Despite having a rather large collection of clamps, occasionally I am faced with a situation where none of them will do the job. As pictured above, I used some salvaged lumber to fashion an expansion clamp so that I could secure a piece of wall trim to the cabinet frame. I added two more after exiting the pantry so as not to trap myself inside. As of today, I am done with all the casework for the four bathrooms, laundry, kitchen, and pantry. I feel good about where things stand but have much more work ahead. Our plans include built-in cabinetry in the living room, both offices, the mudroom, the foyer, and two walk-in closets. Let’s not forget all the drawers and doors that are needed or the 29 stair treads. I think it is safe to say I will not be running out of work anytime soon.
Kyle recently purchased a Traeger wood pellet smoker and decided to grill a pork shoulder and vegetables this afternoon. He shared this photo with the family. I have several things to say about this. (1) Kyle is definitely his mother’s son and I am sure she is thrilled to see him developing skills as a cook (a statement that applies equally to his siblings). (2) If he sends this photo to my brother, he can expect to spend an hour on the phone learning all the finer points of smoking meat. (3) It is possible his family will heretofore refer to him as Meat Boy, since this was the label used on the iPhone app he uses to monitor the status of the smoker. (4) This seems like a lot of food for one person so I am guessing the meal may have been prepared for the benefit of a date. (5) I am free for lunch tomorrow as I understand there are plenty of leftovers.
The kitchen in our new house includes a walk-in pantry. On one side there are base and wall cabinets, an area for a flush-mount integrated freezer, and a nook for storing a step ladder and broom. Today, I completed an entire wall of open shelving located on the other side. Surprisingly, these built-ins took significantly longer to build than much of the cabinetry. The shelves are each 1-1/2 inches thick, 8 inches deep and 8 feet long weighing 25 pounds a piece. Their size and weight made it necessary to construct the assembly in place. The biggest challenge was to come up with a design that would support the anticipated shelf loading and to do so without any visible fasteners. Key to both of these are the short vertical supports. Each one conceals within its width a 3-1/2 inch pocket hole screw that secures the shelf to a 2×4 behind the wall, a biscuit joint that locates and secures the vertical support to the shelf, and a recessed screw that captures the vertical support below. Not visible is a horizontal cleat that supports the bottom shelf from below. Now that I see the shelving installed, I may go back and cut off the portion of the end supports that go down to the floor. They are not necessary to support the shelves and I feel like they diminish the visual appeal of the otherwise cantilevered design.
UPDATE: I removed the “legs” as planned and am much happier with the appearance.
Maya decided that she needed to get back on the horse, or rather a mountain bike, since the crash that badly injured her shoulder. It was meant to be a way of moving past any lingering fear she might be harboring since the traumatic event. Instead, she sustained an equally serious injury to her other shoulder and a nice set of bruises as well. Her brothers and parents who all gathered today for lunch at the Road House suggested to her that maybe mountain biking was not a good sport for her. On the bright side, she reports that she already knows all the right specialists to see and has satisfied her medical insurance deductible. I am beginning to regret the “brave Maya” training I did with her when she was a small child. She has turned out to be quite fearless but it remains to be seen what she learns from her injuries.
Here is some fatherly wisdom that may apply to this situation: If at first you don’t succeed then skydiving may not be for you.
I am belatedly memorializing a delicious meal that Jeanine prepared earlier this week. Since she rarely makes the same dish twice in a year, I am saving this image to suggest that this is one worth repeating on a more frequent basis.
Today’s River House project was the installation of the island vent hood. The work was fairly straightforward with the most time spent ensuring that the vent was perfectly plumb and sealing the ductwork. I got a good upper body workout as it was necessary to hold a number of different components overhead while screwing them into place. Once installed, I had to open up the controller board and set a jumper to limit the maximum fan speed to 390 cfm. If you go over 400 cfm then you have to install a make-up air system which is something we do not need and didn’t want to be forced into. The hanging blue tape is to keep taller folks from running into the glass canopy before the island is installed. As it stands, I can just walk under it without banging my head.
Our double oven was delivered today. Of all the components going into our new home, it had the longest lead time of more than a year. As if to ensure it was here to stay, I immediately installed it, a task easier said than done given its weight of 333 pounds. Working alone forces you to always have an approach that does not rely on brute force. In this case, I built a temporary platform out of scrap lumber so that I could slide the oven directly into its opening. None of the cabinetry I have built has more demanding tolerances than the one for the double oven. It has to be dead plumb, dead level, and perfectly square in all orientations. If any one of these attributes is off by even the slightest amount, it will show up as a problem with the installation. I am happy to report that the time I spent making sure that the cabinet was just right resulted in a perfect fit. Also operational now is our microwave. We debated for some time if we should even have one in the kitchen. The new oven has a steam heating feature which is the healthiest way to reheat foods, the primary task which we have used the microwave for in the past. In the end, we decided a microwave would be convenient but need not be large and we wanted it to be located for convenient use. Our Road House has an under counter unit with automated drawer, a perfect solution for three foot tall people but a terrible location for anyone taller.
The bamboo plywood I am using is constructed of three plys. The front and back are 1/8″ thick vertically oriented laminations. The core is 1/2″ thick with laminations that run perpendicular. Whenever I need edge facing, I cut the top and bottom layers off leaving the core as waste. Having saved up all of these half-inch strips, I glued them together to create an end-grain cutting board. Jeanine liked it so much that she wanted me to make an entire bench top using this technique. It is a great idea but would represent a very time-consuming effort and perhaps one I could tackle well after we have moved in.
Precordial catch syndrome (PCS) is a non-serious condition in which there are sharp stabbing painsinthechest. These typically get worse with inhaling and occur within a small area. Spells of pain usually last less than a few minutes.
The underlying cause is unclear. Some believe the pain may be from the chest wall or irritation of an intercostal nerve. Treatment is usually via reassurance, as the pain generally resolves without any specific treatment. Precordial catch syndrome is relatively common in children between the ages of 6 and 12 and is less common in adults. While in my twenties and thirties, I experienced a half dozen or so episodes.
Yesterday, while working on a ladder in the basement of the River House, I had a PCS event. Given the spotty cell service there and the proximity to Emerson Hospital, I decided to drive to the emergency room out of an abundance of caution. It has been more than thirty years since I last had an attack and I thought it better to be safe than sorry. I arrived in under 5 minutes and was immediately connected to an EKG monitor which showed no signs of heart anomalies and my pain had all but subsided. Much ado about nothing but interestingly, no one at the hospital suggested PCS as the cause and were intent on following up with a bunch of tests and x-rays that would have been pointless. While I truly appreciate being evaluated so quickly, once it became apparent that I was not having a heart issue minutes turned into hours while waiting for my blood work to come back. I eventually decided to disconnect myself from all the monitoring equipment and check myself out.
Our new home uses a Zehnder ERV (Energy Recovering Ventilation) system to provide continuous fresh air to the very tightly sealed building. Today, I installed the exterior intake and exhaust vents which look and act like nostrils. I then powered up the system for the first time. Everything worked as expected and the system self-test confirmed that the unit can deliver its maximum specified 600 cfm of airflow. At this rate, all the air in the house could be replaced with fresh air once every hour. The recommended rate of exchange is once every three hours so we will operate the system at 200 cfm.
Mount Mansfield is the highest mountain in Vermont with a summit that peaks at 4,393 feet (1,339 m) above sea level. Maya originally planned to do a solo ascent last weekend but was joined by Nicolai who saw an opportunity to train for his attempt to summit 18,996 Cayambe Volcano in Ecuador this fall. He will be making the climb to raise money for the Range of Motion Project (ROMP) whose mission is to ensure access to high-quality prosthetic care for underserved people, improving mobility and independence. Nico used the climb to shoot a fund-raising video with Maya as his videographer. Should you wish to support this cause you can use the link below to do so.
As planned, our new septic and pump chamber tanks were delivered and installed today. Offloading and placement of the tanks took less than 30 minutes, a testament to the careful preparation work. Since septic systems are based on gravity flow, any discrepancies in elevation will result in compromised function and must be corrected at this stage. Happily, the tank heights were perfect and the remainder of the day was spent connecting the tanks and beginning the backfill work.
Excavation for a new septic tank and pump chamber took place today at the River House. The addition of our attached garage forced us to relocate the existing ones because they no longer met the setback requirements. The tanks are due to arrive on site tomorrow and we are hoping to have the septic system operational by the end of the week. That leaves water as the last service we need to connect to the house. We may choose to put this off for some time since it will involve tearing up the driveway and we still have many trades coming and going on a daily basis.
One of my favorite things about living in Concord is that we have our own electric utility, the Concord Municipal Light Plant (CMLP). Today, the line crew above connected our new underground lines to the grid and we now have power throughout the house. All the folks at the CMLP are extremely customer focused and it is such a pleasure to work with them. Trying to get anything done with Comcast, Verizon, National Grid, or any other major utility by contrast is an exercise in total frustration. These guys arrived exactly when promised and 30 minutes later we had power to the house. 15 minutes later they had removed the overhead wires that have been providing temporary power for almost two years.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
