Clearing out the library

I saw this a couple days ago, before heavy rain all night. Neatly stacked just in case someone….

Some encyclopedias from 1999, other stuff that seemed equally uninteresting.

Sheep don’t like shrooms?

You might recall there is sometimes a sheep to say hello to on our neighborhood walks. It’s in the same yard where a large tree fell and took out part of the fence, and is now sporting a few meals’ worth of mushrooms.

Not for us – we’ve found them rather nasty every time we’ve tried – but apparently also not for the sheep.

Oh well!

Just plane fun

Another chore put off for the better part of 15 years: for the first time, those doors close properly. What makes it sweeter is that the jack plane wasn’t functional before I started, and I was able to engineer a solution to that. Wonderful tool when it works!

15 years later

Not long after we moved in, I had the bright idea to insulate the roof above our bedroom. I started with the north (sunny, because we live in the southern hemisphere) side, ripping little 1×1″ strips to support thin tongue-and-groove lambriz pieces, above which I installed fiberglass insulation.

I seems fairly straightforward until you recall this was an owner-built house, meaning that the ceiling beams are not only not evenly spaced, they’re not even necessarily parallel. So I could only cut strips for a foot or two at a time before I’d have to measure again, scramble down the ladder and downstairs to cut more pieces, slightly longer or shorter.

Which is part of the reason I didn’t proceed with the south side as well (which btw still gets plenty of sun in the summer).

The problem lay in finishing each row at the top. They ended with a gap, and insulation showing. After staring at that for far too long, I finally decided I needed a solution. It’s a bit complicated to explain, but required more lambriz, clamping and gluing, a template, drilling and installing screws, among other things.

All while balancing on the penultimate step of an eight-foot folding ladder.

One of those small projects that makes all the difference, if only to me. Oh, and one fun detail. I bought one piece of lambriz – 3.3 meters – and this is what was left over when the project was done 😉

The little things

It wasn’t an impulse purchase; it was an imperative purchase. When these abruptly appeared on display at the local hardware store, I knew I had to have one. An extra foot of reach, a convenient way to work in low spots without squatting or kneeling on the ground.

It’s only been a few days, and i wonder how I ever functioned without it.

Here’s looking at you

Or something.

Lone pine

Just when I say, OK, no more sky photos!

Who says things are expensive in Uruguay?

Recalling with faint dread that I need to start the weed eater which I haven’t used in weeks, and which should be started weekly to keep its 2-stroke motor from glomming up, I fondly recall a tool my father had decades ago. Come to find out yes, it’s called a grass whip, and yes, still sold. Weighs less than a kilo. Maybe could get our freight forwarder to deliver one here, for 20 bucks or so…