ooh progress

For the last week there has been trouble.

Every time the subject of my plans for the trim came up, it was met with strong disagreement. I bought the wood, milled it to size and had it ready. I was not sure it was going to work. At one point I just thought I'd stack it and go on to something else, less controversial.

But I started Wednesday in the kitchen with the toe kicks. Then I installed the entry door and base trim; and on around the room. Base, door, base, window, base, door.

This time everything I did was met with approval and acceptance without a hint of the anger or disagreement. By Friday evening the trim is all in place, most of the nail holes are filled and the first coat of primer is in place.

This agreement and acceptance made the job a LOT easier.

Normally I would not be so insistent, but we made this decision years ago before AD messed her up. I was continuing on a design we started.

Thank you Miriam.

our house

We built our house on the tightest budget imaginable.

I had inherited the bare land, but when I went to the bank to borrow money to build, I was told that for me to borrow the money I needed I would have to have an equal amount of cash in hand.

Some how the banker never figured that one out. If I had it I sure would not be talking to him!

So we went ahead and bartered and did the work ourselves and cut corners. During those days a lot of houses were built with very narrow dark colored trim around the doors. The windows were usual wrapped with “sheetrock.” The rock was finished to the floor so often there was no floor base at all.

So, a few years ago I decided that I could pick up some design details from the “craftsman” design era. They used a lot of high labor details, using lots of wood I the process. I decided to go with wide trim on the doors and windows and a wide base board on the floor.

I could buy the base material in 4 by 8 foot sheets and cut, plane and mill it to the size and design I wished. I did the upstairs bed and bath a few years ago, then the new kitchen cabinets and now the common room.

My preferred system is to install the wood (MDF) without any finish and then finish in place. Often I would spray lacquer, but I did not want the overspray in the house, so I hand brushed enamel -- about 4 or 5 coats!

When finished the surface is smooth and durable, but it is time intensive.

Still, this is nothing in terms of disruption. When I redid the cabinets a few years ago, I built them all, and stacked them in the cabinet shop. Then I tore out the old kitchen, did the necessary changes to the structure and put it all back together. That left us without a kitchen for a couple of weeks.

That was a project. I am so glad that was then!

This one just involves wood work and a lot of paint. The joyful part is that it will be comfortable and quite elegant when finished.

would you?

I was with a friend the other day who asked: If you could do it again, would you choose the same line of work?

Emphatically I said that I would not!

On a good day I am a B or B minus in innate craftsmanship, which is what the trades require to be really good. (Being a perfectionist is the shortest way to bankruptcy however!)

When I was in high school we were all given an IQ test. Up to that time I had studied little and passed. If I had a class or a teacher I liked, I would do better, but I got by. I was pretty sure that was as good as I could get.

They didn’t tell any of us the results of that test, lest we become “proud.”

It was not until I was in my 40’s did I discover that I should have been an honor student, and that my teachers failed me by letting me get by with shoddy work. Maybe that is why I talk to my grandkids teachers when I can and tell the teachers to not let Emily or Matt or Jess get away with sloppy work. They can do good work, and I give the teachers this grandpas permission to push them.


When I was 18, I began college. I was two weeks late getting there, then was stuck with a night job to pay for it all. I stayed up all night working then went to class. Not many could pull that off, and I didn’t.

But back to that question. No. I would avoid the trades with earnestness. If I knew at 18 what I found out at 40, I would have gone a totally different direction.

I am a good idea person, a great mind stirrer, and as such I would have loved a life as a college professor. Some of my happiest years were when I was in the classroom as a teacher.

But that is not the way it turned out.

I would have married Miriam at the same time, but otherwise I would have made a lot of different decisions.

Even with that confession, I have to admit that my life right now is very happy. I have found contentment and I have found as much peace as any restless mind can.

But you asked, and I told you.

changes

We saw history tuesday.

No, it is not the end of civilization as we know it, and it is doubtful that nirvana is here. Change is good for some and painful for others, but change is what we will do.

While my world view is reasonably wide, my personal view is narrower. It is about making my life work better for those I know and those I love. It is about being content on one level, and wildly discontent on another. It is about trying to become a better husband, grandfather, gardner and chef.

No one person is smart enough to know how all of our ills can be fixed, but I am smart enough to know that the way we have been doing things for a long time simply has not worked very well.

Yea I am pretty green. I see us destroying our land, of defecating in our bed, of poisoning our air, water and our own bodies. As a Christian, I find the destruction of our beautiful world I the name of “progress” as suicide, long term. There is a bible text that comments negatively on people who destroy the earth.

Some day our grandchildren (or their children) will curse us for the way we handled their legacy, but for now we must soldier on and do our best.

While I have strong political feelings, that is not the point of this post. It is not a time for copious quantities of elation and much less a time for fear and fear mongering. In ways we may only begin to understand, our lives will change, not just because of the election, but because of the variety of crisis that have pervaded our world of late. We are too few on this planet and we use a disproportionate amount of the resources of the world.

It is time to roll up our sleeves.

John Kennedy said that we should ask what can we do to help our country. That still makes sense today.

How can I make my neighborhood, my garden, my home a better, safer and enjoyable place. It cannot be me first and to the dogs with you, we really have to play nice. We really have to get along.

So much to do, and I am so old.

unfinished

Thursday, after the water system was working, David took Ray and I out to look at other cabins.

He had been involved with this area long enough he knew the stories about most of them. Interesting, at least.

There was the three story factory turned log structure, well put together by professionals, obviously. It had a bank of $600 batteries and a generator that would seamlessly go from battery to generator without any interruption.

We decided we did not want to know how much it cost.

There were more modest cabins that were well used, a few that were a bit short of glory but were loved and some that were misused.

But the ones that talked to me the most were the unfinished ones.

One in particular. Solid concrete footings, straight and strong block foundation. Log walls with large logs, maybe 15 to 18” on the small end. Absolutely meticulous craftsmanship in each detail. The logs fit tight enough you could not put a knife blade between them. The arches where logs intersect were wonderfully done.

But in the middle there were trees 15 or 20 feet high, testifying that the job was stopped for some reason. The floor joists, large logs, carefully mortised into the lowest row, had rotted enough they had fallen into the crawl space. The top layer of logs on the walls were rotting.

I know the owner. His workmanship is truly impressive, but I was saddened by the amount of time, and money that went into what was done, and was largely wasted.

The job was too big, the cabin too large, the time and money too short, I would guess.

There were others that were not finished. Across the road from Ray’s cabin there is a cabin that was started, No foundation on this one, the logs sit on logs standing on end. The logs are smaller, maybe 6” at the small end.

The story is that the owner had intended to make this a year around home, but had a heart attack and died before he could finish his dream.

And I wondered if the busy work I am doing, really would be the way I would like to spend the last part of my life, if I knew how it was to be.

All around us are broken promises and broken dreams. These were not unique, and I have a few of them in my life.

I find nothing but sadness in all of these unfinished projects.

Will I be able to finish my own? I cannot know.