Victor Victoria

Took a little trip to Victoria, VA on Saturday about 60ish miles southwest of us.



I've decided that I am going to retire there. And buy this house.



It was originally built around the railroad, but all that really remains is this restored caboose.



On the way to Victoria we passed through Crewe, another railroad town. They still have a really large rail yard, of which I didn't take a picture unfortunately. I did however capture a few shots of the Crewe Railroad Museum. They weren't open, so this is all I got.







Also in Crewe, but more on the outskirts between Crewe and Victoria I snapped a shot of this dilapidated farmhouse. I would have taken some more shots of it, but I was wearing shorts and a little afeared of snakes. Just looking at it I can't imagine why its sinking just to the left of the entrance. Oh wait, yeah, the cobbled together 50 year old roofing patch job.

The architecture of the whole place was amazing. It's a shame that it's left to rot. I'm going back when it's not hot out and/or I have long pants on.



Oh, right, why did I travel to Victoria in the first place? To get me some winders for m'shed. Twunny bucks for the pair, plus the twunny on gas. Not bad.

Shed: Revenge of the Seed of the Bride of the Shed

Yes. I realize I took these pictures in the dark. Tonight. Thanks for letting me know. Most of the remaining two walls were "completed" Sunday afternoon.



I did everything but that little section above the Four Wheeler Door® Sunday afternoon, but Monday I just wanted to hang out so we went to a park, so that's the only part I did.



Next up I start framing the roof, after I tack on that little piece of siding right there on the corner.

There's geometry involved in roof framing, so I'm a little nervous. In high school the only F I ever got was in Geometry. The only D- I got was in Geometry too. Oh wait, no, I got an F in French II also. Bah, I was a senior at that point. My fate was already sealed. The ironic thing was I actually liked Geometry better than Algebra (I was no mathematician in that regard either) because I can visualize shapes and what not, but I just couldn't keep up with the homework assignments. Oh sure, I was a wee bit lazy, but I did ask for help, and I would start the assignments at home, hit a tough question, quit, and then be behind the next day. Why am i talking about this? Good night.

Shed 6: The Next Day

Finished the framing Saturday morning. Piece o'cake 'twas.



Next up is the siding. I opted to go with plywood exterior siding to save money. The good thing about it is in the future I can put clapboards over it if I want.

I have a 4000 cnt box of 3 inch nails, with roughly about half left. I could have used them for the siding, but a) 3 inch nails is a little overkill and b) I don't want to run out since I still have the roof to frame. What I really needed were some 2 or 2 1/4 inch nails, but unfortunately neither Lowe's nor Home Depot sell that size in less than a 5000 cnt box. I'm not spending 90 bucks on that. Too bad I didn't have the foresight to purchase nails online, ya know, the interweb? As my boss would say, "It's gonna be HUGE." Well, I ordered a 500 cnt box today from Amazon for 11 bucks.

One of the reasons I didn't buy the nails before isn't really because of my lack of foresight. I had three boxes of these:



8 penny nails from a project my Dad did around the time that the first Clinton was campaigning for office (if this Clinton gets into office, let's hope she can keep her pants on. ew.) which I inherited.

The first piece took me almost 45 minutes to get in. All that hammering. Ugh. What a drag. And the noise. I was essentially banging on a huge wooden drum. After the first piece, I just nailed the other sheets around the edges. The rest I will take care of when my shipment of 500 2 3/8" nails come in.

After Saturday, I had two walls "done".





Here's me and my chlorophyll stained sneakers (I still have to mow the pasture) for all my fans.

Some People Say

That the ole Gagknee shed is haunted...

Shed 5: Out for Blood Justice Death

Fourth wall up. Nothing else new to report. Although, I forgot to mention the other day that I shot myself in the hand with the nail gun. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures. Of the shed.





Okay, all you framing connoisseurs, just lay off. There are a few bits I haven't finished yet. I know.

Shed: The Saga Continues

Another wall up. Could have put up the fourth wall too if it wasn't for the dad-burned rain.



That's my daughter after taking a bath after getting WD-40 in her hair. I didn't ask how.

Shed: Part Three

New tool for the job: Ear plugs. Why I've never used them before, I do not know. From the whine of the saw, to the BAM of the nail gun, these little bits of foam are amazing.

My pile of wood on my craptacular patio (that's next years project).



The floor was finished by noon. My crappy circular saw crapped out when I was attempting to trim the plywood, so I dug around in the attic for 30 minutes until a found my sabre saw, which worked great for the job. Better than I thought it would.



The back wall. I had to hoist it up there myself, because I was home alone at the time. It wasn't too bad to lift, but getting it level was tricky.



The side wall came next. I should have done the front wall but I decided to change my plans, and hadn't redrawn them yet. Oh well.



Artsy Fartsy

Tales from the Shed

New tool for the job: Framing nailer. Its a refurbished Campbell Hausfeld. Yeah, I know its not a sexy name brand like Dewalt or Porter-Cable (I really wanted a Porter-Cable. To match my finish nailer), but it was a lot cheaper, and honestly, I won't use it for more than 2 or 3 projects. It's pretty awesome using a framing nailer. Makes the work go real fast. Unfortunately, Lowe's only sells 4000 count boxes of nails. That's a lot of nails, but since this thing is so much fun to use, I've been shooting in extra nails, where maybe I wouldn't have otherwise because swinging a hammer is kind of a drag after the 100th nail.



Two weekends ago I poured the piers for my shed. Luckily, the rain had stopped for a few days and I only had issues with water in two of the holes. What to do what to do. I just started dumping concrete into the tubes and when the water level was high enough, I bailed it out with a cup. Seemed to work ok.





I waited a week and slapped my beams and floor frame on. I had the hardest time trying to get the floor frame square, until I decided to measure the width of the frame. Hmmm. Apparently, a 10 foot board isn't always 10 feet long. Oh sure, I know that a 2x6 is actually 1 1/2 x 5 1/2 but who knew that a 2x6x10 could actually be anywhere from 1 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 10' 3/8" to 1 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 10' 2 3/16". Not me.

This part was finished on Saturday. It was supposed to rain, but actually turned out alright. It's a little higher off the ground than I wanted. Oops. I didn't have too much choice though because of the slope.





Sunday was miserable and cold and rainy. In the high 40s. I had to keep stopping to bring all of my tools inside because of intermittent heavy downpours. Got the framing done though.

Bodycount '08

Cat killed a frog, a bird and a mouse this week. Here's some video of him playing with the mouse in my weedbed. He bit the head off too and left it there. I never found the body.



In other cat news, our other cat, Trixie, got herself knocked up and out came five kittens. The one in the forefront is a runt, and we've had to supplement what little she can get from ma with some kitten formula. Yeah, I know, I didn't want them in the first place, nor the mother frankly, but I can't just let something die. The tiny bottle I bought is too big for her, so we've been using a dropper.

Shed: Part I

This will be the first in a series of posts about the shed that I began this past weekend. I've never tackled a project this big, so, no doubt, it'll get interesting.

I dug holes for the concrete piers that I will be putting in. As soon as I dug them they filled in with water. Just like at the beach.

I knew that this part of my yard was always damp for 9 months out of the year, but this I wasn't expecting. With rain all day today, the holes are completely full. I might have to wait a while.

Get Out of My Head

I've had the theme song to the Odd Couple stuck in my head for several weeks. It's a great tune, but starting to get a little old.

Things to which I have been up

Planted a row of 33 lilacs. In 10 years I won't have to look at that junk pile anymore.

I planted a bunch of other stuff too. 54 plants total I think. To date, 3 have died, but the rest seem to be okay, including all the lilacs. One of the trees I planted, a white birch, has already doubled in height. Maybe I won't have to wait 10 years for some decent trees in my front yard after all.














One thing that bugs me is when builders don't put overhead lights in all the rooms, and instead wire up an outlet that is controlled by a switch. The past two weekends I fixed that problem in 3 of our bedrooms by installing ceiling fans. Luckily, there is an attic above.

New tool for the job, a 4 1/8 inch hole saw. Makes quick work of putting holes in a ceiling. If you didn't like someone, you could sneak into their house and put about 10 holes in their ceiling in about a minute. That would be funny.




















I should probably fix that.



















You know what hurts more than embedding a roofing nail into your head? When about a half dozen gouge your lower back.



















I had to fabricate a frame around each because the joists are 24 inches apart which is too wide for the fan brace.



















There's something very "boarding house for drunks" or "Somersworth Hotel" about operating ceiling fixtures with a pull chain, so I also installed switches that control the fan and light.



















Other than suffering from fiberglass poisoning, it was a pretty easy project.






















































Next up, the living room needs an overhead light, not a ceiling fan just a light. I am going to make it more difficult for myself by installing 3 way switches. That should be good for a headache or two.

Guess What's in My Neighbor's Junk Pile

Alright, ok, I'll be the first to admit that this game isn't very fun. Let's try something new.

First, the answer to the last Guess What's in My Neighbor's Junk Pile. It's a jack.








How about we do this, guess as many things as you can.

Kip Journal 5/10/1999

I think that Kip is trying to put the moves on the female contractor.
GET IN THERE KIP!

Kip, in his infinite wisdom was bragging about his great hacking skills. Trying to impress the slew of temp personel. Lets all [effing] envy kips vast skills.

[Again, grammar/spelling not mine. Ed.]

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Malibu Stacy

A hot rodded Chevy Malibu Wagon would be a sweet ride.

Fabulous Movie Review®

No Country for Old Men
Absolutely phenomenal. One of the best written and most original movies I have ever seen. It's not the type of movie I could watch more than once, but that's only because the story left such an impact that watching it again would be like eating a filet mignon and then barfing it up so you could enjoy it again.

Gagknee's grade: A+-

Luck of the French Canadian

Walked to a convenience store. Got a big can of Arizona iced tea. Walk to the capitol. Approached a bench. While sitting on bench I found 8 bucks on the ground.

Life is good.

Although, I wish I had found it before I went to the convenience store.

Kip Journal 5/7/1999

Kip explaining to new guy, that he is so wanted head hunters call him many times every day he is so full of [poop].

[Grammar and punctuation not mine. Ed.]

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