Every day, I make the 2-mile commute from the Road House to the River House to check on progress and perform work, often multiple times per day. On each trip, I pass a lovely field where about a dozen cows hang out and graze. These are perhaps the happiest and healthiest cows I have ever seen. I have enjoyed watching them grow over the last two years and will be sad when they are replaced. I stopped by to say hello and grab some photos this afternoon. I needed a break from kitchen cabinet design which I have been working on for the last few days.

Jeanine had a clever idea for creating an indented area on the River House siding in which to display our street number. After looking through the low-quality or ridiculously expensive off-the-shelf options, I decided to design them myself and have asked Maya to print them at Formlabs on one of their large format 3D printers. Each digit is 12″ tall and 1″ thick with an integrated standoff and fastening stud.

I also completed the design of the stair stringers we will be using for our floating staircase. The original plan was to use a custom solution from a company called ViewRail. At $10K per flight (4 flights needed) that was a rather expensive solution. Next, I had the project quoted by a local welder with great reviews for this type of work. His price worked out to $6K per flight. Finally, I decide to use my own design and a local laser cutter service for a solution that will cost $3K per flight. Each flight will use four stringers made from 3/8″ thick steel plate. Two plates will be sandwiched around an LVL 2×4 for each of the two stringers. Laser cutting will provide virtually identical parts with perfect angles and dimensions eliminating the need for any means to level the treads and saving a ton of time during installation. I included features in the stringer to make them easy to hang and also to capture the treads with minimal hardware. The grooves shown on the back of the treads will engage with tongues cut into the stringers. The final execution will use properly placed holes to capture the tongues rather than the long slot for a cleaner look.

In a few weeks, it will be time to excavate our current driveway to bring in a new water line from the street. Concord requires this of any new construction on an existing site where the water main is older than 50 years. With the number of trees on our property, the driveway is the only path that is feasible. As long as we are forced to excavate, we will also have the power, fiber optic, cable, and phone lines buried. Since we have added an attached garage that will replace the existing garage/carport, it will be necessary to reroute the end of the driveway as well. In doing so, we are required to make no net change to the total surface area of the driveway to comply with requirements established by the Natural Resources Commission. I spent several hours today laying out the new driveway (red paint line) which will include a turn around area that also serves as a parking for two cars. I established the contours by driving my car through every scenario to ensure that an easy turnaround would be possible from any parking position. Later I mapped the curves to my computer model of the property so I could calculate the surface area of the new paved surface for comparison to the old. Fortunately, we will be under the limit.

Since I will be building all the kitchen cabinets, vanities, and built-ins for the River House, getting my shop operational is a very high priority. At this time, it looks like the shop will be ready for move-in by mid-June. When we sold our last house, I decided to also sell most of my 25-year-old woodworking machines so I could upgrade to larger capacities for my new shop. Unbelievably, I sold my 8″ Delta jointer for more money than I paid for it new. Today, I ordered its replacement, a unit with 16″ capacity which does double duty as a planer. It is being shipped from Canada and should arrive in 2 weeks. With this purchase, I now have all the basic equipment I will need for proper cabinetmaking except for a router table which I should be able to live without initially.

We have taken to calling Jeanine’s future office the Aviary. Our first architect gave it this name, possibly because he did not like “the Perch”, the name we initially chose for it. Today, it became the last room on the second floor to be finished with plaster as the team works their way through the house. They are roughly 20-25% done with plaster at this point. The drywall board hangers have completed 100% of the house and are about 60% done with the garage.

We have several large trees that are growing near the river just in front of the house we are building. They all lean out over the river so that they do not have to compete for sunshine with the trees further inland. One such tree lost its top many years ago and the 30-foot tall remaining trunk base has turned into a mecca for all manner of birdlife. Sometime during the last week, the rotted roots gave out and the trunk fell towards the river only to become wedged in between two living trees. For the moment, it does not appear to be a danger to anyone on land or water so we will not intervene. It is like having a bird feeder that you never have to put food in.

Kyle hosted the immediate family and Susan at his place for a Memorial Day weekend party. We picked up ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and chicken from Blue Ribbon BBQ on the way which made for a most yummy minimal effort dinner. Kyle picked up a strawberry shortcake and fresh berries for dessert. Joining us were Marissa, pictured below, who has been renting a room from Kyle since December, and her dog Bailey. Kyle’s friend Oly, who has been his guest for the past few weeks joined us as well.

Kyle was proud to show off his renovated basement and we spent a few minutes completing the finishing touches. He has already entered a verbal agreement with a nice couple who will begin renting it in mid-July. While Bailey has been a most welcome guest he did inspire what is now being called the Bailey clause, an addition to the lease agreement that covers excessive barking, something the otherwise very quiet Bailey took part in whenever Marissa left the house.

A former colleague reached out asking me to share product photos I have from our Truevision days. I created an online archive that includes both the products and many of the early prototypes that I built.

The entire collection can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DyUiuNQAVFgbfSSq6

After testing five different paint colors on the side of the River House, Jeanine and I have arrived at a final choice. It is a Sherwin Williams color named Peppercorn. We visited the site twice, once while the paint was in shadow and again when it was fully sunlit. It is a dark grey with no undertones, in other words, a true shade of grey. Of the final three candidates we both gravitated to this color. I went back and repainted all the test areas to match. All that remains to be done on the color front is to paint the trim boards surrounding the windows and rust-colored horizontal siding in a matte black. I will do so over the weekend.

During nearly four decades of working, I do not believe there exists a single picture of me doing my job. Certainly, there are some in which I can be seen posing with colleagues or with products or accepting an award. None, however, capture me doing my actual work. Today, while at Formlabs for my regular consulting gig, I decided to capture a picture of Maya at work. She was unaware of me taking this photo. I reached my cell phone over the divider which separates her desk from a hallway for the shot.

In a nice bit of synchronicity, I bumped into her on the stairs at lunchtime and we were able to sit and eat together. I was heading down to invite her for lunch while she was heading up for the sunnier cafeteria on the 3rd floor.

I painted a small section of the house with a provisional color this afternoon. Neither Jeanine nor I think we have the right one yet and I will be doing additional test areas later this week.

Jeanine was feeling well enough to venture out of the house today. First to pick up the mail and again with her sister Susan for a car excursion. Susan arrived on Sunday. Officially, she is here to help Jeanine, but I am the real beneficiary of her visit. Jeanine is getting quite good at maneuvering the knee scooter but her crutch skills leave me holding my breath every time she tries to navigate the stairs. I decided she would be much safer with a ramp to the front door and fashioned one out of remnants from the house project.

Often combined with a supply run to Home Depot, I usually pick up a fast food lunch on days when I am working at the River House. Eating while driving on the return trip is a good way to get back to work 15 minutes sooner. This is not a practice I can recommend to others. On one such lunch run, I managed to spill a cup of Coke into the center console of my Audi. I could have grabbed it immediately preventing most of the spillage but would have done so at the expense of a collision with oncoming traffic. When it was safe, I pulled over and soaked up as much of the Coke as I could. Another day would pass before I broke out the wash cloth to get rid of the stickiness. I thought nothing more of the incident until today when I learned that a small amount of Coke had entered through the USB charging port in the console and pooled at the base of the charging module where it shorted out the components shown above. I am familiar with these components and I estimate their cost to be in the neighborhood of 12 cents. A replacement for the module from Audi is $250. Labor to take apart and reassemble the center console to access the module is $1150. I love my e-Tron but I am no fan of Audi repair prices.

Earlier this week, Nicolai delivered the closing keynote at the 2023 Move United Education Conference held in Louisville, KY. The conference theme was, “Disability Inclusion in Sport: Transforming Intent to Action.” The event was billed as a forum for sports providers, professionals, and athletes to unite over a mutual interest in elevating sports opportunities for athletes with disabilities.

He then traveled to Los Angeles where he conducted an amputee soccer training camp for women and participated in a Teqball tournament. Teqball is a cross between soccer and table tennis. Check out the videos to get a better sense of the sport.