Perception of the passage of time is relative - time flies when your having fun. It is difficult to believe that we worked on this drystack stone fireplace for about 17 months at intervals. We started in January 2007, and then I provided updates at some intervals along the way. At the One year point, [...]
As an update from my last post, I poured concrete for my new workshop last Thursday. My prep work of the footings, forms, rebar and remesh all passed the county inspection. I had pumped the water out of the hole for the last time, lined up the concrete finishers and ordered the concrete. I was [...]
Standing on the third section of scaffold, I’m within about two feet of the top of the chimney and just past the 90% mark on the project. I’m well over the hump of disillusionment that usually creeps in around the 50% point where it feels like I have been working forever on something and as far [...]
The stonework I once thought could be done in 30 days is now at something like day 415 largely as a result of demands on my time from my day job, other obligations, and a healthy dose of procrastination.
The fireplace and chimney has slowly gathered aesthetic appeal and visual mass as the work progresses, and now passing the 80% [...]
December 31st, the last day of the year and time for that almost compulsory blog retrospective of the past twelve months…
With the passage of time comes perspective, the clarity to see how the people, events, and opportunities that come and go from our lives help shape and define it. Some years are more significant than others, viewed in [...]
This time last year, I started work on my 21 foot high, 6 foot wide fireplace and chimney that I’m doing in “Buck’s County” drystack ledgestone. At the time I began, I thought perhaps this project would take a month, two at the outside. Back in July, I provided the last update on the project and was only [...]
About two weeks ago, the ignition key broke off unexpectedly in the lock cylinder of one of our cars while trying to start it. The car has some age to it, and the lock was becoming a bit stubborn, and this led to metal fatigue in the key. Or perhaps, the car knows we are [...]
Like “blinker fluid” (the imaginary fluid required to make your turn signals work), or “muffler bearings” (no moving parts in those), I would have found Tim’s recent blog commentary on ”park brake fluid” to have been indicative of some practical garage humor played out at the expense of the new guy. I would have thought so, had it [...]
Jim (in photo), having recovered from his one lap of the US, was up for some Saturday afternoon projects, and dropped by to lend a hand, or a wrench as it were. I’ve been using this loader on my building projects since late 2000, and have now begun to address some issues that have developed [...]
Last week, I noticed my wife’s Audi A4 making a lot of mechanical noise while idling. Raising the hood and listening closely, I concluded it was likely worn out roller bearings in either the alternator or the pulley on the serpentine belt tensioner. The next day, she left for work and was back in 10 minutes, [...]
