For the last two weeks, I have been on vacation. I have used that time to work on our new house and have been so busy that I have not been able to keep up with my daily blog entries. I have decided to forgive myself for this lapse and to consider it part of my vacation from normal daily routines. To start the new year, I thought I would take a look back at the kids when they were small. Few things make my heart happier than these tiny windows into the past and I can think of no better way to kick off a new year. I am happy to report that all three are gainfully employed and living independently, each less the 30 minutes away from us and minutes away from each other.

Out of an abundance of caution, we celebrated Christmas Eve outdoors this year. The kids joined us at our new home where we set up a temporary firepit just outside the house. There we enjoyed take-out Chinese food by the warmth of the fire. It was no less enjoyable than years past and perhaps even more so on a certain level. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for and our camping-like setting only minimized the distractions of modern life allowing us to focus more on each other.

Hoping to see the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn in the early night sky, Jeanine and I drove to a nearby field with an expansive view of the horizon. Already parked there were a dozen cars of similarly intentioned individuals. I immediately set up my tripod and mounted my camera and 600mm telephoto lens. I looked to the southwest by west direction and spotted a bright light in the sky. When I looked in the viewfinder, I could not believe how beautiful the image was. It kept changing colors as the clouds moved by. I was very excited that the predicted cloud cover was not obscuring the view. As I continued to take photos, I noticed that the object seemed to be moving. What’s more, the view through my lens did not match what I was seeing with my eyes. Long story short; I had aimed my camera at an approaching plane and my lens was not focused at the correct distance leading to exaggerated size and color effects. Below is a similarly defocused picture of our Christmas “tree” featured in a recent post.

Jeanine enjoys cooking over fire. The fact that our last home was one of only two in the entire neighborhood that was connected to natural gas was a big selling feature. Our new house is not and cooking over fire and will require the addition of a propane tank on the outside of the house. I have been encouraging her to consider an induction cooktop which offers many advantages if not familiarity. Today, she agreed to give one a test drive in our current kitchen which launched me on a research and shopping project. Although I found a couple of very nice units, lead times are running 6-8 weeks.

Between the Covid-19 pandemic and having just moved into our new house, we have decided to keep our Christmas celebration as simple as possible. Behold our Christmas tree. It proudly stands 24″ tall and is adorned with simple white lights.

While working on the house today, I managed to cut my wrist on a sharp piece of metal. Unable to locate a bandaid, I had to make do with a wadded-up paper towel and zip tie. Crude as it was, this improvised bandage did the trick and served its purpose until Jeanine could properly patch me up.

Note to my mother: This was not a serious injury. My tetanus shots are current. I will be more careful in the future.

Ever since moving into our new neighborhood, we have been amazed by the warmth and friendliness of the community. Today, our neighbors to the north stopped by to introduce themselves and deliver a lovely welcome basket to us. In the evening, we participated in an organized Covid-safe neighborhood stroll. We enjoyed a sampling of holiday lights, live music, singing, a barrel fire, and holiday treats.

I am making steady progress on plans for the renovation of our new home. Pictured above is the layout of the first floor only. It will occupy the as-built footprint of the house. We would like to trade our existing detached garage and dual carport for a 2 1/2 car attached garage if approved by the Concord Natural Resource Commission. The NRC must sanction any such projects that are undertaken within 200 feet of a river. While the approval process is very expensive and time-consuming, the work of the commission is why our rivers are so pristine. Our final plans will likely change once we involve an architect which we are hoping to hire next week after several months of vetting candidates.

In normal years, I spend quite a bit of time creating a trifold holiday card featuring my favorite family photos from the year. Last year, the entire lot of cards went into the trash when the kids voiced their dissatisfaction with the images I chose. This year, our card is a combination holiday card and moving announcement. Jeanine and I took the main photo this morning, taking advantage of a fresh snowfall. We got a good 7-8 inches and for the first time in my life, someone else took care of snow removal. Our new driveway is way too long for me to clear with a snowblower in any reasonable amount of time so we hired a local guy with a plow to handle the job.

I generally purchase the best tools in their class and expect them to perform flawlessly and last for quite some time. The stainless steel DeWALT joint knife pictured above has reached the end of its life after only a few weeks of use and I could not be happier with how it held up. This tool is normally used to spread joint compound over drywall seams. I used it as a low profile, wide chisel by striking it on the end of the handle with a hammer. I estimate that it survived more than 20,000 hammer blows before failing. Fortunately, my back, arm, and wrist have held up a little better.

It has been several weeks now since I started down the path of having one of my broken teeth repaired. Step one: root canal and a temporary filling. Step two: Remove the filling, drill a hole in the tooth for a future metal post, make a dental impression, finish with another temporary filling. Step three: Remove the filling, glue the custom-molded post into the hole in the tooth, make a dental impression. Step four: Glue permanent crown (pictured above) onto post. Step five: Do the whole thing over again for my other broken tooth. This process has taken several weeks and I am pleased with the outcome. I will start the process again in January and hopefully, by February, I will have a full set of working teeth again, save the one that I had extracted and don’t plan to replace.

After receiving a bad report card from our mail carrier regarding the condition of our mailbox (the door kept falling off), Jeanine took it upon herself to replace it. Behold her handiwork. We agreed in advance that we will replace it with something a little more elegant in the future but I kind of like this one.

When I find footwear that fits well, I generally buy two pairs, one for going to the office and the other for working in the shop or yard. It would be fair to say that the latter have seen much greater use since we moved into our new house. I spent the entire day in the basement getting it ready for my new shop.

Apparently, not only is our home in need of renovation but also our mailbox. We found this notice from our mail carrier in our mailbox along with the door to the mailbox. Jeanine has decided she wants to tackle this project.

When it comes to the demolition of masonry and concrete, there is no substitute for a rotary hammer drill. Think of it as a small jackhammer that can also be used as a drill. Today, I added one to my collection of DeWALT cordless tools. It will come in very handy when the time comes to remove the chimneys from our new home. We are striving to achieve a near passive home, one which requires extremely little energy to heat and cool. Fireplaces and chimneys work against this objective as it is next to impossible to make them airtight when closed and they will always conduct heat to/from the inside from/to the outside. Instead, we will install a fire pit outdoors where we can still enjoy a wood fire without siphoning energy from our home the other 99.9% of the time.

I was snuggled in our bed this morning when Jeanine summoned me to witness a very lovely sunrise over the river. I am sure that this scene will become old hat at some point but while we are still in the honeymoon phase, it was something to revel in.

Sometimes we make really cool stuff at work. This is a retired early prototype for an important part of our printer. It was dubbed the “flux capacitor” by an employee who saw parallels to the fictitious technology which enabled time travel in the movie “Back to the Future.”

As I left for work this morning, I noticed a very unusual ice formation hanging from the standing seam metal roof on Maya’s tiny house. The ice actually curls back towards the siding as it hangs from the roof. I wish I had more time to take a more interesting photo.

I requested that Jeanine photograph me in my hazmat gear as I prepared to investigate the asbestos tiles that cover our basement floor. Our new house was built in 1952 when asbestos was a commonly used component of such tiles and the mastics used to secure them. As long as the tiles remain intact they pose no risk. Removing them, however, must be done very carefully. As a teenager, while working on my parent’s house, I removed asbestos pipe insulation with no protective equipment and probably inhaled 1000 times more than I will when it comes time to remove the tiles. Given my prior exposure, I am taking extreme precautions to limit any further damage to my lungs.

In a rather anticlimactic fashion, we closed on the sale of our home today. Having granted power of attorney to our real estate lawyer there was nothing in particular for us to do but wait. Technically speaking, we are now without a home since the closing on our new house has yet to happen even though we have been granted occupancy.

Spreading our move out over the last two weeks allowed us to tackle the project in manageable size chunks and to complete it as a DIY project for a total cost of $100. After hours on the phone with no less than four Comcast customer support representatives last night, I was able to suspend internet/TV service at our old address and establish service at our new one. With both heat and internet operational, we are living large. On my final visit to our now-empty house, I took a few photos as a future reminder of our time there. My shop never looked cleaner or bigger and I can’t wait to start building out my new one.

Earlier this week we made an important speed breakthrough at Digital Alloys. Today we added size to the mix. We are now in a position to demonstrate high-speed metal printing at scale. There is still much to be done before we have a commercially viable product but this is another critical milestone for the company and was a very exciting day at the office.

My attempt to sneak up on this blue heron this morning resulted in his rather abrupt departure. Even so, I was able to get a nice shot of him flying away up the river. When I get more than a minute to address none critical house issues, I will plane down the door to our future patio area so that it does not emit a loud groan each time it is opened. After days of trying to repair our oil-fired furnace and unable to find anything wrong, I had to relent and call a furnace repair person. After arriving, he solved the problem in less than five minutes. There was nothing wrong with the equipment, only the operator. I had set the thermostat to the HEATING mode. Because of the way it was installed, it is necessary to set the thermostat to the EMERGENCY HEATING mode to fire the furnace. Live and learn.

My team has been making excellent progress at work. We have improved printing speed by 30x since last month and believe we can go faster yet. The timing is good, as we are about to begin seeking a “C-round” of financing and our business case only improves with faster printing speeds.

No good deed goes unpunished or so goes the saying. An example to back it up. When I received two copies of a 60 gallon, 4HP air compressor that I ordered for my new shop, I immediately checked to see if I mistakenly ordered two. That was not the case. I then called the online merchant from which I purchased it. They confirmed that I had only ordered one and only been charged for one. I then contacted the manufacturer to report the double shipment. The remainder of the story is too lengthy, cumbersome, and irritating to recount. Suffice it to say that I have spent countless hours on the phone with various parties and a month storing this behemoth in our new garage. Today, I reached the limit of my patience when they wanted me to be present during a 4-hour window for pickup and to provide multiple copies of the bill of lading (recall we do not yet have internet, or wi-fi, or printing capabilities at the new house). I told the manufacturer that I was going to leave the air compressor outside for them to pick up. If it was still there in the morning, I was going to sell it and keep the profit. Two hours later it was gone.

Our kayaks, topped on Maya’s Audi, have joined her tiny house on our new property. Maya has suggested we construct a rail track so that we can do a torpedo style launch from the house. I think we may opt for a more traditional approach to putting in. My work for the day including decommissioning the tiny house 50amp circuit at our old house and installing a similar one at the new house to provide power for charging my car.

The family gathered today to bid farewell to our old house and to say hello to our new one. We started by making one last walk through all the rooms of our old house and recalling stories from the past. The kids relitigated why Maya got the bedroom with the fireplace and private bathroom while the boy’s bedrooms had neither. We then walked to our new house traversing our beloved field one last time. The distance is just over 1 mile as the crow flies, 2 miles as the car drives, and about 1.5 miles walking. When we arrived at the new house, Jeanine performed an ancient Native American spiritual ritual called smudging in which a bundle of sage is lit and carried throughout the home allowing the smoke to permeate the new space. This was prefaced by giving thanks to and honoring the Bartlett family who owned the house before us. It was followed by a visit from the Concord Fire Department in response to our smoke detectors going off. They arrived in under five minutes in full fire fighting gear on a big red pumper truck with the sirens blaring and the lights flashing. Let’s just say that we have made a dramatic entrance into our new neighborhood. Jeanine has now earned something of a reputation for setting off smoke alarms in our new homes. When we moved into our first house as a couple, she thought it would be nice to cook a turkey on our move-in day to feed our friends who were helping us. She placed a wet cheesecloth over the turkey which came into contact with the heating element and caught fire.

Earlier in the day, Maya and I moved the tiny house to our new home. Things were going smoothly until we arrived at our new driveway where a telephone poll necessitated a wide turn and I managed to get the rental truck stuck on a tree stump. Fortunately, I was able to use my chainsaw to extricate the truck and after a few repositioning moves we were able to enter the driveway and position the tiny house in a very nice setting. The video below shows the departure sequence which utilized a ramp to come off the leveling blocks.

Although we have been moving our belongings from our old house to our new one over the past several days, today is the day when we make the final transfer and begin living out of our new home. Before picking up the U-Haul truck that will carry the last load, I swung by the new place with a car full of more fragile items including all of my camera gear. Right on cue as I was unpacking my telephoto lens, the cardinal pictured above perched on a branch just outside one of the picture windows and I naturally proceeded to take a picture through the window. I could not help but feel like this vibrant little bird was welcoming us to the neighborhood and was very pleased to make his acquaintance.

I spent most of the morning and early afternoon loading our rental truck before both Maya and Kyle arrived to lend a hand with an extremely heavy granite tabletop. Working collaboratively we came up with a clever approach to moving it without putting ourselves at risk of injury. That same focus on safety was absent while I rushed to pack the last items into the truck. I took a step back only to discover that I had run out of truck bed and began falling. Somehow, I managed to pivot and get one foot on the ramp and then another even as I was falling off of that. Luckily, Maya was standing at the base of the ramp holding a 4’x8′ piece of 2-inch thick foam core insulation panel. I crashed into her and grabbed the foam core which I used to cushion my contact with the driveway. It shattered into a half dozen pieces and I walked away unscathed. The kids suffered more trauma than I fearing I had been very badly injured which would have been the case if Maya was not standing in exactly the right spot with exactly the right thing in her hand.

This was a Thanksgiving like no other. Our entire family tried to observe CDC guidelines and avoid further transmission of the Covid-19 virus. My brother Mark delivered a home-cooked feast for our mother who is not allowed to receive visitors in her senior living residence.

Nicolai cooked up a storm for his roommates in Sommerville including the buns pictured above and a reportedly overcooked turkey.

Kyle ordered a Chinese takeout meal and enjoyed it with his girlfriend at his new apartment just a 3-minute walk away from where Nico is living.

Maya enjoyed Friendsgiving with her roommates in Medford.

Jeanine and I, celebrated together with two surplus Open Table Thanksgiving meals which were really quite scrumptious. We will gather as a family on Saturday when the weather is forecasted to be pleasant allowing us to spend time outdoors.

Until we renovate our new house, the garage is going to be my makeshift workshop. I still have a little more unboxing to do but it is already operational and I was able to complete a number of small projects today, the first of which was the installation of a lock for the garage door.

Using a 15 foot U-Haul truck, I moved my entire shop to our new home in two trips today. Our plan is to complete a major renovation of the house over the coming year so I am setting up an interim shop in the garage. All of my major tools and storage racks are on wheels so that I can reconfigure them as needed to best utilize the limited space. On Friday, I will rent the same size truck and we will move a basic set of furniture and personal effects to the new house where we will live until the renovation work begins. The balance of our belongings are going into the POD we rented and will be placed in storage until the house project is completed. To say that I got a good workout would be an understatement. I decided to check my e-mail before taking a long hot shower only to discover that Comcast had discontinued our internet service 4 days prematurely due to a software bug in their online “Easy Move” tool. After 3 hours of extremely futile conversations with four different customer service representatives, I finally got service restored and will have that shower now.

The Mission of Nourishing the North Shore is to ensure equal access to healthy, local food to all members of the North Shore in a manner that builds community, fosters connection, and promotes dignity and self-reliance. Operating out of the First Parish Church in that community, they have transformed it into an efficient food distribution hub. Jeanine and a few members of her team recently visited the operation to see what ideas might work well for Open Table.