Headed Outside Are We?

It seems as after a very active winter on FWW, things are slowing down. I have no problem with this as I think people are headed outside now. Its still a bit cool here, with way to much snow to do any yard work or anything, but I know Maine is a little slower then the rest of the nation. Heck one person was even mowing his lawn already.

Myself I don't see much shop time in my future. Right now Patty and I must take Foster Parent classes every Saturday for the next month, but are eligible to take in children at any time. Not only will I be building "my herd" child wise, I got a few calfs showing up soon, so raising beef will take up a bunch of my time too. Then there is some logging I must do (for the cows), all of Alyson's fatherly needs, and of course the yard work and mowing. As I said, not much shop time in my future.

That about sums up my Spring plans, anyone else got a full plate of things to do?

One of the aweful downsides of living where it don't snow is that you have to mow yer yard all year long. It's really terrible, for sure. The hardships we endure, huh?

Full plate ... I guess mine qualifies. Having gutted the garage of its drywall and wiring, I put up a new truss over the garage door area (took out the opener, i can lift the door if i need to open it). Then I filled in the space between them with ceiling joists so I can insulate. I also redid all the wiring and the rough-in's pretty well done. So now my future consists of:

Hang all the insulation (30 rolls at 40sqft each, i'll use 95% of them if all goes well).
Put down sleepers and lay the subfloor.
Hang the drywall on the ceiling.
Hang the drywall on the walls.
Tape/Mud
Prime
Paint
Paint
Paint
oh, and paint.
Do the finish wiring.
Hang light fixtures where they go.
Trim the windows and doors.
baseboards
Plumb for compressed air
Hang the DC system where it'll go.
Build a door for the Compressor/DC room.
Install attic fan.
Build gable vents.


Almost everything hinges on the previous step. I figure i might be making (furniture inspired) sawdust by the end of May. Evenings and weekends really make this stuff take awhile. Dang day job!

Well, i just spent a weekend trenching and laying pipe to re-route my downspouts. It's rained the past 4 days straight and my basement is still dry! Didn't know it was possible.
My triage list is bottom heavy - not too many front burner issues, just a few year's worth of other stuff. It makes it easier to blow a day or two off to go canoeing with the kids.
1) make new storms for the house (the old wood type - the aluminum tripple tracks are junk)
2) install new boiler
3) finish Atlas table saw rebuild for friend
4) finish and install built-in cabinets for dining room
5) repair wall sconse lighting in entry way (somehow i'm getting 120 volts when the switch is on and 20 volts when the switch is off)
6) install linen closet door in bathroom
7) strip and paint 12 windows
8) replace rotting back stairs
9) finish drawing up neighbor's back deck/balcony/stairs
10) finish friend's 1830's house renovation drawings
11) build router table (so i can make the storm windows)
12) repair 2 small areas of damaged plaster
13) rebuild 1880's wood lathe - learn to turn.
and i'm sure i'll find a host of other little projects to fill my time
I'm in a spot where i have a lot to fill my time, but i can stop to smell the roses if i want. Not bad.
Oh, and i might be going to China in a few weeks for work. I'm pretty excited about the possibility.
Paul Hubbman

Paul Hubbman said:

Oh, and i might be going to China in a few weeks for work. I'm pretty excited about the possibility.
Paul Hubbman

Click to expand...

Anything you can expand upon? Since its half way across the world I assume its a pretty big project like a stadium or arena or something??? (I mean like a hockey arena. There is a reason why I had define that)

I remember the ex-wife and I were down in North Carolina and we were getting homesick pretty bad. We saw this sign for an Arena, and since it was a Saturday morning we figured we could spend the morning watching some pee-wee hockey players in a game or just practicing. Either way pee-wee hockey is a riot just because they fall down all the time and are pretty comical skating about. Well we were quite disappointed when we drove into the parking lot and found out the "Arena" was for horses.