spring !

bout time .. sheesh!  .. it's been a long winter, and while the tide is definitely turning, i think i was the only one on the golf course today in shorts.  the temperature made it into the 50s, but there was a pretty good wind and that kept the sweaters (and some light parkas) on.  

but, the ducks are back.  they showed up yesterday, and i think it's their latest first appearance

in the 18 years we have lived here.  some years they show up in march.

other good stuff is happening too.  the goldfish are all happy and the pump and filter has cleaned the sludge out of their winter water.  crystal clear now .. click the photos to enlarge them.

mr. bear came by thursday night and made a new sculpture out of the bird feeder.  mr. squirrel thinks he can get up the pole now that it's on a slope and his persistence in trying was both impressive and hysterical.  an excellent example of the fail.

and on the other side of the house, three baby squirrels were out an practicing going up and down the tree.  they never actually left the tree, but they got down to about 2 feet off the ground, then turned and went back up to momma, who was cracking acorns for them back up top.  i tried to get them all together,  but ran out of patience.  the little guy in the photo above was about half size of his mom.

the wild leeks are up in the ravine above the pond,

and the red trilliums have buds but not flowers quite yet.

the million different kinds of mosses we have (could have a blog post just on them sometime) are greening up

and the snow is pretty much gone except on the mountains and at the ski areas, like stratton mountain in the distance.

new plates in the kiln today

and a friend brought me some sap spout maple for helping him with a project in the shop .. nice!

and we start a new slab headboard king size bed tomorrow ... more photos on that as we progress.

The Woodshed ... Update

update 6/3/09

Ready for the roof boards ....planed and cut to length today

I did lower the pitch a bit so I could use 10' rafters
Update post 5/25

5/25/09 Well It started out innocently enough. It was just going to be a simple shed like the woodshed above I built back in 1975.... (Note the fine mustache and actual hand hewn by Dan and his Brother-in-law, Paul, beams ) ... Then it morphed, as buildings can do, and it will henceforth now be known as 'The Temple of Wood' .... Click the photos to enlarge them ...

New sketch

Inspiration photo ... I'm gonna skip the reflecting pool ...

Picked up the beams at Coleman Hills ... barely made it back over the mountain

Planed 'em, half lapped 'em, and put them up

Mocked up the pitch ... hmmm ..might lower it a little

The deck

I'm building a new woodshed this spring ... Got a stove last fall and I want to have wood with no snow on it this winter. Started a couple of weeks ago when the weather was just getting warm. It's really nice to have an outside building project in the spring time. Particularly one that doesn't involve the close tolerance work that goes on in the shop everyday. Out of square by 1/4" in in 224" ???? Noooo problem. Nail it. I won't bore you with the running commentary. Click the ones you want to see up close. I'm just diarying the process. Kit doesn't do scrapbooks anymore ....

layout

holes (by hand .. ugh)

Pete of Pete's Pizza Ovens and Barnegat Bay Sneakbox fame helped with the concrete

The concrete crew ... Pete, Sam, Dan ... Jim taking the picture

the mulch under the deck

the deck

The framing, completed .note leaves coming out

Lay dry boards tight ... add rain ... get puddle ...

and nice sunset after ... and more leaves

A Walk in the Yard ... Springtime in Vermont

It was just such an awsomely beautiful spring day that I thought I should post the pictures I took today before it turned into 'just another day in paradise' as Jimmy Buffett might say. This post is similar to 'A Walk in the Woods' , one I wrote in the fall that had the same flavor but covered a little more geography. Today, for the initial photos, I never left the yard..... If you've never seen a springtime in Vermont, it's something to see (as I guess, really, spring is something to see everywhere), but this one was mine and it was just one of those days when everything feels just right. Click the pictures to enlarge them...

I started out studying my new woodshed and had no pressing plans except to meet an old friend at his sawmill over the mountain in Bondville to get some lumber for my shed deck, stop at the other lumber yard for some red cedar for a shop project coming up and then hit some golf balls at the driving range on my way home. After that I thought I might chat with the wife, read the paper and have a beer, take a nap and do a little hammering when I woke up. Got everything done but the nap by dinner. Did the nap after dinner and here I am ... writing away ...
After my little study, I went in for another cup of coffee and went out the back door and it was just beautiful ... everywhere I looked, everywhere I went ....

Kit has the hummingbird feeders up as of yesterday. They should be arriving any minute ...

Looked to the East, to Peter's Peak, generally, the first and last sunlight in Dorset.

Turned and went past the aspargus patch ... we've been eating that for a couple days now.

Past the hay fern patch with the little (inedible) fiddleheads just coming up ...

Came around the lower edge of the lawn to the front of the house again

Past the Chinese chestnut Kit planted, also for the hummingbirds...

All that green stuff coming screaming out of one little bud at the end of each branch

Past the woodshed again and then past the crabapple about to burst into total pink on the front lawn ...

Over by the metal shop where Sam is working on a tabernackle, the part that allows the mast to hinge up and down for this Barnegat Bay Sneabox that a friend bought last year. I'm helping him with the mast tomorrow ...

Close up of the tabernackle out of it's hole. As I understand it, it's held in by gravity as the mast is held by the rigging when it's up.

Past the pear tree, about to bloom ...

and down to the ravine between the house and the shop to the wild leek patch. Came with the property.

There are also about a million red terilliams there with em.

and the stream that goes to the duck pond. You can see the shop in the backround.

Up the hill past some funky burnt sienna colored something or other

to the back of the house, and then off to Bondville, a little behind schedule ....

to Coleman Hills Farm ... About as 'Vermont Life' looking as you can get ...

Picked up my lumber and headed back over the mountain.

Stopped by Gale Meadows Pond where my wife and I fished often before we had kids...Might be fun to do that again now ...

Stopped at the scenic overlook to admire the green in the valley and the brown at the top
Had my beer, finished the deck framing, had a nice dinner, unloaded my truck, had a nice nap ... nighty night now ....