Cabin Crafted

Tag: staining

  • Maintenance

    When our house was under construction and due to having a heavy timber roof, thus cathedral ceilings, we knew we were going to need scaffolding.  The contractor that did the log erection and rough carpentry used a Skidsteer with a platform that his crew stood on, but our eldest son was doing the finish carpentry, stone mason work, floors, doors and cabinets with his partner and whatever other crew they could pull together. He priced renting scaffolding, but realizing how long this would take, it made economic sense to purchase our own.

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    The 12 sections are stored in our barn when not being loaned out or used by us.  We have had to haul sections down to repair a ceiling fan and a few other repairs.  One of our Farmers Market friends used it to build a washing shed on his farm, but mostly it just leans up against a wall.  We are going to need it for re-caulking the logs and re-staining, so today while hubby and grandson went to a movie, I started hauling it down to the house.  First wrestling with the utility trailer that occupies the same barn bay to get it on my car.  The car won’t fit under the top edge of the bay and the floor slopes downhill slightly and is littered with decades old dried manure chunks.  Somehow I managed to wrestle it to the hitch and pull it out of the bay.

    Then the fun began.  The 24 sides, as many of the cross tie bars, the feet and pins were loaded in the trailer and hauled down to the house.  Unfortunately, there is another load of walk boards and more cross tie bars waiting in the barn, but I am too tired to unload the trailer, much less go refill it, so it will sit until help arrives home.

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    Fortunately, we purchased all the remaining necessary supplies, including a 2″ x 12″ x 16′ board to use as a connector walkboard today, so tomorrow we can unload and reload the trailer.

    Oh, broody hen is still sitting on an empty nest regardless of my efforts.  I wonder if she would sit on and raise the 15 meat chicks due tomorrow?

  • Olio – August 6, 2014

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    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things.

    As our last week with our grandson this summer is closing and since he was such a good traveler last week we gave him another afternoon at the Frog Pond, the public pool.  He enjoys this outing.  The pool has a large shallow circular pool with an island, an umbrella that showers water down and a small frog shaped slide then an attached deeper pool with two water park type tube slides into it.  He slides and gets out, slides again, then gets into the shallow area and plays splash tag with other kids.  Neither of us got in with him today.

    Broody hen is winning.  Yesterday, I repeatedly removed her from the nest, put bags of ice in the nest (she sat on them), and finally blocked off the nest (she moved over one).  This morning, after I blocked off both of the ones she prefers last night, she had moved over yet another one and was sitting, puffing up and pecking at me when I try to move her.  I have pulled her out of the nest and put her in the pen several times today and just a few minutes ago, I found her again, sitting on an egg.  In the past 11 days, we have gotten only 2 eggs and she broke one of them.

    Yesterday, I brought in several pints of jalapenos and pickled them for Jim, who eats one with nearly every dinner I prepare.  There are dozens of Ancho peppers turning red, a pint of so of red cayenne’s, a handful of Habeneros.  The Tomatillos skins are beginning to dry and split, showing the fruit inside.

    This morning, our neighbor who has been gone for 2 years, having returned a couple of nights ago, came down to visit and say hello.  He tried to help get my solar charger on the electric fence to charge the fence.  The charger will shock you if you touch the connector with a wire, but won’t charge the braided wire that the charger requires.  I sent him home with a grocery sack full of rainbow chard and several jars of various jams.  He will be helping us over the next few weeks to get our porch and deck re-stained before winter.

    Our eldest, father of the visiting grandson, will be here this weekend to begin setting up scaffolding and caulking between the logs of the garage so that we can begin staining again.  Log homes require frequent staining until the logs have absorbed enough of the oil stain, then it can be done with less frequency.  Knowing what we know now, though we love our wood house, we probably would not have built a log home, rather one that was easier to maintain.

    The weather over the next few days is to be cooler and wet, so the final outings with grandson will have to be of the indoor variety.