The new campfire thread...ooooh purrrrty!!!!!!

[Fenlason]

We had temps in the 20's this morning. The first few cold mornings outside working are sometimes tough. I have a hard time with my hands. Although it only took a couple of hours to warm enough to be comfortable. We have sun.. but our highs will stay in the 50's. We are making decent progress I guess. I should be able to order some metal next week.

We are going out to dinner tonight with our munchies group. So we will have to quit a little early… but we have all day tomorrow.. and I think we are supposed to have decent weather.

[toypusher]

It was 34 degrees when I got to work at 6:15 this morning and by 7:30 it was down to 32. Pretty cold to be out working for me.

Anyway it is to be in the high 70s this coming week! That is gonna feel HOT compared to the last couple weeks now.

[Fenlason]

It felt like a good time to quit for the day. I just have a few more purlins to put up on the upper part of the east wall.hmmm I have to figure out my wall to roof flashing. I want to prep it for later re-roofing the lower roof with metal. So I will probably put down a wider purlin.. a 2x6.. and then temporarily put down a piece of pt decking.. then I will install my flashing on that… anyways I will have to look at that tomorrow..take some measurements. I can also take some measurements for some metal.

Although we won't be home next weekend to install it.

[Fenlason]

I figured we might do some trail work, until it was warmer out. We got outside, and it was pretty comfortable.. so we stayed and worked on the house. We got the rest of the purlins up.. and then worked on that flashing area. We put down a PT 2x6 for the upper purlin and then placed a piece of PT decking on top. Our flashing will mount to the wall above that. Next year when I put metal roofing on the porch roof, I will just slide out the decking and slide in the roofing.

After getting this done, I thought we might go out and do a little trail work. The hard thing this time of year is the leaf drop. It makes some of the trails very hard to see.. especially after dark. I was going to leaf blow some trails.. but I also know in a week they would be in need again. So we decided to wait on the leaf blowing, and do other work.

Late last year we roughed out an alternate route at the far end of Chasing Rabbits. It was roughed out but not finished. We have found we are riding it a bit anyways. I decided to work on that. So first we did a little string trimming, then we worked on cutting out all the little stumps. It had some deeply undulating terrain. Some, what I like to call wheel stuffing dips. Stuff easy to endo in. We smoothed it out a bit. We take the tops of the mounds and fill in the deeper holes. This trail still has a lot of undulations… but they are smoother or the edges aren't as sharp. In doing this we remove some of the fern roots etc. So it will be less maintenance in the future. We got this done.. or at least done enough for now. [We need to ride it a bit, to see what else it might need.] I was pretty tired from all the digging, and had realized we had not leaf blown anything.. but I was beat and it was lunch time.

Driving back home, we came across a big down tree snarl in our way. Sooo more work.. we but it all cut up and moved. So now we get back to the house and are really tired and hungry.. and we find Dave and Angela were there and ready for us to take them for a ride…

So we run inside.. and change.. and away we go. [I did grab an ensure to hold me over]

We went for a nice ride.. had a late lunch.. then headed back out for some house measurements.. and to start a material list for tomorrow.

[caseydog]

The day started in the 70s, got up to 87, and now is back down to 82 as the sun is setting. Looks like another record warm month is in the making.

Not much going on. I'm cooking up a pot of tomato sauce for pasta this week. San Marzano tomatoes, herbs and red peppers from my garden, and California garlic.

Otherwise, a pretty lazy day at the doghouse.

CD

[toypusher]

Yeah, not much going on around here either. We did some 'winter prep' stuff yesterday. I do need to mow today, but otherwise I think I will work on the new man-door in the detached garage. Still working on cutting out cinder blocks for the opening.

[Fenlason]

We had a gorgeous day yesterday. It got up to at least 70. I made a trip to the lumber yard.. and then worked here. I ordered some metal, not everything I need, but the majority of it. I also did get some work done on the porch. We had a great ride last night.

They are saying maybe some showers today. Although it sounds like it will be mostly dry. I have a soffit area on one side of the porch I can work on. I can then work inside.

I get to help with a delivery tomorrow.. and it's a little ways away… so not just a quick one.

[caseydog]

It was 92-degrees today, with 71-percent humidity.

We have a cold front coming -- or so they say. The last one stalled just North of here. So, maybe in the 70's on Friday. I'll believe it when I see it.

I took psycho-poodle to the vet today. I got some new medicine for his skin allergy. I sure hope it works. He has little bald spots where he has chewed his fur off.

CD

[Fenlason]

Tuesday I did get that soffit put up. I worked on a couple of chainsaws. I did some string trimming on the skinny farm, and started cutting up my pile of firewood. I had decent weather until I was cutting the firewood, we have a "heavy" mist during that.

Yesterday was another gorgeous day.. sunny and warm. I had the delivery.. and that took a good part of the day.

Angela and I had great mountain bike ride last night, and Laurie and her group had a great hike.

I am heading to the lumberyard today. They didn't have some of what I wanted the other day. So more porch work today.

[Fenlason]

A rainy one today.. It's pretty much wet all the time, although there are heavier showers coming through.. then it lightens up.

I did get some porch trim up yesterday.. measured, cut, stained, then installed. I will stain it again at some point. I just wanted a coat on all sides of it before installation.

I am not feeling all that good today, but I have been working in the porch. We did get our metal yesterday, but it is wet out.. and we will be gone this weekend…

[caseydog]

Hey sheepman, I did three loads of laundry today. I also ran the dishwasher and put away the clean dishes. I'm worn out.

I also put on some music, and played with my cajon. Not what you might think. It is a percussion instrument.

Tomorrow, I have errands to run, and I have some sweet peppers on the vine that I want to use for some kabobs. I also have a bunch of poblanos. I may make some Chilis Rellenos on Sunday -- I've never made them before.

The weather is very nice right now -- 78 degrees today, 76 tomorrow. Then, back in the 80s next week. El Niño is gone, but it is still well above normal around here. We did, at least, get a very good rain very early Thursday morning. My summer perennial flowers look fantastic -- especially considering they should be dormant by now. They are huge and full of blooms.

CD

[toypusher]

Same old same old here. Except I have been sick a the last couple days. Much better today. Going out to breakfast about 8:30 and then to a Concealed Carry Seminar from 10 - 12. Have to do some laundry and cleaning but not much else today unless I get out to mow the lawn too.

[caseydog]

Well, things got pushed back a day. I ran errands and grilled kabobs on Sunday. I have a lot to do this week, before flying to Lost Wages (Las Vegas) next Monday for SEMA.

Psycho-poodle's new medicine is working.

My MINI passed inspection, even though the high-beams only work some of the time. They are bi-xenons, which are uber-expensive, so I decided to bet that, being Texas, the inspector wouldn't check, or wouldn't care, and I was right.

I also got a haircut... but not too much of a hair cut. Just enough to look civilized.

Kerry, a CC permit wouldn't do me any good. I don't think I could conceal a Remington 870 Tactical 12 gauge, without a long trench-coat. I'm thinking it would get rather uncomfortable in a rather short time.

Glenn, I trimmed some limbs off of my live-oak tree that were less than 8 feet above the sidewalk -- city code. No chainsaw, though, just some shears.

I think I covered everyone. We need to do some recruiting.

CD

[Fenlason]

Hey all…

We were away for the weekend. Our 24th annual Bar Harbor tandem weekend. We headed over Saturday morning and came back yesterday. We had a smaller group this year. Through the years it has changed a lot. We have 3 couples that are the core.. Each of the others have been there 23 years.. we have been to all of them. We had 2 other couples that were there for part of the activities.. but did not partake in our ride. The smaller core group was actually quite nice this weekend… being more intimate, and such.

We had some pretty wild weather. Saturday was warm but cloudy and showery.. and windy.. It got quite windy later in the day. Driving to the restaurant Saturday night.. we are almost there… in the middle of town, and the power went out. Everything went dark. We kept driving and our resturant was the only one that had power. [perhaps a generator?]

For our ride Sunday the wild weather continued. It was coolish.. and very windy.. and wild. We also hit some rain. We were all dressed fairly well for it so we were mostly comfortable.

We stayed an extra night with one of the couples.. and went for a hike.. and then drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain for sunset. It was clearing to the west so we had a nice sliver for a gorgeous sunset.

We woke Monday to sun and relatively calm.. so we headed back home after a leisurely breakfast, to get to work. We had received our latest metal for the house. Of course by the time we got home it was very windy and cloudy again. Fortunately we had some smaller pieces for the parapet wall, and roof section.. so we were able to still get some work done.

Cool and cloudy and windy again today. I was hoping to stain and put up some trim. I got some stuff cut and sanded, but it is too cold to stain it. I did decided to stain the pieces in my upstairs sun room. I brought everything in up there for it to warm up.

I then did some mods to my woods trailer, and then decided to cut some firewood. I have a pile of 4' to 6' stuff to cut up.

[Fenlason]

I had to look up cajon.. that looks interesting.

I am glad Psycho's meds are working.

We have cooled off also.. We had 70's last week.. today.. it's still in the upper 30's. Winter is coming… I am feeling a little pressure because of it.. we still have a lot to do.

There isn't all that much that we have to get done.. but a lot that would be real nice to get done.

We just keep looking at the priority list.. and adapting to the weather conditions and do what we can.