The Weekend Warrior is Back on the Porch, Ye-haw

After a few weeks doing other stuff, I am finally back on the porch.  Time is running out before we start getting the fall rain, so we have to get it done.  Lynn hates working on it, so it is like pulling hen’s teeth to get him to work on it.  He says I am working him to death.  I have resorted to bribery.  He would do most anything for waffles.  Not to be mislead, he has some real health issues, and if all things work out he will be having a pace-maker inserted in in early October.  I hope that makes him feel much better.

Yesterday, we did our grocery shopping.  Creatures of habit, plus the dog and cats needed food.  When we got back home, I did some painting and repairing and putting up tin to repair some of the fascia and made it critter proof.  Didn’t work on it too hard.

Sunday, I got up with a plan.  I was going to get some of the crown molding up and calked and more painting.  Wow, did it turn out good, even if I do have to say so myself.  It’s wonderful when you are able to see the vision in your head actually coming out the way you envisioned it.  Also, lets talk about caulking.  It’s a painter’s best friend and can cover up a multitude of mistakes.  The crown molding went up just how I planned.  Whew, I’m glad it did because I didn’t have a backup plan.

We were able to get 3 roof rafters up (that’s where the bribery came in).  We are putting them up with blocking instead of joist hangers.  Then we will have to do blocking along the end of the rafters too.  The boards are twisting.  We got kiln dried, but they still twisted.  Very frustrating.  It will take clamping and muscles to get them where we want them.

I need Lynn’s help with the nailing because, the darn nail gun weighs a ton.  I wish Bostitch or Porter Cable or Makita would make a nail gun with the power of the big ones, but that a woman could handle.  It is all I can do to take it off and on the porch.  It’s awkward and heavy.  Oh, did I mention, I am the tool packer, I pack to the porch and then pack it back into the house when we are done for the day.  I see that as my contribution and my aerobic workout.  Tonight I added moving about 30 2x6x8’s and 2x6x10’s from the side yard to the back yard.  On my feet for 8 hours straight and I am tuckered out.

Doing this porch has been a challenge from the beginning, but so rewarding to see the fruits of my labors.  I have to keep reminding myself why I am doing this project… and that is the porch was going to fall in on our heads.  Maybe it will last for another 100 years.

Now for the pictures.

Annie, the weekend warrior back at it.

The crown molding’s looking good

A problem corner, had to do some creative patch work.

Crown molding from the distance

The building inspector, aka Kinzie.

Tools of the trade

First Porch rafters.

1 – 2 – 3 roof rafters. More next week

Porch detour – Waterbed and Paddock

Well, the porch has taken a back seat to a waterbed change-out and cleaning up the paddock for our new colt.  As much as I wanted to work on the porch, I had to take a detour.  We will start with Saturday.

Saturday was the day we planned to empty the waterbed and change it out to a Nautilus Air Bed.  I know you are thinking who has a waterbed these days?  Well, that would be us!!  My darling husband gets attached to inanimate objects.  He has loved having a waterbed and said that it actually felt good to his back.  Even after his back surgery in 2004.  Well I hated it, but he was the one with the bad back.  Once about 7 years ago, we decided to buy a Nautilus Bed, with the comfort select for each side, hoping to make us each happy.  (Those babies are expensive).  Anyway, we emptied the waterbed and put up the new expensive Nautilus Bed.  That lasted about 2 months, with his constant complaining that he could hardly walk, and that the bed hurt his back, so we packed up the Nautilus bed and put back in the waterbed.  To my chagrin.  😦

Now he can hardly get out of the waterbed because of back pain, and said he wanted to try the Nautilus Bed again.  Visions of the last change-out made me hesitate.  So I let him grumble for a couple of months.  Those darn waterbeds are hard to empty and heavy to get out.  So, short of making him beg, this was the change-out weekend.  It was as miserable as I remembered.  Lugging out the waterbed and being a contortionist trying to hook-up the airbed, made me long to be younger and more flexible.  By the time we finished with that I was done for the day.  Remember “I am OLD.”  My physical therapist is going to have a hay-day trying to get me somewhat back to normal.  I wander does this count as exercise?  The bed was in and I slept just fine, Lynn, on the other hand, growled all night.  But he didn’t remember that this morning, so it sounds like he is going to make it work, because he said he’s done with the waterbed.  That remains to be seen.

Sunday (Today).

My back let me know that I overdid it yesterday, but time is running out for all the other things we have to get done this week.  We are going to pick-up our little 4 month old colt next week so we had to get the paddock cleaned up and ready for him.  I am so excited that I popped 2 Excedrin and hobbled out to get started.  We had lots of Elderberry plants growing wild in our paddocks and I don’t think they are good for horses.  Our other horse and the Llamas ignore them, but I didn’t want to take any chances with the new colt.  So my job was to get the handy dandy electric chain saw out and cut those suckers down.  Having never used a chain saw before, I was a little hesitant.  Now, guess what, Mamma has a brand new toy 🙂

I did have the foresight to take a before and after picture.  Yeah.  Six hours later, and we are almost ready.  We still have a lot of yard debris to haul off, but it is now ready for Mr. Lynn to go in and fix all the broken fences.  There are a few boards that need replacing and the guy wire put back on the gate.  He will be handling that side of the work, while I am basking in the air conditioned office sitting on my rump.

What was Lynn doing all this time, you ask?  He finished replacing the floor in the horse trailer and took all four wheels off and repacked them with grease.  At least I think that is right, I don’t do mechanical stuff.  He also worked on the brakes.  We haven’t had the trailer out since before the flood in 2006, so that needed tending too.  He will be testing all the trailer electrical stuff tomorrow.

About the porch.  I absolutely hate not finishing a project before starting another project.  That was what I did when I was a teenager.  I made a concerted effort, as I got older, to complete one project before starting another one, so this bouncing around is out of my comfort zone.  So stay tuned as I will be back hard at it on the porch in a couple of weeks, as winter’s a comin’.

Annie, the chainsaw diva

Paddock before

Electric Chain Saw

What a mess

Working on the brakes

Mend a few boards and it will be good as new

Maybe next year we will get around to painting the fence and fixing the roof.

A pain-free weekend and the posts are up.

No accidents with the hammer or with the pipe clamp, so things are definitely looking up.  This working on the porch is a young persons job, and I’m not that young.  So needless to say, my back has suffered for the last 2-3 weeks.  Finally, yesterday was pain free, and I totally enjoyed it.  Even Lynn didn’t have much pain yesterday.  Today is a different story for Lynn.  I’m still pain free and I hope it last because I need to catch-up on my walking.  Having to undergo some physical therapy so I have one appointment this week then twice a week after that.  I refuse to wallow in the pain.  There is just too much to  do.  Because it keeps you young if you can keep moving.  At least that’s what works for me.  Plus there are blackberries along the path that need picking.  Then I can make some blackberry cobbler.  Yum. 🙂

Yesterday, we went to Home Depot and picked up the crown molding we will be using on the outside.  It comes in 16′ lengths so we had to take in the flat-bed trailer for that little bitty load.  Felt like we should have loaded it up with more lumber, but I think we have all we will need to complete the job.  Came home and I primed both sides to keep moisture at bay.  They come preprimed, but it is a cheap primer and I want the  paint to stay on and do its job.  The only primer I buy is Kilz Premium Primer.  It costs a little bit more, but is really worth the added expense.  I learned that the had way.   You need a good foundation for the paint.  I’ve tried the paints that have the primer in them, and I am not a big fan of that either.

Today, I put one coat of paint on the crown molding and then Lynn said he needed help repairing another water line in the pasture.  So spent some time digging and repairing the pipe.  It never ends when you have acreages and animals.  We don’t have but 1 horse now and 2 llamas, but will be getting a weanling colt in a couple of weeks so I will need to do some work in the paddock to get it youngster proof, and Lynn has to finish the floor in the horse trailer.

Back to the porch.  Lynn had enough energy to put in the 4 posts and put the headers on top.  He did the cutting and I helped provide the muscle and got to use the handy dandy palm nailer.  I just love that thing.  I got it for him about 6 or 7 years ago for Christmas, but I’m the one that has the most fun with it.  It sure makes the job easier.

The next thing we need to do is start putting up that crown molding and and then the roof joists will go up along with the ceiling joists.  Probably won’t do any more until next weekend.  I’m sure if Lynn feels like it he will be working on his horse trailer this week.  But for now I am a happy camper, cause I’m seeing some progress.  Maybe it will get done yet.

Annie, the feeling good novice carpenter.

Crown Molding, primer and first coat of paint

A closer look at the crown molding

The posts are up and level for the moment.

Love the decking. This ones for you Jodi