In advance of my mother’s memorial service tomorrow, I drove to Albany, NY with my nephews, Rory and Mario this afternoon. There, we were joined by Jeanine, my siblings, and some of our extended family for dinner at Cafe Calabria. The Italian cuisine was world class and the gathering lasted for over four hours as we all caught up with each other. It is not everyday that you find a restaurant that shares your last name and the owners were ever so gracious and accommodating of our ever so boisterous group.

Jeanine took the train to New Your City this morning to join a group of friends for the premiere of an off-Broadway musical co-written by our good friend Stefanie Cloutier (yellow/green top). I can’t wait to hear the reviews.

How do you move a 500-pound battery stacked on a second battery from a horizontal position to a vertical position on the ground 2 feet below? Very carefully! To accomplish this without assistance, I stacked blocks of wood to support the weight as I pushed the battery off the edge of the box underneath it. I then used a lever and fulcrum in between the supports to carry the weight as I removed one pair of blocks at a time gradually tipping the battery to an upright position. It took about an hour to complete the task and I was very pleased with the outcome. All this effort was necessary so I could expose the back side of the unit to confirm how it will be mounted and where the wiring needs to be located.

Last week, inspired by this photo, I framed in a nook located in the media enclave behind where the couch will be located. I set the height based on our current couch. Unfortunately, the new couch that we just ordered has considerably higher backs (due to the headrests for the reclining function) that will cover the nook. Rather than re-frame to a higher height, I opted to abandon the idea altogether. Two steps forward, two steps back.

Compressed air is very handy for any woodshop. Pneumatic nailers can be run from very small portable air compressors but tools like sanders and HVLP (high volume, low pressure) paint guns consume a lot of air and require a large tank and powerful motors to sustain the airflow. Pictured above is the unit that will service my shop. I located it in the mechanical room right next to my dust collector so that the sound from these rather loud machines will be highly damped before reaching other parts of the house. Both the shop and the mechanical room walls are filled with sound-attenuating insulation and the air compressor is an ultra-quiet model. Pictured on the wall to the right are the four thermostats for each of the HVAC zones in the house. All use remote temperature sensors and can be adjusted/programmed from a phone app rather than a traditional wall mounted device.

I set up a temporary shop in the River House kitchen today in order to fabricate the pockets into which window blinds we be installed. Because European-style windows open inwards, it is necessary to locate the roller blinds in a pocket above the window opening so as not to interfere with the operation of the window.

We were invited by our neighbors and good friends, Dave and Sarah for on outing to the Quabbin Reservoir today. We enjoyed a 5-mile hike to the Dana Town Common, a preserved archaeological landscape reflecting the 19th-century organization and land uses of a Swift River Valley town before the development of the Quabbin Reservoir in the 1930s. Although no buildings remain at Dana Common, extant foundations and cellar holes, granite steps, fragments of paving, stone fenceposts, walls, and a metal safe too big and heavy to relocate survive, all reflecting a world that is now gone.

Dana Common was formerly the institutional center of the once-vibrant town of Dana. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts acquired the town of Dana along with three adjacent central Massachusetts towns—Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott—to create the Quabbin Reservoir, which, by the mid 20th century, would become the major source of drinking water for about two million people in and around Boston. Dana was among the four towns disincorporated, leveled, and flooded by the damming of the Swift River in 1939. The Dana Common area, on the East Branch of the Swift River, was above the reservoir flow line in the watershed and so was never inundated. Today the Quabbin Reservoir is the largest inland body of water in the Commonwealth, and said to be one of the world’s largest domestic water supplies. Dana Common is the best-preserved and most easily accessible of the former villages that made up the pre-Quabbin, Swift River Valley towns.

We then drove to “Fishing Area 3” where we enjoyed the glorious spring weather before heading to Harvard for lunch at the General Store. This is the first day in weeks where I have not worked on either the River House or Kyle’s house and the break was much needed.

Jeanine’s tulips and pansies were in full bloom today at the Road House. Spring in New England feels like the shortest of the seasons but makes up for that with the beauty it brings.

Having tested many reclining sofas with Jeanine earlier in the week, I returned to the store today to select an appropriate color and place the order. I choose the patterned charcoal grey pictured below. The sofa is for what we call the media enclave, essentially a home theater for two people located just off the kitchen. Delivery is expected in July, when we hope to be ready for it.

This morning, drywall was delivered to the River House and strategically positioned throughout. A special lift was used to hoist the product from the delivery truck up to various windows where it was offloaded by the crew. I spent the morning finishing up low-voltage wiring for the powered window blinds and caulking all remaining penetrations in the building envelope. On the way to pick up lunch, I spotted one of our resident bald eagles perched majestically in a tree at the edge of the river. He was kind enough to remain there until I could drive to the Road House and return with my long lens.

A neighbor was kind enough to share this photo of a fox and her kits taken one house down the river from us. If I were not so busy with the house construction, I would be making an effort to photograph these cuties myself.

Pictured above is the apparatus for conducting a blower door test. An outside door is removed and this device is installed in the open frame. Fan speed is increased until a pressure differential, inside to outside, of 50 pascals is reached. Then the amount of airflow is measured. This is the amount of air that is leaking from the house. Knowing this number and the interior volume of the house, simple math will provide the number of Air Changes per Hour at 50 pascals (ACH50). Code for new construction mandates a maximum ACH50 of 3.0. Passive House certification requires 0.6. This morning we did an initial blower door test to determine if we had any major issues to address before drywalling. We measured 0.65 which is an excellent result considering that we have loosely fitted sheathing where our front door will go. I fully expect that we will hit the Passive House target when the house is finished.

Today, family and friends participated in the Bionic 5K in solidarity with Nicolai who has become involved with the sponsoring organization. Not pictured is Jeanine, who took the photo nor several of Maya’s colleagues from Formlabs. Nicolai finished in 28:14 placing first in the disabled men’s division. The race attracted 700 runners and took place in the area of Harvard Square in Cambridge.

I was unable to attend since the event conflicted with my soccer match. Had I known we would have been beaten so badly, I might have opted to join the running crew.

What I have learned after building two full-size home theaters, is that 98% of the time it is just Jeanine and I watching TV. Our new home features what we are calling a media enclave, a small room with a big TV and seating for three (or one seated adult with a second reclined adult having his head rubbed by the first adult). It is located just off the kitchen so it can be watched from there and for nearby access to food and beverages. While shopping for rear surround speakers, I came across the image above and decided to add a niche similar in size to this one to our mini-theater. I had to make the framing additions today with drywalling set to begin this week. I also completed the last of the low-voltage wiring and marked the location of all studs and ceiling lighting fixtures on the sub-floor.

A second large-screen TV will be in the living room area for when we host viewing parties (World Cup matches, Super Bowl, etc.)

Jeanine and I attended Chopped for Charity this evening, an event that she introduced to Open Table when she was its Executive Director. Each year, the fundraiser has grown bigger and more polished. This is the first time we could enjoy the event as guests rather than participants. I was particularly pleased to see Jeanine recognized in remarks by Massachusetts Senator Jamie Eldridge (pictured above), the retired Chair of the Board and honoree of the event, Jill Block, and the current Executive Director, Alex DePalo. All acknowledged the successful transformation of the organization under her leadership to become one of the premier food relief organizations in the state.

Jeanine suggested I bring my camera even though I was no longer responsible for documenting the event as I have done in years past. Instead, I was free to capture special moments as they appeared before me. My favorite, pictured below is a portrait of celebrity judge Tiziana Dearing, the host of Radio Boston on WBUR.

I am familiar with most ways of transporting a dog. This method is not one I have seen before. Leave it to Maya to turn her bib overalls into a puppy pouch. Seeing this picture that she shared with us, I cannot help but imagine Maya as a mother one day. It remains to be seen whether any of our children will choose to be parents but it is clear to me that all three will be great at it.

Sometimes, the picture tells the whole story or in this case, strains the imagination. Maya has become the goto dog sitter at Formlabs and here she is seen extending the maximum hospitality to one of her guests.

Harry Belafonte died today at the age of 96.

From CNN reporting:

Belafonte was dubbed the “King of Calypso” after the groundbreaking success of his 1956 hit, “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O).” He also became a movie star after acting in the film adaption of the Broadway musical, “Carmen Jones.” But Belafonte’s biggest contributions took place offstage. He was a key strategist, fundraiser, and mediator for the civil rights movement. He continually risked his entertainment career – and at least once his life – for his activism. He became a close friend of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who often retired to Belafonte’s palatial New York apartment to talk strategy or escape the pressures of leading the civil rights movement.

My Uncle Earnie was a professional guitarist who played with many celebrities including Tony Bennet and Harry Belafonte, pictured here in attendance at his wedding to his second wife, Barbara Massey.

Barbara started her career as a backing vocalist working with Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, and Cat Stevens. Together with Ernie, they produced one album called “Prelude To…”

As the sun was setting and the sky was clearing the Sudbury River was aglow with spring color. It made me feel very fortunate that we live where we do. Work on the new house is progressing well. I spent a good bit of the day planning the location for Wi-Fi access points and then running a CAT6 cable to each location. I imported our floor plans into a signal strength modeling application and determined that 3 access points (2 on the 1st floor and 1 on the 2nd) would provide complete coverage for the house and garage with no dead spots. It is possible that we will get full home coverage with a single standard W-Fi router. For the cost of the cable and a couple of hours for installation, it is cheap insurance if we need to enhance coverage. Since every light switch in the house is a Wi-Fi node, it is pretty important that signal reach every corner of the structure.

Our house has been getting quite a bit of coverage on the Build Show with Matt Risinger and our architect Steve Baczek. This particular clip was shot a few weeks ago and covers details of the garage framing.

The second disappointing week for my team on the soccer pitch. We scored first against Wayland. They equalized. I scored off a rebound from the goalie to put us ahead 2-1. They equalized. In the match’s closing minutes, they managed a third goal for the win. In addition to the goal, I picked up my first yellow card in years. I was marking the goalie aggressively and their sweeper took issue with this. The next time I received the ball he knocked me to the ground with an undisguised retaliatory American football-style tackle for which he was immediately issued a yellow card. Despite the flamboyance of the collision, I did not get hurt. Moments later, a cross was served into the box and I went up for the header. In doing so, I may have crashed into their sweeper sending him to the pitch in a heap. I may have also missed the ball entirely and one of my elbows may have made contact with his head. Let’s just say the score was settled and I was promptly issued a well earned yellow card. There were no further incidents during the game and we shook hands at the end and apologized for our respective transgressions.

The roofing crew finished paneling today. On Monday, they will return to fold the standing seams and finish some of the edge treatments. We choose a light color for energy efficiency reasons even though we thought a darker grey would have looked nicer. Because of the way the house is situated on the lot and relative to the river, it turns out that the roof is only visible for a few seconds as you turn into the driveway from the street. We could have picked pink polka dots and it would have made no difference to the appearance of the house (unless viewed from the air).

While the roofers were on top of the house, I spent the day in the basement redoing every pipe joint (some 40+) of my compressed air distribution system. Earlier this week, I discovered that the Teflon tape method I initially employed leaked at almost every joint. I have since learned that this application calls for pipe dope. Once I completed the very tedious rework, I ran a 240V line to the shop and fired up my new air compressor. No leaks and everything is working as expected. I left the lines pressurized and will check to see if there is any loss of pressure tomorrow.

The siding on our new house consists of two types. The majority is composed of random-width boards made from fly ash with a 3/16-inch gap between them. These will be painted a dark grey with a hint of blue. Between vertically aligned windows we will have 4″-wide horizontal boards made from rice hulls in a rust color. Both products are made of recycled materials, require very little maintenance, and are highly resistant to bugs and critters of all sorts. The green panels are Zip-R insulated sheathing with taped joints. It is watertight. The black material is another layer of waterproofing providing an additional line of defense and a black background for anyone who wants to peek between the cracks of the vertical siding. The black horizontal strips provide a perforated rain screen allowing water to drain down the inside face of the siding. The entire approach promotes air circulation in and around the siding which allows it to dry completely.

Panels for our standing seam metal roof were fabricated on-site today. A truck carrying a large coil of aluminum sheet stock was extruded through a machine that formed the panel profile and cut each piece to the needed length. In a matter of a few hours, we had the pictured stacks of custom-sized roof panels with no waste. The installation will start tomorrow. The siding is progressing nicely and the exterior of the house is starting to take shape.

Insulation of the River House began today. We are using closed-cell foam throughout. Inch for inch it has the highest R-value of any insulation on the market today. In addition, it forms a continuous air and vapor barrier, does not settle over time, and increases the shear strength of the framing by 300%. The walls will get 5 inches (R-32.5 in addition to the R6 ZIP sheathing), and the roof will get 10 inches (R-65). The only down side to closed cell foam is that once it cures there is no modifying anything encapsulated by it.

We have opted to install a battery energy storage system in the new house. It will serve as a backup “generator” during power outages, allow us to store solar energy during the day and use it at night, and consume grid power at off-peak times/rates so that we can run the house from the batteries during peak rate periods. My plan was to locate these batteries in the basement mechanical room. A pre-inspection visit from the fire safety inspector has thrown a monkey wrench in the works. New rules went into effect last month that give the fire department jurisdiction over battery placement within the home. Indications are that they will not allow placement in the basement and will require us to locate them in the garage. Our battery system uses a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry which is extremely safe by comparison to the lithium ion cells used in Tesla cars and power walls which have developed a justifiably spotty safety record. During our meeting with the fire officials, I shared FAA sponsored research of different battery technologies and explained why I believe the data demonstrates that we would actually be safer installing the batteries in a conditioned space rather than a garage which is subject to large temperature swings and increased risk of mechanical damage. Only after the meeting did I realize that I would never get an exception from this new policy because our interests are not aligned. I am interested in reducing the likelihood of a battery fire. The fire department is primarily interested in reducing the risk to fire fighters who are more vulnerable if they have to enter a basement to suppress a fire there. To make a long story short, we will now be installing the batteries in the garage.

Insulation is scheduled to begin this week and I wanted to photographically document every wall and ceiling of the River House for future reference. I anticipate huge future benefits from this investment of one hour. Once insulated and covered in drywall these images (close to 100) will offer an x-ray view of the hidden infrastructure.

Before running off to my soccer game this morning, I asked Jeanine and Kris to pose for this picture. These two have been friends for more than half a century and having Kris here to help celebrate Jeanine’s 60th has been the best gift imaginable.

My third soccer match of the spring season ended in a 2-2 draw. This was a highly unsatisfying result having had the lead for most of the game. I won a head ball to setup our second goal and at least there was that to feel good about.

I spent most of my time at Jeanine’s surprise party taking pictures of the guests in action. The collection can be viewed here, Kyle’s idea to do a cooking event proved to be brilliant. Some have opined that I nominated myself event photographer so as to get out of a cooking assignment. I will neither confirm nor deny this asertation but hope the portfolio of images will be viewed as a better contribution to the event than anything I could have offered at the stove.

Surprise 1: Jeanine spent the morning and most of the afternoon with her sisters visiting the JFK Memorial Library. Believing that we would be celebrating her 60th birthday at a restaurant later that evening she was upset with me when I called her at 2pm and let her know that we had to meet our flooring contractor at 4pm. When she arrived at the River House she entered the living room to find me speaking with Rob, the “flooring contractor” who had his back to her. When I proceeded to introduce him, he turned around and she was shocked to discover that it was Rob Earle, the husband of Kris, her closest friend since childhood. Kris then emerged from hiding to complete the surprise. The couple flew up from Florida to join us for Jeanine’s 60th.

Surprise 2: Under the impression that we would be meeting the kids for dinner in Boston, Jeanine was again surprised when she walked into Seaport’s Action Kitchen only to be greeted by a gathering of her close friends. Everyone participated in cooking the feast that we later enjoyed and the evening, planned entirely by the kids, was a great success. We also had a chance to meet Maya’s new boyfriend for the first time. He seems to be a very nice young man who passed the very challenging brother’s gauntlet with flying colors.

Today is Jeanine’s birthday. Earlier this week she shared some of her wishes for her 30th birthday celebration with me. When I reminded her that she was actually turning 60 we had a good laugh. Since then, I have begun referring to this milestone as the 2nd anniversary of her 30th birthday. Her sisters arrive tomorrow and we will join the kids for a fancy dinner celebration on Friday. This morning, she informed me that she wanted an authentic almond croissant. After concluding a pair of work-related meetings in Boston, and several failed attempts to find a French bakery, I located the Praliné French Patisserie where I was able to obtain a freshly baked almond croissant (plus one chocolate almond croissant for good measure).

Pictured above are the two electrical panels that will be located in my shop and a power transfer gateway located on the left. The gateway serves several functions. It will (1) automatically connect battery power to the house in the event of a power failure, (2) allow us to charge the batteries during off-peak hours and run the house from the batteries during peak hours, (3) charge the batteries from future solar panels, and (4) return excess solar capacity to the grid.