Construction Journal Entry Week of 10/15/17

10/17-19/17 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

It rained all the way on the drive up but the autumn leaves were beautiful nonetheless. I arrived in a 42° downpour at 12:40. I made one trip up to the cabin with some of my gear thinking that I would go back for the rest later if the rain let up. I was happy to find no signs of mice in the cabin. Maybe the new baseboards kept them out.

After building a fire and having my lunch and a nap, the rain had let up a little. I went back down to the truck and brought up my tools and an artist easel. When I finish with the 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, I plan to do some painting so I will begin bringing up painting supplies in preparation.

Then I put on my work clothes, my dust mask, and my ear muffs and chiseled the baseboard notch between Grid B3 and C3.

On Wednesday the temperature outside was 27° but the skies were clear. After building a fire and having my breakfast, I replaced the batteries in all three smoke detectors. One of them had started beeping to remind me.

Then I put on my work clothes and made the Grid B3-C3 baseboard. I decided I wanted all the joints in the baseboards to be hidden behind the columns but that meant that each one would have to be slid deep behind the column on the left in order for the other end to come around and get past the column on the right. Then it could be slid all the way to the right into its final position up against the previously installed section. The tricky part was to get the baseboard worked in behind the left-hand column. It meant some special chiseling of the notch behind the left-hand column, some special shaping of the left end of the baseboard, and even some rasping of the back side of the column. A lot of trial and error.

I finally got it in place and then had my lunch and a nap. When I got up I went back to work and chiseled the notch between Grid C3 and D3. I was able to do it without removing the wall-hung heater directly above the notch. I have to lie on the floor and operate the bulldog nearly flat on the floor in order to cut the notch so the heater was not in the way at all.

When the notch was cut, I went out on the porch and made the next baseboard section. That amounts to cutting a 2x4 to length and then planing one edge down about 3/32" in order to make a square edge that meets the floor. I took the baseboard inside and tried it. I was happy that it almost fit. I then quit for the night. It was raining cats and dogs and had been since about noon. The rain continued into the night.

On Thursday morning, I was awakened by an early-morning call from Dave. He had another commitment so our conversation wasn't too long. It was long enough, though, for him to give me some good advice about buying an electronic piano for the cabin. Practicing the piano is another activity in addition to painting that I plan to do in place of working on the puzzle.

Next, I got the Grid C3-D3 baseboard fitted and nailed in place and then went to work chiseling the D3-E3 notch. By the time I finished, it was time to quit for the week. I took some pictures and left for home at 1:00 happy with the progress.



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