After brutal March, April doing it's best to be, well, April like. Definitely spring: abundant daffodil, tulip blooms; rain. Desire as dry under Swett Lodge work experience as possible, vaguely procrastinate, remove last few wheel barrows fill aside carport/neighbor's - few stumps left rot, worry over time - plaster/cement chunk level;
finish grade behind back porch corner.
Fill, grade round house assists water run off, dry crawl space; joins structure more completely to landscape; reduce grade/floor steps; foster inhabitant/surroundings interaction.
Kate good enough return from her lake place with ferns for Swett Lodge, though she had her hands full dealing with storm damage. Seem to like new home, shady area between buildings, dryer vent warm air waft. Hope ferns proliferate here, use as nursery, spread 'em all over Swett Lodge grounds.
Contemplate Wednesday mall/movie hike; before breakfast, decent morn, layout back brick patio herringbone bond. Decide spend my day my way: irresistible urge set brick patio succumb. Course hellacious weather ensues: cold rain, sleet, wind. Don rain gear, four inch putty knife cut soil couple inches deep around each brick; knife scoop out dirt - mud really - wheel barrow toss; plant brick; step on, squish into ground. Wet weather actually assists laying brick: stead chunky, dry intractable earth; clay mud oozes mortar like.
Tread laid brick repeatedly during construction; add mud dab under tippers, subtract mud under high brick; ultimately create smooth, walkable surface. Grass grown between widely spaced brick, herringbone bond promote under eave water meander off, provide solid clean footing. Replace few cement block/pads, continue bond between cement slabs; leave corner between steps, area between slab/house open as planters.
Attractive, practical chimney - keeping Swett Lodge warm month ago - brick reuse. Delay set brick alongside garage until rework waste plumbing runs underneath ground there. Fireworks man ride by, demands likeness; bubbles on 'bout cheap, original parts procured for his '66 Mustang over the weekend.
Sweet complete visible, aesthetic, permanent project. One begins to see brick walk, carriage lamp, paint freshened, back entry area functional, welcoming, civilized.
Sort brick, figure, save whole brick to complete walk. Mop bucket (roughly eight gallons) load partial brick, haul east side crawl space entry, dump in. Five loads brick pieces, another couple loads various unearthed rocks cached behind garage clears yard of rocky debris, fills crawl space entryway. Don under house gear - coverall, knee pads, water proof vest, rain coat - struggle past brick debris into crawl space. Brick by chunk toss all debris under center beam into 6-8 inch low spot. Arrange debris into French drain - essentially debris fill gully, give water drain, allow surface remain dry - couple five gallon buckets mortar remnants cover.
Crawl space leveling begun, decide important from drainage perspective complete job. Collect remainder crawl space partial block, rock chunks; fill low area under center beam. Wonder bar break fill loose, level floor. On knees, wonder bar as grader, pull wheel barrow load size pile dirt toward myself, back up repeat, pull fill cross floor to low spots. Move 'bout yard of fill, get good 'n grubby. Photos don't reveal much: picture undulate, ravined landscape; pancake replaced.
As child belong to quasi Scout group: Indian Guides (IG). Dad's IG name: Big Hawk. Bro's: Little Hawk. Me: Little Round Hawk. Time's passage acquaints with totem animals, realize mine: owl (little round hawk?!) - run silent, deep. Oregon's duck home, and some odd ones at that. When it comes to folks coping mechanisms this odd ball would most likely classify ostrich; not owl/duck: head in sand. That being the case don't usually get too good a look at other oddities out there. Once in a while though: in your face - can't miss 'em. Ornithological cornucopia and not just in OR: smack dabblers. sex dabblers, meth heads, prozac preeners to mention few. Each bunch has its groupies/wannabees; haven't even gotten to alkies: pot bellied beer suckers, whiskey whiners. Seemingly as many disconnect choices as folk. Of course disconnect too: admit sex dabbler envy even though more than one good night's sleep next group sex party suggests no such interest. My path clearly laic, never for a second wonder why others choose paths - AAA, religion, etc. - limiting exposure to world's vast expanse imbecility. It's bird brains out there!
Take few moments, sunny Sunday front porch, whittle ax handle. Inherit sturdy walnut branch,
circle saw halve four inches one end, utility knife shape branch fit ax eye. Drive ax head onto carved branch, hammer branch wedge section into halved handle, lock head: on the road again.
Peel few siding boards off west side, remove rotten perimeter joist, front porch toss with handle carve scraps, few 'lumberyard' culls (right).
Good news: yes, front two joists rotten all the way across, all joist ends well rotten; rot hasn't migrated into sub floor/wall.
West side piece of cake compared east side: replace two front joists with three, 2x6 stub joist around perimeter - that'll do it.
Revealing, gaping, unsightly hole siding removed;
board/nail bond couple pieces siding together; cover opening between work shifts.
In front room, look past banjo hung on temporary west supporting wall, notice about eight inches below finish floor surface, sunlight limns foundation. Yes, breezy now but knowledge spring's springing, not too many days work separate from Swett Lodge rot expulsion, warms heart's cockles.
Box lumberyard store procure few necessary boards - treated 2x6 sill plates, 2x6 perimeter joists; retrieve hardibacker - beneath tile cement board for bath - panels spoken for on CsList; leaves nothing but to go ahead and rework west side joist system: barely contain excitement - will be so nice to get into Swett Lodge visible projects. Yeah, done with the place looking/feeling like a dump.
Beat goes on.
Enjoy.
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