Entry/Office Cupboard 3

After trimming every one of those 48 dowel pegs, I sanded the whole cupboard.

I set the beadboard back into the back of the cupboard.

Next step: Painting.

Also see:
Entry/Office Cupboard 1
Entry/Office Cupboard 2

Entry/Office Cupboard 2

I cut 48 tiny pieces of dowel and glued them into all the cupboard's screw holes.

In the next photo, I'm holding the cupboard roughly in the spot it will be located. It's so much fun to see something I've had in my head for years coming to reality!

After cutting the beadboard for the back of the cupboard, I loosely taped it in place so I could see what it looks like. Not bad!

Next steps: Cut all 48 dowel pegs flush with the cupboard sides. Sand the cupboard. Paint it--for now, without the beadboard. (I think I should wait to cut the holes for the electrical boxes in the beadboard until after the inside walls of the JayBee are more done.)

Also see:
Entry/Office Cupboard 1
Entry/Office Cupboard 3


Today felt like spring. The ice is slowly letting go of my driveway. This may look bad to you but, to me, it looks SO much better than it has!

Not sure if you can tell from this next photo, but the channel eroding down the middle of the ice reveals that the ice slab is still 6-8 inches thick.

There was a funny moment today... I thought I was outside by myself. I was moving back and forth between the JayBee and the house, putting things away for the day. On one of my trips, something caught my attention out the corner of my eye. I was so startled, I leapt off the ground. Then I just chuckled. Crazy cat.

Entry/Office Cupboard 1

In the weeks since I last posted, we have had a frigid, below-zero-at-night stretch and some snowstorms intermixed with some spring-like, in-the-50s stretches. Recently, we had two straight days of torrential rain that wiped out just about all of the remaining snow and cleared the ice off the river. The last two days have been clear and sunny, but cold. Ice is reforming on the river. Our strange winter continues.

For a very long time, I have been designing in my head a special cupboard for the JayBee. It will sit just around the corner from the door, between the door and the large south window. You can see in this photo...

that the space is only about a foot wide. The part of the cupboard that will sit directly in front of the window can be only three inches deep so it won't cover the window. Also, the cupboard will have light switches and outlets in the middle of it. Even with all these constraints, my plan is that the cupboard will serve multiple purposes; it will be a drop-off point for things as I enter the house and a handy storage space that will be within reach of where I will sit and work in the living space.

Since I was not excited to be outdoors working during the recent deep freeze, I used the time to design this cupboard.

I designed spaces in the cupboard for: keys, incoming and outgoing mail, bills to be paid, a few books, the router, a landline phone, a box of tissues, a charging station, and office supplies (pens, pencils, scissors, rulers, clips, rubber bands, pencil sharpener, stapler, tape dispenser, stamps, post-its, note paper). The cupboard will be attached to the wall about 15 inches above the floor so a wooden waste bin can sit underneath it against the wall.

I was able to cut the parts of the cupboard using my under-cover but outdoor saws. The portable garage I set up has worked well, even if it has had occasional condensation issues.

Assembly in progress...

Basic structure of the cupboard done.

Next up: I will peg the holes and work on the beadboard that will serve as the back of the cupboard.

Also see:
Entry/Office Cupboard 2
Entry/Office Cupboard 3


Here is the river before the recent rain...

...and after.

For those of you more interested in the cats...

Last weekend, I came to the sad conclusion that George is profoundly deaf. My long-time readers will remember that I have had some other hints about this possibility--like the time that George slept through having a neighbor's dog excitedly jumping up and down and breathing heavily right next to him. That incident I chalked up to George being a sound sleeper. I guess I was in denial...

I had stepped outside to go for a walk. I knew George was outside around the front of the house and I hoped to get him to walk with me, so I began calling his name as soon as I stepped outside and headed toward the top of the driveway. George heard something (or maybe he simply felt the vibration of me slamming the door) because he came running around from the front of the house. Instead of joining me, he ran over to the door and looked expectantly up at it—as if I would surely open it at any minute.

There I stood, at the top of the driveway, looking at him looking up at the window in the door. I loudly called his name over and over. I banged my walking stick on the ground. I jumped up and down. I waved my arms. If anything, George looked up at the door even more expectantly. 

Finally, I walked up the driveway, calling George’s name and waving my arms—hoping I would get into his line of vision. When George finally saw me, he jumped out of his skin! Once he calmed down, we went for a fine walk.

So…Either George is profoundly deaf…or he hears things but has dementia that interferes with his brain’s interpretation of what he is hearing. It’s very sad…and makes him an easy mark for other creatures—most notably Bear, of course.

Other random things...

Check out this stone I found in my driveway.

A deer visit--recorded in the mud in my driveway.

Bear. AKA The White Menace. AKA Wackadoodle.

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Yesterday, the forecasted "flurries" turned out to be a day-long, full-fledged snowstorm. The next three shots were taken just before sundown and before the storm was done.

Today, the world is white again. Back to winter.

I was loving how this deep snow is curling off the JayBee's roof...

...until I saw that it looked like a widowmaker in the making.

What I like about this next shot is that it shows that, even with all that snow curling around the roof edge, all of the snow is only touching the metal roofing; none of it is touching any wood. Just as planned!

No melting/sliding happening on the north side yet.

Early February on the River

The temperature got up into the low 50s today. Snow and ice have been rapidly melting for days, and the river is looking more like a spring thaw in March rather than a mid winter freeze.

From the shoreline, it looks like there is still a lot of ice out on the river.

The edge ice is breaking up, though...

...and there is a lot of water gushing down into the river after yesterday's torrential rain.

From higher up on the riverbank, it's more obvious just how much open water there is out there. So strange for early February!