10/11-13/05 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.
I arrived at 2:10. The drive over was gorgeous with the fall colors all out. It was 55 degrees and very pleasant. All the peanuts and mouse traps were untouched which was good news. After lunch, I installed two more receptacle assemblies and I installed the cover plates on all the boxes that were done so far. I had to chisel a little mortar away from the sides of some of the boxes to get the plates to fit better. They look nice and finished now.
I set up lights and moved my equipment into the bathroom and insulated all eleven seams on that wall. I got six of them nailed before I quit for the day.
On Wednesday, I started out by feeding an eager chipmunk who greeted me. I nailed four more seams and then found out that I couldn't nail the seam at the very bottom. I couldn't get my hand in there to hold the nails. I decided not to chink that seam but just fill it with insulation. It will be covered by the floor and the baseboard so it doesn't really need to be chinked.
I spent the rest of the day chinking and got the ten seams in the bathroom all chinked. During the work, I fed the jays and the chipmunks. At one point, I saw a flock of either quail or young grouse on the hairpin turn foraging for food.
I had time after I cleaned up my tools to finish installing the rope railing on the porch deck. I used a piece of 16 gauge strap steel, one of the old Z-brackets, to fasten down the 4x4 post I had set up to hold the rope rails. I got the ropes pretty tight and I think I will consider the job done.
On Thursday I cleaned the remaining logs in the utility room and I cleaned all of them in the bathroom. I learned that they are a lot harder to clean after the mortar has set an additional week. From now on, I will try to clean them off the day after I do the chinking. I fed the jays some more and left for home at 1:30 feeling good about getting the bathroom all done in one week.
©2005 Paul R. Martin, All rights reserved.
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