just take some time.

I haven’t finished too many of the house projects that are still hanging out there. So, they are still sitting out there. But at least they aren’t in the way. I have been focusing on getting the workshop finished. I think the workshop had been enough of a mess after building the chicken coop, that I figured I might as well just do the walls and floor now. Nothing is as much fun as starting a new project. The trick is to finish them. Or at least mostly finish them. A workshop is never really finished.

Maybe this week I’ll find enough focus to finish the workshop and maybe even one of the smaller projects hanging out around the house. I’d be happy with just getting the workshop back to a usable space.

Where there is trouble…

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Tucker on the roof of the chicken coop. He can't get into the run - and it was a bit longer jump down to the ground than Tucker wanted to do.
Tucker on the roof of the chicken coop. He can’t get into the run – and it was a little higher off the ground than Tucker expected.

… usually one can find Tucker.  Today he found his way on to the roof of the chicken coop. I’m not quite sure how he go there, it is a bit of a jump from the driveway wall.  Maybe he jumped on the nesting boxes to get up.

And, yesterday, he pushed his way into the coop while I was building the run for the chickens. He sat in the corner not quite sure what to do – until Susanna and I got him out of the pen.

Tucker finding his way out of the coop.
Tucker finding his way out of the coop.

Chickens (kycklingar)

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Completed chicken coop made with red oak and maple.
Completed chicken coop made with red oak and maple.

It has been a busy two weeks. I don’t write as much when life is crazy. Susanna got her green card and a full time job last week. They wanted her to start training this week, and she hasn’t even finished her last job. The boys start school and soccer this week.

I had been working on building a chicken coop and run. I told myself that I should finish one project before starting another project. Of course I don’t always listen to myself. For a month or so, Susanna and I had been planning on refinishing the living room floor this weekend. Of course things change. A new job. The boys’ schedule. Maybe in hindsight we should have pushed off the floor for a bit. But we didn’t. So I took a break from the chicken coop and over the weekend we finished the floor. The final coat went on last night. But I will save that for a later post when I can get good pictures of the floor. And I’m pretty sure it was worth doing the floor.

The chicken coop was finished yesterday and we picked up chickens from Mark and Jessica Matkovich this afternoon. The coop is 3′ x 8′ and is made from maple and red oak. The wood I had picked up for building the floor in the garage for the wedding, so was free. The shingles are left over from when the previous owner sided the workshop. I had some wire fencing left. The only materials I purchased for the coop was the chicken wire.

The wood was pretty wet when I milled it, so I plan on letting the coop dry for a couple of months and then painting it to match the house.  I have to build a new compost bin (so I can take down the compost bin to the left of the coop) and build a bigger run for the chickens. I hope to finish that next weekend. But for now, the space should be enough for the 4 chickens.

I will have to add some more trim to the coop, and maybe another hinge to support the top. Susanna and I plan on trying to keep track of expenses to see how long it takes to pay off the investment for the coop.

So far our investment in the chickens:

  • $30 for chicken wire
  • $36 for a feeder, feed and bedding (I didn’t want to use the wood chips from milling the coop for the birds – the lumber wasn’t clean enough).
  • $3 for golf balls to encourage the chickens to use the nesting box. Plus they will offer entertainment for me when I mow over them in the yard after the boys leave them around when playing with them.
  • The wood, screws, and roofing was free (existing materials).

The boys are very excited about the chickens. Susanna not so much. But we will get eggs (hopefully soon) and they should help compost table scraps.

My plans are to add a 4′ x 12′ covered run for the birds. This will give 24 square feet of coop space and 72 square feet of run. The compost bin will be at the far end of the run. I will move the feed and water into a protected part of the run – or at least the move the water out where it is easier to check and fill. I may replace the watering system with one that is easier to keep clean – hopefully thanks to the Sawyer farm.

Monday morning

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It is Monday. That means going to work this morning. Although, these days, it might mean staying home on furlough.  I’m doing a mix. I’ll take a couple of hours of furlough today and go into work late. The boys arrive today for the week and both boys have summer camp. Ben is going to basketball camp in Preston. Will is going to Project Oceanology camp in Groton. This morning there is orientation for parents at Will’s camp. Susanna and I will be heading to Groton with Will, and I’ll head into work after orientation.

The first stages of building the chicken coop. I'm not sure this is the right way to go about it, but it seems to be working so far.
The first stages of building the chicken coop. I’m not sure this is the right way to go about it, but it seems to be working so far.

I checked on the chicken coop this morning. No progress was made last night while I was asleep. Oh well. I guess that the fairies and elves that wander the woods behind the house were busy with other projects last night. Or maybe they saw the quality of the construction of the carcase and decided to take no part in the construction. Or maybe they just don’t like chickens.

The posts on the coop are made from red oak. The oak is milled to about 1″ thick. I take two 2″ wide sections and glued and screwed them at a right angle to make a L-shaped column. They are connected with oak stretchers.  I’ll add the chicken wire around the base next, and then build the floor and ramp for the chickens. The walls and then a hinged roof will follow. To the left of the coop will be a run and new compost bins. The oak is pretty wet, so I won’t paint it until later in the year.

A self-made scrapbook of sorts for the boys

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I started blogs for Will and Ben 18-months ago. They are a scrapbook of sorts for the boys, but using their own words. I plan on having the blogs printed into a book every year that they write in them (I already printed them books for last year). Currently the blogs are private and can only be viewed by registered guests. Of course it is more fun to play than to write in their blogs, but I have worked it out with them that they write a couple of days a week when they are at my house. Even Will has grudgingly admitted that it isn’t too bad to write, and it is cool to go back and look at what he has written. So an update on the blogs:

Will has 166 posts over 18 months, he wrote all but a handful of them. He has written 5,656 words with an average of 35 words per post.

Ben has 129 posts over the 18 months, and he also wrote all but a handful of them. He has written 4,752 words with an average of 38 words per post.

Great job boys!