One year ago today: December 7, 2016, I barely remember 1973.
Five years ago today: December 7, 2012, Schlieren photograph.
Nine years ago today: December 7, 2008, PB & mayo.
Random years ago today: December 7, 2002, the surplus English daughter.
Happy birthday, Eatmore. I remember my promise to contact you today, but you also promised me back. It’s been nearly fifty years. Enough about that, I got work to do. Here is a picture that shows what I’m up against. The original base of the building has deteriorated behind the siding, but the joists just inside the sill plate are in good shape. If you look at the row of blocks under the cabin, you can make out the individually tailored wooden pieces that brought the wall back to level. Above it, the previous owner put all those little wooden chinks every few feet to hold up the interior baseboard. Then he replaced the siding over top.
Now don’t go thinking he pulled a fast one. This type of quick repair is common in Florida because of hurricane damage. The real hazard is not wind, but water. Don’t quote me, but I believe this style of building is called balloon framing. I had already attached four sister joists under the floor when the idea hit me, why not pull off the siding (as seen here) and extend the pieces out to form the deck? It’s also was a lot easier on the heavy lifting. You bet it is additional work overall as I begin removing those sister joists later today. This entails removing the insulation and electrical wiring.
The porch was never meant to be just a lean-to, but a permanent part of the living space. Whether it gets used as such is unknown. The quality is there along with the related expense. Don’t worry, there is enough money in the sock to complete the job. You can see the two joists in place, an interim arrangement to help align and level the concrete blocks. This is a ten-foot section that spans the part of the inside floor that’s been leveled. The only pier that is solid in place along the new section is the piece at the extreme left, clipped off in the photo. It is a triple.
Later and before I over-exhausted myself, I examined the flooring of the rear wing where the sun room is planned. Interesting, I could employ this same method. The floor joists run the other direction and could be extended just as easily. Um, when I say ‘easily’, that means comparatively, okay. It’s by no means an effortless task and more like a two-person job. The sun room is larger so I might have to stagger the joists. The only other modification would be putting the interior flooring on 180° to what I’d planned. The dominance of this renovation stage means I have to blog the snot out of it for the duration. But you do want me to have a nice place to retire, don’t you?
The Kremlin.
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By noon I’ve made the first major mistake. I have to dig up some of the concrete blocks. This is what they call experience. I didn’t have a water level, so I very carefully ran string lines with the four-foot level. Somehow half the length is level, but the other half tapers upward. Same string, same everything, but it isn’t level. If I have to do it over, that’s a lesson learned. Get a water level. Then drive to Winter Haven for a cup of coffee. No sense moping.
This deck building isn’t rocket science. If nothing else, I’ll know what to look for if I ever buy another place. Don’t rule that out. That extra source of income later in life is still a big consideration for me. You’ll need something that doesn’t lose out to inflation in the long run. I’ve devoted a lot of study to the topic, but keep coming back to my old rules developed decades ago. Make sure you own the investment and not the other way around. I hear the news of economic growth but I don’t see the results. This is not the time to be building factories. The new businesses I see are tattoo parlors and pizza joints.
Nobody wants to invest in long-term infrastructure any more. The classic American restaurant is gone, or at least you have to hunt for the few hold-outs. Why plow your money into things that you know will be assailed from all sides by the system in place? Real estate remains at the top of the list and that list gets shorter every year. Huh? You want the list? No way. But I’ll tell you of some things in the top ten. Music. Writing. Flea markets. And I can always teach music lessons. The major reason I don’t do those things is I’m still operating at a surplus after all these years. That is, I’m already operating at a profit. But I’m susceptible to inflation and I know it.
I finished the railroad book and can only partially recommend it. If you have an interest in such items as the wheel-naming conventions and lists of repair shop numbers, then jump right in. I was more into the short chapters about lines that failed and why. There was a short-lived line that ran on compressed air, with the pipe down the middle of the rails. As the car passed over, a set of arms opened and closed valves. Then, there are the cars that rode up and down narrow cliff ledges to the beaches. Some of the English expressions are a hoot. Alas, the remainder of the book is dry reading.
The John Wayne festival continues this week. I have the four disk set of 25 movie classics, including many with women from the 1930s that actually don’t look like today’s coke hookers. What became of most of them, I dunno. Not one of these old movies rings a bell except a couple of the newer colorized versions. One disk contains a drawn-out documentary with the producer, John Ford, which does little but strongly remind the viewer of the tremendous role that luck plays in this life.
ADDENDUM
Looks like the new gal guitar player chickened out. Off to a good start, then they figure out there’s work involved and split. Hardly a first. I got one good tune out of it, I learned the bass line for “Mama’s Broken Heart” and if you think it was easy, you don’t know the song. And brought another out of retirement, Yoakum’s “Guitars & Cadillacs”, though I can’t really sing that one.
Then I find out the clear plastic tubing is $1.80 per foot. I need 40 feet. This is where the advance planning comes in. The only sections of the tube that really have to be clear are the ends, and we’ll make those some four feet tall. Photos to follow, but the idea of working a water level is quite simple. You put the stakes in the ground near the two points you want to have level. Then you fill it with colored water until that height is reached and place a mark. Repeat down the length of what you want to be level. If you want to be a jerk about it, hire some kid to work the other end and scoff him like you are the possessor of ancient knowledge he’s too green to understand.
Screw the price tag, I bought 30 feet of air hose and swaged two four foot sections of clear tubing on the ends. These will be fastened to an upright four-foot wooden stake. There is a risk doing this that the tube might get some trapped air. I’ll take that chance. Then I went to the club and sat around listening to the band. They are good at what they do, but that could be because that is what they do. A few sets of medium-tempo music that tries to sound country. But occasionally, real country music features a fast song. The problem is, they don’t play it.
Last Laugh
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