Rain? In Juneau? An inch of rain fell into the rain gauge on our back fence in the last twenty four hours, the first appreciable rainfall we've had in over two weeks. It's been a lovely spring.
And it's been a busy spring too. Even before the ground thawed I [Michael] was out on the east wall of the house, digging down to the foot of the foundation and out. We're enclosing the crawl space and installing "wing" insulation in accordance with the latest advice from the cold-climate construction people, as a part of the overall insulation project on the house. Before the summer is out we plan to completely wrap the house inside of four inches of foam from the footer up to the ceiling, and seal up the attic above the bedrooms while adding more insulation up there.
The work is going well. The digging so far isn't hard at all, compared to my last endeavor at our previous house (where every foot met with many large rocks). The original plan was to rent a backhoe to save time, but once I started digging I just kept going, and it was soon apparent that the expense wouldn't be worth the limited time I would save. The trench pictured here took two afternoons to complete.
And this first trench is already filled back in! The insulation package and drainage system went in without any hitches. The only unanticipated delay came with the discovery of a nest of finch eggs outside a bedroom window, which meant delaying the insulation on the upper part of the wall for a few more weeks. No matter: I moved on to the lower south wall and dug another long trench in a very few hours, then put in a part of that insulation before the weather began to change.
To say that I am happy with the progress so far would be fair enough. Actually I am quite pleased with the whole affair, and especially tickled to be cruising through this kind of work at the rate my 47 year old (48 next month) body is allowing. Stiff? Sore? Nope! Even my back has stopped giving me trouble!
The ground work along the east wall was especially gratifying because of the weather. This was the only wall with a drip line (no rain gutter). No rain meant no time dealing with tarps, and no struggling to keep water out of the trench. Dry weather also made each shovel of dirt that much lighter.
And in two more weeks Sheryl will be out of school, and I can devote even more time into the project. Lots to do, but if the work so far is any indication, it won't be so much that I don't get it all done.
Other events...
Sheryl will be transferring jobs and schools next year. She's been teaching the extended learning program (and music for a while) at Riverbend Elementary since before we met. Today she was formally offered (and accepted) the split post of music teacher/librarian at Auke Bay Elementary. She's looking forward to the change, especially since this is the school Becky is and Michael will be attending.
We got most of our firewood for next winter yesterday, months ahead of when we stocked up last summer. My neighbor, the same one who gave me half his wood last year in exchange for splitting the rounds he harvested from several trees he had cut, needed the OTHER half moved to get equipment in to landscape part of his back yard! I volunteered to help him out, and even gave him a little money for the wood. So for four hours yesterday I moved about a cord and a half of wood four times (once into the trailer, then from trailer to wheelbarrow, wheelbarrow to shed floor, and finally from the floor onto the stack).
And we're finding time to work on the sailboat too, scraping and cleaning, cleaning and scraping. In truth, the boat is seaworthy now, but we want it to look good too. We're also hopeful that we may be able to get a nearly new outboard for it from another neighbor of ours...
This would be the neighbor who had something of a feud with the previous owner of our house. The story I heard was that my neighbor wanted a place to park a boat one year and there was space in the corner of our property. Once upon a time that corner was the end of the road and there was a turnaround (it's a through road now), and there was disagreement whether the easement for the turnaround still existed (it doesn't). There were some hard feelings between them. The first week we owned this house I went over and introduced myself, told my neighbor that I had no plans for the space and he was welcome to use it if he needed it, and that I would let him know if that ever became a problem. He's never parked anything there, but we've been on good terms from the outset. We talk regularly. He came over when the sailboat appeared in our driveway and we got to talking, and he told me about his outboard: a little loud and more vibration than he wanted on his skiff, but probably just right for my needs.
Seems that getting and staying on good terms with the neighbors has benefits.
