While working on the house today, I managed to cut my wrist on a sharp piece of metal. Unable to locate a bandaid, I had to make do with a wadded-up paper towel and zip tie. Crude as it was, this improvised bandage did the trick and served its purpose until Jeanine could properly patch me up.
Note to my mother: This was not a serious injury. My tetanus shots are current. I will be more careful in the future.
Ever since moving into our new neighborhood, we have been amazed by the warmth and friendliness of the community. Today, our neighbors to the north stopped by to introduce themselves and deliver a lovely welcome basket to us. In the evening, we participated in an organized Covid-safe neighborhood stroll. We enjoyed a sampling of holiday lights, live music, singing, a barrel fire, and holiday treats.
I am making steady progress on plans for the renovation of our new home. Pictured above is the layout of the first floor only. It will occupy the as-built footprint of the house. We would like to trade our existing detached garage and dual carport for a 2 1/2 car attached garage if approved by the Concord Natural Resource Commission. The NRC must sanction any such projects that are undertaken within 200 feet of a river. While the approval process is very expensive and time-consuming, the work of the commission is why our rivers are so pristine. Our final plans will likely change once we involve an architect which we are hoping to hire next week after several months of vetting candidates.
In normal years, I spend quite a bit of time creating a trifold holiday card featuring my favorite family photos from the year. Last year, the entire lot of cards went into the trash when the kids voiced their dissatisfaction with the images I chose. This year, our card is a combination holiday card and moving announcement. Jeanine and I took the main photo this morning, taking advantage of a fresh snowfall. We got a good 7-8 inches and for the first time in my life, someone else took care of snow removal. Our new driveway is way too long for me to clear with a snowblower in any reasonable amount of time so we hired a local guy with a plow to handle the job.
I generally purchase the best tools in their class and expect them to perform flawlessly and last for quite some time. The stainless steel DeWALT joint knife pictured above has reached the end of its life after only a few weeks of use and I could not be happier with how it held up. This tool is normally used to spread joint compound over drywall seams. I used it as a low profile, wide chisel by striking it on the end of the handle with a hammer. I estimate that it survived more than 20,000 hammer blows before failing. Fortunately, my back, arm, and wrist have held up a little better.
It has been several weeks now since I started down the path of having one of my broken teeth repaired. Step one: root canal and a temporary filling. Step two: Remove the filling, drill a hole in the tooth for a future metal post, make a dental impression, finish with another temporary filling. Step three: Remove the filling, glue the custom-molded post into the hole in the tooth, make a dental impression. Step four: Glue permanent crown (pictured above) onto post. Step five: Do the whole thing over again for my other broken tooth. This process has taken several weeks and I am pleased with the outcome. I will start the process again in January and hopefully, by February, I will have a full set of working teeth again, save the one that I had extracted and don’t plan to replace.
After receiving a bad report card from our mail carrier regarding the condition of our mailbox (the door kept falling off), Jeanine took it upon herself to replace it. Behold her handiwork. We agreed in advance that we will replace it with something a little more elegant in the future but I kind of like this one.
When I find footwear that fits well, I generally buy two pairs, one for going to the office and the other for working in the shop or yard. It would be fair to say that the latter have seen much greater use since we moved into our new house. I spent the entire day in the basement getting it ready for my new shop.
Apparently, not only is our home in need of renovation but also our mailbox. We found this notice from our mail carrier in our mailbox along with the door to the mailbox. Jeanine has decided she wants to tackle this project.
When it comes to the demolition of masonry and concrete, there is no substitute for a rotary hammer drill. Think of it as a small jackhammer that can also be used as a drill. Today, I added one to my collection of DeWALT cordless tools. It will come in very handy when the time comes to remove the chimneys from our new home. We are striving to achieve a near passive home, one which requires extremely little energy to heat and cool. Fireplaces and chimneys work against this objective as it is next to impossible to make them airtight when closed and they will always conduct heat to/from the inside from/to the outside. Instead, we will install a fire pit outdoors where we can still enjoy a wood fire without siphoning energy from our home the other 99.9% of the time.
I was snuggled in our bed this morning when Jeanine summoned me to witness a very lovely sunrise over the river. I am sure that this scene will become old hat at some point but while we are still in the honeymoon phase, it was something to revel in.
Sometimes we make really cool stuff at work. This is a retired early prototype for an important part of our printer. It was dubbed the “flux capacitor” by an employee who saw parallels to the fictitious technology which enabled time travel in the movie “Back to the Future.”
As I left for work this morning, I noticed a very unusual ice formation hanging from the standing seam metal roof on Maya’s tiny house. The ice actually curls back towards the siding as it hangs from the roof. I wish I had more time to take a more interesting photo.
I requested that Jeanine photograph me in my hazmat gear as I prepared to investigate the asbestos tiles that cover our basement floor. Our new house was built in 1952 when asbestos was a commonly used component of such tiles and the mastics used to secure them. As long as the tiles remain intact they pose no risk. Removing them, however, must be done very carefully. As a teenager, while working on my parent’s house, I removed asbestos pipe insulation with no protective equipment and probably inhaled 1000 times more than I will when it comes time to remove the tiles. Given my prior exposure, I am taking extreme precautions to limit any further damage to my lungs.