Tag Archives: Big Lake Scandal (Nick Russell)

2014/09/03 (W) Pine Cone Midden

After breakfast Linda downloaded the Hanks Writer to her iPad2 while I downloaded three app updates to mine.  After checking in on the blogs that I follow, I spread some grass seed around the bare and thin spots in the back and west side of the yard by the house.  I wanted to take care of that while it was cool and the ground was still damp with dew from the overnight lows in the upper 50’s.

Darryll did not call last night, so I did not expect him to be here today.  Our son might be interested in the old window air-conditioner so we moved it to the southeast corner of the garage and plugged it in to make sure it worked.  It did, so I sent him a text message to that effect.

We cleared off the table we have been using to cut drywall and got the 1/4″ birch plywood panel that will be the front of the box that encloses the electrical sub-panel and cables.  We measured carefully, twice, laid out the cut lines, and checked the measurements again.  We got the center cutout very close to correct on the first try and only had to trim it a little bit in one corner to get it to fit around the panel box.  We did not secure it place as we still need to feed the thermostat cable through the wall and put some insulation in the wall cavity to the left of the panel as this is an outside wall.

With the carpentry work done we started cleaning and reorganizing the garage, making sure that Darryll will still have access to things he needs to work on.  We plan to have the storage pod picked up on the 12th or 13th, so even though Darryll is not quite finished, we were anxious to start working on the rest of the garage.

We moved the tools and supplies we’ve been using to the three new shelving units on the east wall of the garage.  We then unloaded two shorter units and two tall units on the west wall and spread everything out on the floor.  We moved the units to the northeast wall, the shorter ones fitting nicely under the low end of the flue where it exits the utility closet wall.  We went through the stuff on the floor and put some of it in the trash, set some of it aside to recycle, designated a few things to go to the Salvation Army, collected RV parts in boxes to take to the GLCC Surplus and Salvage rally next month, and put the rest back on the shelves.

We took a break for lunch and then finished up in the garage for the day.  Linda worked at her desk and I changed out of my construction clothes into something more suitable for working at my desk.  She made marinated baked tofu cubes for dinner, with sautéed green beans and corn-on-the-cob (organic and non-GMO, of course).  We sat on the deck and watched our resident American Red Squirrel gather pine cones and move them under the cluster of three big fir trees where we presume it has a nest and pine cone midden.  These trees have never been trimmed and the lower branches are sizable and long and the ends rest on the ground.  I peeked in there the other day but did not see pine cones piled around any of the trunks like I expected, so I’m not sure where the midden is located.

I was up later than I should have been but I finished reading Big Lake Scandal.  The fifth book in Nick Russell’s Big Lake murder mystery series, it was a good read.  Nick has created an interesting place with interesting characters and reveals a little more about them with each volume.  He is particularly good at capturing the way people might actually talk to one another on a daily basis in a small western town.  He should know; he has spent a lot of time in such places over the years.

 

2014/09/02 (T) No More Painting

After breakfast Linda worked on the financial and membership records for our GLCC RV chapter and I took care of a couple of e-mails.  Keith showed up to cut the grass, which he managed to do in spite of the wet conditions from yesterday’s heavy rains.  After chatting with Keith for a few minutes I started to resume work on “the project” but decided to look for the tub of grass seed and fertilizer we brought from the old house.  I found it rather quickly and we still had a partial bag of grass seed, so I spread it around the front yard by hand filling in the bare and thin spots, of which there were plenty.  Our flock of wild turkeys was back today.  I think they like the grass seed I put out for them.

Wild turkeys gather in and around the fire pit.  No...we do plan to cook them.

Wild turkeys gather in and around the fire pit. No…we do not plan to cook them.

I sanded the drywall compound in the library and applied another thin layer.  I’ve been applying non-overlapping horizontal strips of mud, letting them dry, sanding them smooth while feathering the edges, then repeating the process for the areas in-between, or outside, the previous strips.  I will eventually turn this 90 degrees and apply the strips vertically.  The last set of steps will be to fill around the outside of the opening, feathering everything back to the existing wall surface and sanding it smooth with the central part of the patch.  We don’t want it to be obvious that there was ever a hole in the wall.  Once the drywall patching is done I have to prime the new compound and then paint the entire wall.

The paint on the east wall of the garage and the outside of the utility closet looked good and the paint on the inside of the utility closet looked good enough; it is, after all, the inside of a furnace closet.  I was done painting, at least for now, which should have felt like a big deal, but it just meant I could wrap up a couple of things and move on to the next thing.

The first thing was to mount the electrical box on the wall to the left of the library HVAC unit, make all the wiring connections, screw the switch into the box, and put on the cover plate.  I routed the thermostat wire alongside, and zip-tied it to, the armored AC power cable.  The second thing was preparing the mounting holes for the garage furnace thermostat on the outside of the utility closet wall.  I then cut the thermostat cable to the correct length beyond the wall, removed the outer sheath, stripped the ends of the wires, and secured the cable with a zip tie to prevent it from slipping back into the wall.  I did not actually mount the thermostat, however, since I was going to wait for Darryll to connect the wires.

Three adults and three young.  They are large and impressive birds.

Three adults and three young. They are large and impressive birds.

By then it was time for lunch, after which Linda left for her dentist appointment in Dearborn.  I wanted something easy to do, so I assembled the three plastic shelving units I bought at Lowe’s yesterday.  They went together easily, but one was missing the feet, top caps, and wall brackets and another one had a defective top cap.  I put them against the east wall of the garage and the floor was flat enough that they lined up well, so I don’t necessarily need the feet.  But the top caps are important, and it bugs me that I did not get everything I paid for.

The next thing I decided to tackle was the wood box in the utility closet that will enclose the electrical sub-panel and make it appear to be recessed and hide all of the electrical cables.  I cleared off the table we have been using to work on sheets of drywall and stood the scrap pieces of drywall against the back wall.  I got the two 8-foot 1×10’s I bought yesterday, put them on the table, made careful measurements and then marked them.  The two side pieces needed to be 52″ long x 7-1/4″ wide, with notches to create clearance for the top plate, horizontal blocking, and electrical cables passing through holes in studs.  I cut them to length with the Rockwell circular saw, and then ripped them to width using the Craftsman band saw.  The band saw had not been used in years but it had no problem ripping each board.  The notches were made with our Porter-Cable saber saw.  This kind of work is a pleasure when you have the right tools.

I screwed the two side pieces into place and then measured and cut a bottom cross member, and a trim strip to go below it, and installed those with screws.  I then cut a top cross member and a backing strip to go behind it between the two side pieces.  When I was done I had a box that would support a 48″ high by 33″ wide 1/4″ thick plywood panel with the outside face flush with the front edge of the sub-panel once I cut a rectangular opening in the plywood to allow it to fit around the box.  The plywood panel will be secured around the edges with a few screws and the sub-panel cover plate will overlap and cover any gap between the panel box and the opening in the plywood.  I will finish the plywood panel tomorrow or Thursday depending on when Darryll returns and how much I have to work with him to get the power connected to the new A-C compressor.

Jasper the cat in the kitty tent on the deck.  He spends a lot time looking around and sniffing the air when he is out here.

Jasper the cat in the kitty tent on the deck. He spends a lot time looking around and sniffing the air when he is out here.

That was the end of my project work for the day so I took a shower and put on some clean clothes.  Linda poured a couple glasses of wine and we sat on the deck and enjoyed an absolutely beautiful late summer Michigan evening.  We brought the kitty tent out so Jasper could sit outside with us.  Linda threw a green salad together, followed by the leftovers of the penne pasta dish and Italian bread she made for dinner on Saturday.  As twilight set in we moved inside and I decided to go to Lowe’s for some grass seed.  I figured if the soil was still moist first thing tomorrow morning I would spread it around the bare and thin areas in the back and on the west side of the garage, of which there are plenty. Otherwise I will wait until just after the next rain.

I started reading Big Lake Scandal last night and continued with it this evening.  It’s the 5th and latest book in the Big Lake murder mystery series by full-time RVer Nick Russell.  Nick is a good writer, but he and his wife, Terry, are personal acquaintances, which makes reading his books that much more fun.