I can’t think of a tool I have owned that has given me more pleasure and carefree use than my Stihl chainsaw.  I have owned it for more than 25 years and it has never let me down. It saw most of its use taking down and sectioning huge dead beech trees when we lived on a 5-acre forested lot in Indiana.  It also opened up the magnificent view of the field we enjoy today on our Concord property.  It has seen little use in the last 5 years, however, and therefore will get posted to Craig’s List where I hope it will find a happy new home.

I had an opportunity to stroll along the Charles River Esplanade this afternoon between consulting gigs in the city. I am trying to walk as much as possible to help stretch out my injured hamstring. With normal strides I am already pain free which bodes well for a quick recovery.

When DeWALT upgraded their cordless tool line from 18V NiCad to 20V Li-Ion battery technology, I sold off all my old tools and replaced them with their newer equivalents. Today, I completed my second transition to tools with brushless motors, DeWALT’s latest cordless technology by selling off my last two saws that use motors with brushes. I managed to recover 80% of my acquisition cost which makes the transition much more affordable. I have also started to invest in some of DeWALT’s 60V tools including an air compressor and track saw. Generally speaking, I am on a path to replace all my corded and stationary power tools with cordless ones. I am waiting impatiently for the introduction of a cordless router and orbital sander which I can’t believe has not been released yet.

I have played soccer in Massachusetts for as long as we have lived here, some 14 years now; first on the over-40 Concord team, then the over-50 Concord team, and now on the Lexington over-56 team. In all that time, I have never witnessed a fight between players that resulted in injury.  Most are merely shoving matches with lots of trash talk. When the final whistle blew this morning in our tied game against Peabody, an opponent who felt he had been fouled by one of our players stuck him in the face resulting in a cut that required 10 stitches to close.  Our guy fought back to defend himself and both were issued red cards. I suggested we photograph the injury so that assault charges could be substantiated and to seek to have the offending player permanently banned from the league.  I watched the whole fight transpire from the sidelines where I spent the second half of the game benched with a strained hamstring.

Scattered clouds and a visible full moon in the morning gave way to overcast skies with little in the way of sunshine. Nevertheless, we enjoyed exploring the area. We started with a 6-mile bike ride along the Androscoggin River and then a visit to an artisan craft show in Brunswick which yielded a beautiful set of silver earrings for Jeanine. After a wonderful lunch at the Frontier we explored Orr’s Island and Bailey Island where we made a short hike to the Giant Staircase (pictured below).  We decided to cancel reservations for a sunset sailboat cruise when thick fog began to form and it started to rain.

Twenty seven years ago today, Jeanine and I were married on an equally beautiful autumn day.  Jeanine collected me at the airport this morning and we drove to a quaint bed and breakfast at Lookout Point in Harpswell, Maine. We spent the day touring the area by car and on foot winding up on the tip of Basin Point, at the water’s edge of Pott’s Harbor for dinner at the Dolphin Marina and Restaurant with an exceptional view of Casco Bay and its many islands.

Stringers are long sawtooth-shaped boards used to support stair treads. Mark’s deck required six of them which we fabricated today from 2×12 lumber. Almost half our time was well spent getting the layout and dimensions just right.  Careful execution resulted in a perfectly matched set and made for a nice accomplishment to wind up our construction efforts for the week.

Favorable weather today allowed Mark and I to make significant progress on his deck project. We installed thirteen 9′ tall 4×4 posts that will support the railing and overhead trellis.  Each post is supported by 3 massive bolts and 2×10 blocking on all sides (about a third of which we completed).

It is hard to photograph 9-year-old Rose because she is in a constant state of motion.  I gave her an eyebrow massage which slowed her down long enough to get a nice portrait.

I travelled to Minneapolis today where I will be spending the remainder of the week with my brother Mark and his family. Mark spent last week in Boston helping me with the tiny house project and I will be helping him this week with his deck project. The best part of my visit is seeing all my nieces and nephews. This is 11-year-old Sophia.

My birthday celebration was postponed from Friday until this evening so that Maya could join us. Jeanine prepared Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and broccoli for a wonderful family dinner which also included my nephew, John.

Unfortunately,  I was not treated so well on the soccer pitch this morning. My team suffered a real drubbing in a 0-5 loss to the current first-place team in the league. I had the only shot on goal of the entire match and managed to find the crossbar rather than the back of the net.

Our home is located relatively close to the Hanscom airfield but we rarely see or hear planes. Today I was convinced that one was about to crash into our home based on how loud the engine noise was. I quickly ran outside to see what was going on and spotted two single engine aerobatic planes circling overhead.  Apparently they were training for low altitude synchronized maneuvers and had decided to do this directly over out neighborhood.  The geese that are feeding in the field behind our house found this none too pleasant and took flight en masse when the planes began dropping fireworks.

Normally this would be enough excitement for one day but just the beginning as Jeanine had planned a mystery date. We attended, with close friends, a play entitled “Disgraced” which offered a poignant look at the challenges of being a Muslim living in the US as well as a balanced but provocative examination of some of the religion’s not-so-attractive tenants.

I started my first day as a 59 year old in the shop with my brother. We fabricated covers for the insulated trailer fenders on the tiny house from MDF. All joints are mitered at 45 degrees and it was much much easier to complete the glue up working as a team. By 9:30 AM it was off to the airport for Mark’s return flight to Minneapolis and then on to an 11:30 AM meeting with a venture capitalist in the Seaport district considering investment in one of the companies I am currently consulting for. I had given myself plenty of time to make my next meeting in Cambridge at 2 PM but when I returned to the place I had parked my car it had been towed away triggering a mad scramble to locate it, get to it, pay to have it liberated, and travel to my next destination. I arrived with minutes to spare for what turned out to be a very enjoyable visit with a company I admire greatly. I returned to Concord just in time to gather up Jeanine and set out for the 60th birthday party for one of my soccer teammates. I really enjoyed being at a birthday celebration on my birthday and not being the center of attention. All in all, a very hectic but ultimately satisfying day. Not unlike my life to date.

Before returning to Minnesota tomorrow, my brother Mark wanted to visit his niece at Olin College where she is studying engineering. Maya gave us a tour of the campus, her dorm room, and of greatest interest, her first project. All Olin first-year students create a biologically inspired hopping mechanism that must meet their self-imposed design objectives. Mark was delighted to see Maya and to welcome another member of the Calabria family into the field of engineering. Earlier in the day Mark and I mitered all of the window trim and  fabricated all of the window sills for the tiny house.

After countless hours of painting, something neither of us particularly enjoy, my brother and I got a chance to do some actual woodworking this afternoon. This 1/2″ thick plywood panel is destined for the bathroom. The cutouts are not particularly difficult to make. The challenge is to locate them in exactly the right positions which requires extremely careful measurement and layout. A single mistake can ruin the entire panel. Working together and checking each other’s work we were able to achieve a perfect fit.

Later, we joined Jeanine at Open Table for their annual meeting and volunteer appreciation dinner. The keynote speaker shared her story of unexpectedly falling into poverty, the struggle to feed her children, and the importance of a food pantry to her family’s survival and rebound. It was a moving validation of the important work done by Open Table and organizations of its kind.

Working together with my brother Mark,  we painted the entire interior of the tiny house. It proved to be more time consuming than I would have ever imagined and I was grateful for the help. I was hoping that a single coat would suffice but that was not the case.  Not exactly the most creative of choices, the white color is meant to match the window trim so that these features are minimized and the sense of connection to the outdoors is increased.

In the last year, my brother Mark has independently survived both a stroke and sudden cardiac arrest. He survived the former because of quick treatment with a clot buster and the latter because his son was well-trained in CPR.  The only lingering impact has been a difficulty with speech and word forming, both on a trajectory to full recovery. The same cannot be said for his hair which has migrated from the top of his head to the bottom. He arrived this morning and will stay this week to help me with the tiny house build. Next week I will travel to his home in Minneapolis to help him with a deck project that he has underway. Working together is much easier than doing so alone and gives us a great chance to catch up with each other.

Kyle was in charge of dinner this evening. He prepared a wonderful Italian feast including rigatoni with marinara sauce, meatballs, two types of salad, and freshly baked apple crisps for dessert. Despite having a cold, Jeanine completed the Ride for Food 25-mile bike ride this morning. This year the hunger relief fundraiser brought in close to half a million dollars. I played soccer this morning and scored a pretty goal with seconds remaining in the half to equalize the score at 1-1. We went on to dominate the second half as our opponents began to wilt in the 80-degree heat.

I took advantage of today’s nice weather to work on the underside of the tiny house.  The area that is built out over the tongue is where the water line enters and the drain line exits the house. It is important that this area be especially well insulated and it took several hours to complete the work.  The house is now entirely sealed from top to bottom. Working with me under the house was this wasp. He did not bother me and I did not bother him except to grab a few photos. Peaceful coexistence.

Until now, I have taken over 2 out of our 3 garage bays to serve as a work area for the tiny house project. With cold weather approaching it was time to consolidate into one so that Jeanine could park her car inside again. To that end, I organized all of unused building materials in a much more condensed fashion and returned tools no longer in daily use to my basement workshop.

I spent the afternoon in Somerville at one of my consulting gigs returning home just in time to catch a glorious sunset.  It has been very windy with intermittent rain all day, the effects of distant hurricane Jose.

My sister Alissa had a dance performance last night and shared this photo from the event. My parents were passionate ballroom dancers (it is how they met) and she is the only child who has carried on the tradition. My mother, who will turn 90 next year, still goes out dancing every week. A link to the performance can be found here.

The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail will eventually connect Lowell, Chelmsford, Westford, Carlisle, Acton, Concord, Sudbury, and Framingham. This summer phase 2C of the project is underway bringing a 2.8-mile section of the trail through town.  We are located less than a mile from the trail and it will be very easy to access once completed. Can’t wait.

Usually, I try to feature my own photography on this blog. Today I am sharing the work of Dillon Baker who created a Java-based processing program that takes each frame of a given movie and compresses its average color into a single vertical line, creating a timeline of the spectrum of colors used throughout each movie. Having spent so much time in the video and film industry, I found this to be very interesting.

A nicer fall day one could not have asked for.  Even better, I stepped on the soccer pitch this morning without an ache or injury to speak of.  I stepped off 90 minutes later with three goals and one assist to my name. Moving up to the over-56 age division (something I should have done three years ago) has me competing with players my own age and revived my goal-scoring potential. Some things have not changed, however, as I spent the next several hours icing down a tender Achilles tendon and both knees. Later in the day, Jeanine and I traveled to Westwood where we dined with Tom Metzold and Karen Manor, a life long friend and my high school wrestling partner and his lovely wife. We arrived a little early and took a short stroll through the town center.

Nala received a full spa package treatment today courtesy of her mother. It included a full body shampoo, hair cut, blow dry and what can best be described as dethatching. When she gets wet she runs around the house like a crazed animal stopping at the back door to signal her desire to be let out. Should we comply with this wish before drying her, she would return caked in God knows what. The drying/dethatching phase results in a massive amount of shed fur.  It is fortunate for Nala that Jeanine seems to enjoy this ritual from time to time. If left to me, I would employ our washer and dryer appliances to make short work of the task. They are large enough that you could probably even do two dogs in one load.

In the evening, Jeanine and I attended a house warming party of one of my soccer teammates. Jamie and his wife Gill live on the Fort Meadow Reservoir in Marlborough. Live music and a sunset cruise around the lake made for a very relaxing and enjoyable evening.

I am constantly amazed by the beauty of the natural world. These parachute seeds are from a weed that has grown to a height of three feet in between the bricks of our back patio.  After photographing them, I pulled the plant out only to inadvertently liberate the paratroopers which will grow to fight another day.

Later in the day, I tried to convince Jeanine that we were going to Home Depot for mystery date night to shop for window shutters (a very plausible ruse given the state of ours).  I use this technique to lower expectations for the actual date, in this case, a movie (Wind River) and after movie snacks (at the Border Cafe). I also needed to pick up some parts for the tiny house and the Home Depot is on the way. I didn’t fool Jeanine for a second as she knows all my tricks.

Working in the loft of the tiny house always takes twice as long as similar work on the main floor. You have to climb the ladder for each visit and constantly walk around bent over. Today I completed the “beadboard” walls and am quite happy to have this work behind me.  Still needed is corner trim, window trim, and a wood beam down the center of the ceiling. I am not very happy with the aesthetics of the triangular loft at the back of the sleeping loft. It is far too angular for the rest of the lines in the “room.” That said, the storage area is precious and I am glad to have it.  I have a couple of thoughts on ways to address this and will post a photo when I settle on a solution.

Verrill Farm is operated as a partnership between Stephen and Joan Verrill and daughter Jennifer Verrill Faddoul. The farm consists of about 200 acres in Concord and Sudbury. One hundred acres are prime farmland and 100 acres are wildlife habitats, woodlands, and wetlands. Steve’s father and mother moved to Concord in 1918 and started a successful dairy business. In 1957, upon graduation from Cornell University, Steve assumed operation of the farm and gradually divested the dairy business to focus on farming and a retail farm stand which was built in 1995 and again in 2009 after a fire destroyed the first one. The new stand features their own produce, specialty foods, gifts and flowers. The expanded kitchen/bakery provides high quality baked goods, prepared entrées, homemade soups, and salads. Steve is known to everyone in Concord and has never been seen without his signature hat.

There were no winners in my name the local celebrity quiz and the prize will be doubled for the next installment.

I would like to challenge local followers of this blog to identify the person in this photo. He is a well known member of the Concord community and was in attendance at the Open Table Grand Opening. The first person to email me with the correct name of this individual will receive a 1-year free membership to this blog and be duly recognized herein.

The results of my routine colonoscopy this morning were totally normal but I was advised to take it easy for the rest of the day. Although instructed not to operate any power tools, I was unable to convince Jeanine that this pertained to unloading of the dish washer. I spent most of my time riveted to the TV watching coverage of hurricane Irma. Two years ago I visited many parts of Florida including the Keys. I fear that many of the places I visited will be altered forever. Pictured above is Fort Jefferson on a tiny island which comprises the Dry Tortugas National Park (located at the western most end of the archipelago) and Key West (pictured below). You can see how low lying these areas are. In addition, I stopped at many places along the way including the Turtle Hospital in Marathon and the Laura Quinn Wild Bird Sanctuary in Tavernier. I am praying for the safety of everyone in the path of the storm and hoping that these very special places will not be damaged beyond restoration.