You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June 2007.
Conversations we may or may not have had this weekend during our attempt to reinvigorate the shingling project:
C: Explain to me again why I have to hand hammer?
M: Because the air compressor is at a jobsite.
C: I suck at hand hammering.
M: Yes, yes you do.
C: You hate me don’t you?
M: Yes, yes I do.
C: This horsefly is driving me nuts!
M: Yeah, it used to be around me. I shooed it over to you.
C: You gave me your horsefly?
M: You’re welcome.
C: Okay, is it a problem that I bent this nail over?
M: Well, if it sticks out at all then you’ll have trouble getting the next row to lie flat. It’s better to take it out.
C: *hammers the everloving crap out of the nail*
M: That’s also an option.
C: Where’s the dog?
M: Over there chewing on some sticks.
C: Cool. As long as she’s not in our way.
M: Yeah, it’s great until we have to clean up stick puke.
C: ….
M: ….
C & M: Hey, dog, get over here!
M: I’m going to run another chalk line for this row to make sure we put it up straight.
C: I can eyeball it.
M: No, it’s better to run a line. *snaps line*
C: You marked over some of the shingles that were already up. The line isn’t quite straight.
M: You know what we call that in the business? Close enough.
C: Make up your mind!
M: Ow!
C: Sorry, the horsefly was on your head. I think it fell to the ground.
M: That really hurt.
C: There it is! Die you stupid fly! Die! Die! *hammers the everloving crap out of the ground*
M: Seriously. Ow.
C: I think I got it!
C: Did we even make a dent in the shingling?
M: Sure. We got 60 linear feet done.
C: What’s that mean?
M: It means we have a lot more to go.
C: I’m going to need the compressor.
Cherie had her college reunion this past Saturday. Her *mumblemumblemumble* reunion. Ahem. That one. You know. The reunion where people walk around and try to pretend that they are still young and beer-gut free because they haven’t quite given in to being full-fledged adults. (Us included: M: Don’t you think that everyone here looks a lot older than us? C: Um, honey, this is what we look like. M: No way!) The reunion was a surprisingly good time, and we especially appreciated all the people who pretended they found the housebuilding thing to be interesting, instead of just nutty. Thanks, guys.
Anyway, we learned the week before that Freshwater Stone was having their annual clearance sale that very day. This is the sale when they clear out all of the scrap and remnants that have been collecting in their yard for the last year. It’s a great time for people like us that are flexible in what they want and too broke to hire the professionals themselves. (But if we had the money, we would hire these fine folks. We highly recommend checking out their galleries. They do beautiful work.) As luck would have it, we had to drive right by the sale to get to the reunion.
We’ve been planning on using granite as the woodstove surround and Michael had been half-heartedly collecting various scrap pieces from some friendly local masons to use on the walls. We weren’t sure what we were going to put underneath the stove but were considering slate to match the entryway. Granite pieces seemed possibly unstable, but the mismatched granite/slate idea wasn’t quite right either. Either way it was worth a stop in to the sale.
Here’s just a small sample of what we saw:
Fields and fields of granite, the vast majority of it from local Maine quarries. It was pretty amazing. Or overwhelming. It was possibly very overwhelming.
First we started picking through their big scrap pile, looking for good pieces for the walls–small pieces that were flat on one side for easy adhesion but rough on the other for interest. We weren’t picky about color, figuring that as long as it was local and natural, the color would work itself out. And it pretty much did. After we loaded up the truck we wandered around to see what else was out there, and that was when we hit the goldmine: countertop remnants. The perfect solution for under the stove. A chunk of granite countertop is exactly what we needed: flat, even, fairly thin. A short investigation of the options with the tape measure and we found our perfect piece: a 50 inch by 50 inch chunk of pinkish granite.
Of course, getting it in the truck meant that we had to unload all of the rock that we’d already piled in, but Cherie didn’t mind doing that while Michael hunted down the guys with the heavy machinery.
This is Cherie using her happy face to show how she didn’t mind at all. Really.
By the end of it all, we were late for the reunion but had scored a bargain-priced $200 worth of fine Maine granite for the woodstove surround. And Cherie got to scare former classmates with her enthusiasm for rocks.
What’s not to love?
Must be summer. We’ve vanished from view. It’s nothing personal. It’s just that it’s warm and sunny and birds are singing and the breeze is blowing and our little corner of the world is officially "In Season" and we got a little distracted by all that.
We’ve been working on things here and there.
We built and installed the beginnings of our upper cabinets:
That slightly odd-looking wire is for the future microwave/hood combo. Pay it no mind.
We cleaned up our yard some more and planted a few things here and there (no pictures because it’s all rather sad still).
We bought a chainsaw and an axe and began building up our woodpile for next winter.
But mostly we’ve just been nesting.
Like our friends on the porch.
We’ll get motivated here eventually.
