church windows

In the 7 or 8 years I was head deacon we had three of these windows broken out. They were one piece of plate glass: 5 by 8 feet and cost more than $500 each.
The last time it happened I was determined to find a way to use smaller pieces of glass.
I milled the wood and installed it with the help of a good friend.

church front

Before Miriam did the window, the whole front was white plaster with one opening at the bottom of the stained glass window. There is a painting there, done by Miriam and my art teacher from way back. That painting was the only decoration. It is still there.

This is Miriam's stained glass window. It was done about 1983. It is hard to photograph back lit glass, but this is close to how it really is. I find the dove to be very sophisticated, and this was before Miriam went to art school.

vintage '75

Strange isn't it!!
The panels on the front were transparent and opened into the greenhouse. Windows in the bedrooms, down bath and utility delivered light inside the house.
The OSB on the side is to be replaced this spring with stucco and the entire front will be replaced, though plans are to keep it looking pretty much like it is now.
Even when you know all about it, it is still strange isn't it!!

our nutty house

I live in a pretty dingy house.

No question about that one. But, believe it or not, there were reasons! And, of course, I designed and built it so it is no one’s fault but mine.

There were several criteria when I designed the house:

Privacy. We once lived in a “conventional” house with a big window in the front facing living room. I would stand in front of the window looking out and discover my neighbor standing in his window looking back. Embarrassing for both of us.

All of our windows face the back, which is our property. From these windows very few other houses are visible.

It was during the 70’s that some began thinking that there would be an end to cheap energy. My house sits down inside the ground and is very well insulated. Result: no air conditioning, even when the temps are high, and minimal heating.

I like and liked small houses. For one they are affordable! Given the zero state of the budget small was mandatory.

We had 4 daughters, three were still at home. Few houses the size of this one had more than one bathroom. I decided it would have two, even if I had to cut back on other things. Even with just the two of us, two baths is about right!

The idea of solar heating was new and very exciting. My brother built a very workable solar house in Utah about that time. I read all I could find and built according to the best information I could find.

Alas, it was not always right and we have abandoned the solar part. Those big flat panels in the front might hold photovoltaics some day, but the original design was for a greenhouse to collect heat and transfer it to the house.

That worked out really well in July, but not so good in January, when we tend to have a lot of cloud cover. Oh well.

So a few years ago I converted the “greenhouse” into closets on two floors!

Crazy it is. Easy to live in it is, but traditional it is not.

In the last few years I have been going through the house, a section at a time, redoing all the trim and paint, replacing windows with new vinyl windows and making it more livable.

I see the time coming when the up stairs bedrooms will not be a good idea, so one of the next projects is to include part of the greenhouse into a closet for the down bedroom and then putting in a murphy bed.

That room has a triple door (six feet wide total) between the bedroom and the living room. The idea was that it could be opened up when extra space is needed and yet closed for privacy. Light came through the greenhouse, and a closet took one entire wall. The bed was on wheels and rolled into the closet making a “day bed”.

Now, the closet is gone and a window is on that wall. I’ll take out the window that let light from the greenhouse and replace it with a door. There is room for a very nice little bedroom and the down bath is right next to that space.

But that is a future project.

ahh

Ahh, the paint is all on and on budget, sorta, mostly, i guess!

I cleaned out the roller socks and the brushes, put the paint back in the buckets and that is all for tonight.

Now to take the paint OFF of the ceramic tile floor and clean up. Back near normal for weekend.

Plenty of details to go yet, but the messy part is done.

Hooray.

entry, loft is above

Early picture, before mirrors in the doors.

feeling

Yesterday I felt my age.

Most of the time I get by thinking I am younger than I am. My back is strong, my knees function. I feel pretty good. OK, I am a bit slower, not quite so strong, and don’t have any where near the endurance I once had, but oh well.

Our house (I told you it was weird) does not have a “front door”, but you enter on the side. The entry has a low ceiling, with mirrored cabinets on the right side (our pantry) and the door into the utility on the left. It works better than it sounds, mostly

Above that low ceiling is the loft -- this is a 70’s house, after all. The loft goes over the hall, the pantry and the cabinets in the kitchen, about 7 feet and is about 9’ long. But since this is a cathedral ceiling, that ceiling is about a foot and a half over one edge of the loft and maybe 3 ½ feet on the other side.

Any way, I was painting that ceiling yesterday.

Lying on my back, Michelangelo style, painting away. It was a bit strenuous, pushing that roller up and into the texture of the ceiling. I began to feel a bit claustrophobic, a bit dizzy and even nauseated.

There was no choice but to keep working on it, so I did. And I felt all of my 71 years. When I had it done (ok, today I go back to touch up my work) I took a shower and then collapsed into my chair.

I’ll be glad when this is project is complete. We are at the stage where it seems like it has been going on always, and it will never be truly finished. I have learned that it is discipline that gets the job done. It sure is not fun any more (if it ever was), and right now it the whole project seems like a bad idea. If there is a good feeling of having it done, that is some where in the foggy future, if it ever gets done.

Today I feel good again. But I look at that ceiling that has not been painted in decades, and see places that need more paint and more work.

I used to tell my college students that degrees do not go to the bright but to those who persevere. That is my task now, keeping at it

It will be finished, it wlil, maybe even by this weekend!!

close

This paint project is nearing completion.

The first color coat went on the new woodwork yesterday and it looks good. No complaints at all.

The day before she dressed and came downstairs I could tell she was very angry. When I asked, she would not tell me the subject of her anger: “If I told you, you would get mad at me.”

I figured that was a good place to leave it, so I did.

But as time, and the project, goes on, she is gets less aggravated about it all. I am glad. Yesterday she asked me again if we were going to move, and when I assured her that we would stay living here a very long time, she was visibly relieved.

This is not a fun disease for sure, and I think it has as many horrors for her as for the rest of us. I hear her frustration.


She does not want any change right now. This is a big disruption, messing with our main living space. Other projects will not be so invasive.

We will be fine. It will be done.

Today I paint the ceiling. That is never a fun job, but this one is cathedral style. That means it is seven and a half feet on one side and over eleven feet on the other. That difference is enough to make it a challenge.

And, this is the last room with “popcorn” ceiling. I have scraped off the rest of it in the house, but this room is going to stay like it is, popcorn ceiling and all.

There are changes that even I do not want to deal with!

may I change my mind?

Skip the building trades?

Having said what I did about not working the trades, a post or two ago, Lori reminds me that it is pretty handy to know how to do things.

I learned one trade (floor installation) and watched others. I never hired on as a carpenter, but I can hold my own, mostly.

So, when I need to do a project, I mostly know what to do. There are times when my knowledge is that I do not have enough knowledge. Then I look for friends who do.

I want to do some stucco outside on my house, not a lot, but some. Stucco is a labor intensive product, with fairly inexpensive raw materials. So it is a natural for those who are time rich and cash poor.
But I do not know enough about stucco, I am sure. My friend Art, was an accomplished stucco man, but we lost him a while back. Fortunately his brother Dewey is alive and well. I asked him the other day and he said he could help me. I told him I did not need help just some instructions and guidance. He grinned.

Dewey is 83, and he would have helped I know, but his advice will be invaluable.

And that is how it works.

I am not a plumber, but when I built our house, I could not find a plumber to barter with, so I plumbed it myself. The state plumbing inspector was a prince of a guy who guided me when I got in trouble (he gave me his home phone number, in case).

At one point I had used an illegal fitting (the plumbing rules are a bit complex). He said that he knew it would never cause a problem, but it was not legal. He told me how to make it legal, but said he would sign me off, and would not come back to check if I had made the change.

With an attitude like that I hurried out, bought the right fittings and made it “legal.”

Now it is my turn, and often I guide friends in their projects.

David needed a new shower, the old one was really nasty, and it leaked besides. He didn’t want to pay me $2000 for a new one (and I really did not want to do it), so I loaned him tools, taught him a bit, and he built a very nice looking shower.

We are both proud of it!

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.