At long last, framing work has commenced at the River House. Prior to the crew’s arrival, I excavated 6 beam pockets in the ICF foundation walls realizing that this work would be far easier if completed before the mudsills were attached. It took me about 20 minutes to clear each pocket which will be used to support beams running underneath the first-floor joists. I finished just in time and to my great amusement discovered I was covered in tiny bits of insulation. The photo above was taken after I thought I had dusted most of it off my body. The framers, possessing goat like balance, spent all of their time walking on top of the very tall foundation walls. First they capped the entire top with a thick copper foil that will prevent termites from reaching the wood structure. Next, pressure-treated mudsills where cut to size, drilled to accommodate the concrete anchor bolts, and fastened to the wall tops over a bead of sealant. The video below is a time lapse of the operation.
I installed a pair of meters on the circuit breaker panel in the Road House today. Each meter displays voltage, current, power, power factor, frequency, and temperature as well as total energy consumption over time. With one for each phase of the power line, I can also determine how well the load is balanced. When this photo was taken, I was charging my electric car which consumes roughly 40 amps. Normally, when no major appliance are running, the house consumes less than 2 amps. Clearly, this project screams NERD but I am proud of the label and look forward of tracking our energy usage over time.
The framing crew that was expected to start work on the river House today did not show up. They ran into some issues on their current project and I am told they will not start until Friday morning. We shall see. I spent several hours loading a 10 cubic yard dumpster with all manner of debris, but mostly pallets, from the construction site. I oriented them so that I could fill the open spaces between pallets with more refuse.
Meanwhile, at the Road House, we were visited by a rooster for the second day. Given where our house is located it was not at all obvious where our guest came from. Jeanine, a friend to all animals except snakes, captured the rooster and handed it off to a neighbor who knew the owner and agreed to deliver it to him. I was not present for the roundup and am very sorry I missed it.
Using some wood shelving I saved from the River House demolition, I fashioned a threshold that will sit between the bamboo floor and cork floor in Maya’s tiny house. It will need to be stained an appropriate color before being permanently installed and finished with polyurethane. It has a rather complicated profile which is not apparent from the photo.
While in Istanbul, the US National Amputee Soccer Team had a day off between World Cup matches. Players, staff, and family chipped in for a cruise on the Bosphorus River which separates Europe from Asia. Despite less-than-optimal conditions for swimming, members of the team took advantage of the opportunity to take the plunge. I used my drone to capture videos of the team plunge and a solo by Nicolai.
Using the leftover cork from the Road House entryway project, Maya and I installed it in the bathroom of her tiny house this afternoon. Because it is such a small space, it only took a few hours and the results were quite nice. Maya did virtually all of the work while I simply offered guidance. I love how proficient she has become in all things construction related. Kyle, who joined us here for lunch, is also becoming quite proficient in the trades. If not for the fact that they have full-time jobs, I think the three of us could build the River House ourselves. Speaking of which, framing on the new house is set to commence next week barring further weather, supply chain, or lack of truck driver delays.
I spent 90 minutes on the soccer pitch this morning as my team had only 11 players. We actually started the match with 10. Our opponents had 8 subs and after 30 minutes they had worn us down. It was demoralizing as they scored 5 goals over the next 40 minutes of play. In the last 20 minutes, however, they also became fatigued and we were able to score twice which took the sting out of the loss. Next week will be the season’s last game, and I am hoping we will not be similarly shorthanded.
Jeanine prepared this tribute for her good friend and mentor, Peter Hilton.
Open Table mourns the loss of its former leader Peter Hilton. Thanks to his visionary leadership and compassionate heart, thousands of people in our community were fed and the foundation was formed that allowed us to become an admired regional food relief organization. He died Thursday, October 27th at the age of 78. Peter served as President of Open Table for twelve years (2002-2013). During that time he made transformative changes resulting in an inclusive, respectful culture that positioned our organization as an innovative leader in the food relief arena. Peter’s vision to expand to a second location in Maynard did not come without numerous hurdles. His empathetic belief that poverty isn’t town-specific led Open Table to grow beyond the boundaries of Concord. He was adamant that people who were already struggling should not have to endure administrative red-tape to get access to food, reinforcing our “open” core value that “all are welcome, no questions asked.” By the end of Peter’s tenure, people were coming from more than 80 zip codes to receive support, which also included financial aid, school supplies and warm winter clothing. Always seeking to improve the nutritional value of the pantry food selection, Peter established partnerships with Gaining Ground, Drumlin Farms, and the Greater Boston Food Bank, often driving the U-haul himself to South Boston for the 5000-lb monthly pick-up. These partnerships brought in fresh produce, meat, and dairy which greatly enhanced Open Table’s grocery and dinner offerings. An early proponent of food sovereignty, Peter understood the importance of allowing guests to choose the groceries they wanted, a service that made OT stand out among our peers. Peter’s infectious optimism made him a magnet for attracting incredible volunteer talent while his compelling leadership style kept the same volunteers engaged – often for well over a decade. His desire for Open Table‘s community dinners to be people’s best meal of the week inspired cooks to showcase their most delicious recipes for clients. Many volunteers noted they never ate so well at home! Peter knew he needed strategic thinkers on OT’s board who would help establish a long-term plan and locate a permanent home for our organization. With support from Lyn Zubrigg, the Board Chair at the time, they recruited local business people. Peter singlehandedly established a base of loyal donors and his gift for grant writing resulted in donations from many foundations that continue to support Open Table. He was instrumental in helping to build a financial base of support which enabled Open Table to finally make a down payment on the purchase of our own facility. Peter led with heart and action. There are hundreds of people who were touched by his personal kindness. There were no limits to the magnanimity of Peter’s caring. We salute you, Peter, for instilling us with a legacy of caring that still thrives at Open Table.
After taking care of some work things and house things, I decided to do a little fall photography. Peak color has passed but there is still an abundance of subjects to enjoy.
One of my stops was Wilson Farm where I thought I would get an aerial view of their hay bale maze.
At this time of year on a windy day, it is amazing how many leaves can fall over the course of a few hours. This morning, Jeanine and I did a bit of car touring in search of ideas for the exterior color scheme for the River House. We visited Lexington and Belmont but did not find anything that we could agree on. Jeanine suggested we visit one of our Conantum neighbors whose home we admire to find out what paint color they had used. Our inquiry turned into a wonderful conversation and a delightful impromptu lunch. Later, we visited Great Meadows for a nice evening stroll.
Jeanine and I have been trying to squeeze in as many walks as possible before fall gives way to winter. This photo was actually taken at the Great Hill Recreation Area this past weekend but is representative of the trails we like to hike.
When I modeled the heating load for the River House, I was surprised to learn that air infiltration was the largest source of energy loss. I had assumed it would be the walls or windows. For this reason, we are building the tightest envelope possible. Doing so requires that we also incorporate a fresh air ventilation system. We have selected a Zehnder ERV which claims to recover 95% of the heat in the conditioned air which is exhausted from the house and transfer it to the incoming fresh air. The system will run 24/7 and is designed to move 200 CFM of air through the house. This will be distributed through 16 supply tubes and 16 exhaust tubes, each 3 inches in diameter.
Since the system will run continuously, we will be using a set of four silencers to keep fan noise to a minimum. Each silencer has an 8-inch port on one side and eight 3-inch ports on the other side. The system design requires that we connect the 8-inch ports of two silencers to the 8-inch port on the Zehnder (a wye connection). Typically, this would be done with galvanized metal pipes and fittings. This approach, however, results in a significant separation between the Zehnder and the silencers which in turn make for far less efficient routing of the 32 supply and exhaust tubes.
Instead, I opted to construct a plenum out of plywood to interconnect all of the 8-inch ports. It is a far more compact solution and also more cost-effective. The plenum should never be exposed to any significant moisture, but I coated all the inside surfaces with several coats of polyurethane just in case. I will probably paint the outside to match the silencers.
ESPN.com featured an excellent article on US Amputee Soccer. It is the first in depth piece that I am aware of and covers both the World Cup tournament and the back stories of most players and staff.
My search for the ideal travel tripod is never-ending. Innovative designs and improved materials have led to increasingly compact and lightweight offerings. Over the years I have bought and sold something like twenty tripods. At any given time, I usually own two; an ultra-lightweight one for hiking/travel and a more substantial one that I use for everything else. It has been several years since I last investigated the market for new entrants and I went down that rabbit hole again this weekend. Ultimately, I ordered two new tripods. The Ulanzi & Coman pictured above features an integrated inverted ball head design and very ergonomic controls. It weighs 2.46 pounds and may replace my 3.21 pound Really Right Stuff Ascend. Pictured below, is a very unique tripod that I found on Kickstarter from a new company called Heipi. It features a tripod within a tripod design that offers great versatility and superior center column rigidity. It is expected to begin shipping early next year.
On the soccer pitch this morning, my team lost 2-1 . Our only goal came in the final few minutes of play and was extremely satisfying. With a comfortable 2-0 lead, their goalie was using every opportunity to kill the clock. His teammates would play the ball back to his feet and he would just stand there and wait for one of us to approach and force him to put the ball into play. This is a standard tactic for a team sitting on a lead. In this case, however, each time I would chase the ball down, the keeper would taunt me telling me that I would never get the ball away from him. The taunting only served to amplify my motivation. With the clock almost expired and the goalie killing more time, I began another approach but this time correctly guessed where he was going to play the ball out. I intercepted the pass, beat my defender, and crossed the ball into the box where a teammate tapped it in. I could not resist thanking the goalie for the motivation to make that play. He had nothing to say in response.
I returned home for a belated birthday brunch featuring frittatas and rice pudding. Nico tested positive for Covid yesterday and was not able to join the rest of the family.
Maya joined Kyle and me to work on his basement renovation project this morning. Even though she is nursing a torn rotator cuff, Maya proved very helpful. Of great amusement to me was listening and watching as the two tried to work out the placement of the recessed lighting that will be installed in the kitchen. After nearly an hour of discussion, mathematic calculations, and measurements, they realized the assignment was no more complicated than selecting which joist bays would get the light fixtures and roughing in wiring to those locations. We knocked off earlier than usual so I could catch the last Head of the Charles race of the day. I used my drone for a new photographic perspective of the action. In the evening, Jeanine and I attended the Conantum (name of our neighborhood) Harvest Dinner, a delightful pitch-in hosted in the barn of a nearby benefactor. It was a great opportunity to better get to know some of our neighbors.
I had several work meetings this morning, spent the early afternoon organizing and cleaning up the River House work site, and the late afternoon with Jeanine on a nice 2.2-mile hike at the Great Hill Recreation Area. We finished up back at the River House where we found the garage foundation wall backfill completed and the river aglow with the reflection of sunlit trees on the other side of the water. Below is a photo taken through the future window of our exercise room.
One of the companies that I consult for is Amide Technologies. Yesterday we took our first official company photo. The company has grown substantially since I joined in December of last year. At that time I was the fifth member of the team. The work continues to be really exciting and the team is a joy to work with.
Many followers of this blog know that I have what some might describe as an obsession with high-quality flashlights. My collection includes about two dozen or so high-end lithium-ion battery-powered LED lights. I keep one of these in my car at all times and today it paid for itself 100 times over. Scheduled for 2 pm today was the concrete pour for the garage foundation walls on the River House. A crew arrived earlier to strip the footing forms and set up the wall forms. Everything was ready according to schedule and all that remained was to pour the concrete. I will spare you the insanely frustrating details and skip forward three and a half hours to when the concrete finally arrives at 5:36 pm. The three-man crew had to wait idle the entire time and two of them had just left to grab some food and coffee when the mixer truck pulled up. Fortunately, they passed it on the road and circled back. I was on site from 4 pm and enjoyed watching golden light develop on the trees across the river from us as the sun began to set. If not for the calming effect of this view, my blood would have been boiling since I knew that sunset was at 5:57 pm. So the concrete arrives and we have 21 minutes to pour the walls before we are in darkness. The crew jumps into action. They work feverishly to get the concrete into the forms finishing by the headlights of the mixer truck. When the truck leaves they pull up a car to illuminate the work zone but it is far from sufficient. This is when my 1000 lumen Nitecore SRT6 flashlight saved the day, or rather extended the daylight. Under its illumination, the crew was able to trim the straightness of the walls, complete the trowel work, install the anchor bolts, and embed the hurricane straps in the concrete. After they left, I used it to see while fine tuning all of the above since these critical steps had been done hastily and not to my standard of execution. Unfortunately, this experience has only increased my appreciation for the value of a great flashlight and will only make it that much easier to justify future such purchases.
The next phase of our River House project is the foundation for the attached garage. It will be poured as a separate structure from the house connecting along the west wall. The new walls will be poured directly up to the concrete of the house foundation where rebar was left protruding to anchor this connection. I spent several hours yesterday, much of it in the rain, neatly hogging out two 8-inch wide, 10-foot channels from the exterior ICF insulation to expose the concrete for the interface. I thought this would be an easy job and was amazed by how tenaciously the EPS foam adhered to the concrete and how strong it was. The black material covering the insulation is Tuff-n-Dri waterproofing. The orange material is Warm-n-Dri, an insulating, water drainage, and protection board. It was necessary to complete this work in advance of the garage footing pour which happened today. It took less time, for a crew of three, to build the forms and pour the footings than it did for me to prep the walls.
While we were in Turkey, Matt Risinger and our architect Steve Baczek put together this YouTube video covering our ICF foundation and Glavel insulation.
Followers of this blog are aware that I have a chronic problem with kidney stones and that I have correlated the triggering of their passage with flying. Shortly after returning from Turkey a week ago, I began experiencing pain which has increased every day since. Last night, I decided that I would seek medical intervention on Monday if the pain did not subside. Mercifully, I passed the pictured stone this morning. It measured 5.6 x 4.5 mm, one of the largest for me so far. I apologize for including this topic on my blog but I do so to chronicle my history with stones which is helpful when discussing the topic with my doctors.
I spent the day working with Kyle on his basement renovation project. We managed to complete all the remaining framing work and did a provisional layout of the kitchen counters and appliances. I paused en route to his house to enjoy the fall colors which are approaching peak in our area. After working, I met up with my sister Alissa for dinner. She is passing through Boston on her way to California for a work function.
Jeanine has sent me several lovely photos from Belgium and it sounds like she is having a wonderful time. I look forward to her return and will invite her to complete this post with the details of her visit.
Guest Blogger: Jeanine Calabria
Forty years ago Frances Verstraete spent a year living with my family attending my local high school and graduating with the class of 1981. I spent one month with her family in August of 1984 accompanying them on a car trip to Stockholm from Leuven where I learned how to drive a standard transmission and then spent time with my own Swedish relatives on their farm. So this visit was long overdue and it was wonderful to see each of her siblings this time. Instead of launching their studies/careers they were retiring and tending grandchildren! I enjoyed spending time touring Leuven by foot and electric bike and appreciated her taking me to the nearby Flemish historic towns of Bruges (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges) and Mechlin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechelen). After my barrage of questions about historic buildings, she invited her sister Benedicte, who is a local guide of the city and former high school history teacher, to accompany us by e-bike . Most notably, I learned that the city of Leuven is transforming all the old breweries/factories, military barracks and significant historic sites into housing – complete with affordable options for students and refugees. Major destruction included the French Revolutionists that removed all religious statues and World WW I & II bombing of entire neighborhoods. The University of Leuven Library was burned down in WW I and US higher education institutes were the major financial backers of the reconstruction. I recognized many universities that family or friends have attend; University of Cincinnati, Union College, Indiana University, and the Middlesex Boarding School (in Concord!) inscribed into the stonework. I felt proud that my country had assisted with the rebuilding of this amazing structure. The tributes to victims of the Holocaust were sobering as I contemplate today’s rise in violent racist acts. My favorite part of my week with her family was playing with her new grandson “Fil” and taking our morning walk with Bélan, her 10-year old Vizla rescue hound! I left inspired by the complete transformation of the transportation system to promote biking over cars and how universal childcare subsidies makes a two-parent-working-family possible.
There are some things one does not expect to see in a grocery store. I think a shopper dressed as a chicken qualifies as one of them. At first, I thought the chicken was part of some kind of promotion. After trailing it for some time, I concluded that it was simply at the store to buy groceries. What I found most entertaining was how other shoppers were not the least bit curious about the chicken and went about their business as if there was nothing unusual about the situation.
After catching up on some work items for one of my clients, I jumped in the car and took off on a three-state road trip. Fall foliage and weather conditions were near perfect although the sky clouded over by late afternoon which diminished the color intensity of many of the photographs. Fall color closer to home should reach its peak this weekend giving Jeanine a chance to enjoy it when she returns from Belgium.
The effects of jet lag caught up with me today and I decided to take it easy. I spent a little time working on the River House and took a break to enjoy the fall color. In a future year, I will use the time-lapse camera I am using now to document construction to capture the entire fall foliage season as seen from our home.
While we were in Turkey, progress on the house continued. The basement walls were waterproofed for a second time; the first application did not have time to cure before rain washed some of it away. Drainage tile was installed around the exterior and interior perimeters of the foundation, the later terminating in a sump pump basin. The initial plan was to connect these loops to each other and to have a sump pump discharge to a location outside the 100 foot river boundary (per stipulations of our natural resources permit), not a very elegant solution. After excavation, however, we discovered that the foundation will be surrounded by clay on three sides and sand on the river side. Clay, I have learned, is almost entirely impermeable which means that three sides of our foundation, if properly graded, should never come into contact with water. The fourth side will naturally drain through the sand into the river. Due to these conditions, we have decided that it will not be necessary to install a sump pump at all. The exterior loop will drain any water that makes its way past the clay down to the river side where it will filter through the sand and down to the river. This is a very ideal passive drainage system. There is, however, one scenario we needed to plan for. During a severe flooding event, should the river rise above the level of the basement floor, it will pass through the sand in the other direction and start to exert hydraulic pressure on the slab which, at some point, could cause it to buckle. In this case, water will enter the interior drainage loop and come up through the sump basin which will serve as a pressure relief valve. This will protect the slab at the expense of letting water into the basement. This may seem counter intuitive, but repairing water damage is far easier than repairing a failed foundation slab. Should the river ever reach this level, which is 22 inches above the 100-year floodplain, we will use a high capacity gas powered pump (20,000 GPH) to evacuate the sump basin. This should buy us another several inches, possibly a foot of margin. Hopefully, we will never have to find out how much. In a time of global climate change, however, it only makes sense to plan for more severe flooding events. Also completed while we were away was the installation and compacting of the Glavel base on which the 6″ basement slap will be poured. This morning I visited the site and insulated any remaining gaps in the ICF while excavation for the garage foundation was completed.
The Golden Boot is awarded to the top goal scorer in the World Cup. Nico officially scored 8 goals in 7 games. Had his first goal against Indonesia not been ruled an own goal (his shot deflected off an opponent before going in), he would have shared this year’s award. Nonetheless, he had an outstanding tournament by any measure and is universally regarded as one of the top players in the world today. There are several professional amputee soccer leagues in Europe and Nico is thinking about using the remainder of his leave of absence from teaching to play professional soccer abroad.
The USA faced perennial rival Mexico in its final match. We most recently lost to Mexico in the World Cup Qualifying tournament. That was not the case today as we scored the game’s only goal in the final 10 seconds of the match. The kids and I watched the live stream from the Brussels Airport while waiting for our return flight connections. It would be hard to script a more dramatic ending to the World Cup for Team USA which finished in 15th place. Had either of the tied matches gone our way in overtime, the outcome would have been very different. In my opinion, the US now has a starting team that can compete with the best in the world. We will need a deeper bench, however, to place higher in a World Cup tournament where teams play 7 matches over 9 days and where so many outcomes are determined in overtime.
Our trip to Turkey proved to be a wonderful wedding anniversary celebration, a thrilling World Cup tournament, and a family vacation that will be remembered forever.
All the mosques in Istanbul are very beautiful. The Süleymaniye Mosque, however, is the most lovely to my eye. Although I already photographed it from the river side, I decided to capture it from the opposite side this morning at sunrise.
In his match against Poland this afternoon, Nicolai scored his eighth goal of this World Cup. It tied the score at 1-1 before the half. In the second half, the coaches gave our backup goalie a chance to play. While he made some amazing saves, he also committed a pair of rookie mistakes at the expense of two easy Polish goals. The entire team is rather banged up and bone tired with one more match to go on Sunday. Tomorrow they will have a much needed day off. Although he has seen little of Istanbul, Nico just wants to rest and take it easy.
Jeanine and Maya took a Turkish cooking class while Kyle worked from the hotel and did some solo touring. Alissa left for her return to the states. All watched the live stream while I attended the match in my capacity as the sports action photographer. Here are links to all of the media that is currently available.
The USA faced Japan today and once again came from behind to tie forcing the match into overtime. Japan scored within the first minute and again in the eleventh putting the US in a dire situation. Nicolai scored to bring the game back into reach and Japan responded with a third first-half goal. Things looked bleak at half-time with a 3-1 deficit to overcome but the team battled back. Nico had an assist and the match equalizing goal to force overtime despite the fact that he was often double or triple marked by Japan whenever he was within striking range. Unfortunately, Japan scored once more handing us our second overtime loss in as many days. Nicolai and most of the team is pretty beat up and their match against Poland, third ranked in Europe, tomorrow will not be an easy one.
Each day we spend about an hour and a half traveling from the heart of Istanbul to the Turkey Football Federation Training Grounds where most of the World Cup matches are being held. The trip involves a combination of metro trains and a taxi van ride. On the metro today, I took this picture of brother and sister sitting side by side and realized I was doing the same with my sister. It has been great having her join us on this trip to share in Nicolai’s exploits, support team USA, and enjoy Turkey together with our family.
We returned from today’s game in time for some golden hour photography and I chose the ancient Yeni Cami Mosque as my subject for the evening.
The Turkish Museum of Archeology was our first stop this morning. Once again, Kyle had to work so it was just Jeanine, Maya, and my sister Alissa who made the visit. We could have stayed for much longer but had to make our way to Riva where all preliminary games are being played. We hop the metro and take it to the other side of the Bosphorus (usually about 15 minutes depending on the snafu of the day) where we pick up a taxi van to complete the 45 minute remainder of the journey.
The game was a nail-biter. Haiti scored first with a lovely flick on goal. The US responded when Nico buried a penalty kick near the end of the first half. Haiti opened the second half with another fine goal. Once again, the US battled back and found a way to put the ball in the net to equalize with only seconds left in the match sending it into overtime. Overtime consists of two ten minute halves which is a lot after a full match. Haiti scored first putting pressure on the US to find another goal. We pushed our team forward to press the attack but left ourselves exposed to the quick counter attacks Haiti is known for. Once they had a two goal lead in the overtime period the game was out of reach and for every attempt we made at scoring, Haiti countered with another goal of their own. Although we tied in regulation time, Haiti scored 4 unanswered goals in the overtime period and thus eliminated any chance the US had for a place in the top eight standings. Although the team left the pitch feeling dejected, they played a hell of a match, left everything they had on the field, and showed a ton of grit down to the final seconds. Haiti was the stronger team today and deserved the win. The US played with great composure and intensity and can be very proud of their effort.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
