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thomryng
Vombatus Sapiens

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Dominican Friar Lays Egg on Ash Wednesday!

23 Feb 2012 08:19
thomryng: (Default)
Today is the feast of the blessed martyr Saint Polycarp (he of many fishes). Burned alive in Rome for the crime of being a Christian bishop, he was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle.

Although I could wax on and on about the great Polycarp, I'm not going to, for as the headline to this post reveals, a truly incredible event has taken place in our time.

Now I have an old beat-up paperback that makes great brainless reading called News and Rumor in Renaissance Europe - The Fugger Newsletters. This book contains contemporary reports from the various Fugger agents throughout Europe to their main office.

As you might expect, much of it involves political and economic reports at the scene - there is a whole section of reports from Spain, Holland, and England regarding the progress of the Spanish Armada for instance.

But in addition to what we might consider the "Six o'Clock News Reports" there are also a whole host of reports that might have come right out of "Weekly World News".

Things like "Antichrist born in Austrian village", that sort of thing.

Well, yesterday, Ash Wednesday, a Dominican Friar laid an egg for the first time. Her name is Violet.

A Dominican Friar


Wait, did I say Dominican Friar? I meant Dominique Fryer. Sorry for the confusion.

The Dominiques were named after Dominicans because of their black and white colour scheme. You can see how I made the mistake.

Violet the Dominique

Anyway, in a supreme bit of irony, our first chicken egg appeared on Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten fast.

I'm sure there's a real joke in there somewhere, but I can't quite smoke it out.

It was a tiny little egg, but absolutely great for a first effort. Francine had it fried for breakfast this morning and pronounced it delicious.

At some point, I'll publish some ruminations about our urban farm, but for the moment I'll just leave you with the egg:



(originally posted to Mundus Tranquillare Hic)
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The Big Scrape

15 Jul 2011 20:08
thomryng: (Pistachio House)
Tomorrow is The Big Scrape, wherein we tear the turf off of the backyard in preparation for our little piazzas and Italian garden.

Armed with rakes and shovels and implements of DEstruction - and an excavator - we're removing a jungle of crabgrass and dandelion. The previous owners pretty much just laid down turf over the previous backyard, so the whole yard is half a foot higher than the neighbouring yard. That's a lot of stuff to scrape off and haul away.

We're on a strict time limit imposed by the place we're renting the excavator from.

The place we're dumping the sod and picking up the sand both charge by weight.

It's raining. Water makes things heavier. I think you can see where this is going.

The rain is also going to make a whole lot of mud. Should be fun!

At least we will have plenty of food and drink for the volunteers.

Incidentally, if YOU'D like to volunteer, come on by! We're starting at 7AM.

If not, just keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
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The Big Foundation Day

14 Jul 2010 12:49
thomryng: (Pistachio House)
Yesterday, Mike, Adam, and Victoria came over to help me finish up the foundation work on our chapel.

We got through the long east wall, which has the door framing, the short north wall, and most of the long west wall.

Francine grilled us up some burgers for a late lunch that couldn't be beat!

As always, click the picture to see a larger version.


St. Francis offers some advice St. Francis offers some advice

Before beginning work, I took a tour around the garden. I thought our little statue of Saint Francis was looking particularly cheerful this morning.
Prayer Prayer

Adam said the nails were overkill, but they were handy. This greeted our helpers this morning. Adam arrived by 8:30 to help with demolition. Mike was in just after 11, and Victoria a bit after that.
The east wall (lack of) sill The east wall (lack of) sill

As you can see, we had our work cut out for us. After replacing the south wall sill, the long east wall was next.
Mike cutting the sill lumber Mike cutting the sill lumber

The sills are made of treated 2x4, one on top of the other. For the long east wall, we used overlapping 12-foot and 8-foot lengths.
Working on the east sill Working on the east sill

You can see the tall jack behind Mike. We have two house jacks holding the wall up about an inch over the top of the sill so we can slide the pieces in. They they're screwed together in situ. The studs are toenailed to the sill, and then the wall is dropped into position. We also had to replace two footings on this wall, one in the centre of the wall, and one by the door.
Mile and Adam toenailing Mile and Adam toenailing

This is how we attach the (repaired) studs to the new sill.
More demo More demo

This is me pulling off more siding, trying to root out all the rot on the west wall.
Checking the level Checking the level

Once we had the new east sill in place, we replaced the centre footer on the north wall. Just for fun, we dropped a 2x4 across the sills, from the east sill to the west sill, to check the level.
And then, a miracle occurred And then, a miracle occurred

After countless jury-rigs and putting in new footers... the building is level.

It wasn't level before. Not even close.

We were all flabbergasted by the result. God is good.
Lumber! Lumber!

This morning, Mel very graciously took me to the local lumber company for a few more 2x4s so I can frame in the rest of the west wall tomorrow. After that, the foundation, framing, and sill work will be complete... except for the windows and doors.

Coming next: floor joists!



Thank you to our tireless workers: Adam, Mike, and Victoria.

And a special thanks to Francine for lunch!
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Chapel Update

11 Jul 2010 16:48
thomryng: (Pistachio House)
The photos here were taken on the two hottest days of the year (so far).

We're working again on Tuesday, starting in the morning...


A problem in need of a solution, July 2010 A problem in need of a solution, July 2010
The chapel ruin as it stood on 6 July 2010 - an eyesore unlikely to remain standing another season. Time to get to work!
We were out of bailing wire We were out of bailing wire
Cross beams are holding the chapel together. I've lost track of the number of times I've bonked my head.
The ceiling The ceiling
It's like stained glass, only trashier.
In progress In progress
Victoria and I fixed the studs on most of the east and west walls, and all of them on the north wall.
Victoria the construction worker Victoria the construction worker
She's pretty handy with the power tools - she was on stage crew for a couple of years after all.
Mike at the start of the south wall demo. Mike at the start of the south wall demo.
The tools of the trade are in his hand.
South Wall: step 1 South Wall: step 1
Here's what's holding up the south wall - a 2x6 and two very large jacks.
Support System Support System
Those two jacks are holding the south wall about two inches above its previous position. You will note that there is no sill at all under the wall. That crazy old-growth paneling was literally the only thing holding up that wall. Yikes.
Mike begins demo of south wall Mike begins demo of south wall
Ah, this is the fun part: making it look even worse so we can tackle the structural problems.
Rotting studs on the south wall Rotting studs on the south wall
Once the siding is off, we see what we were expecting: rot.
What we were up against What we were up against
Notice that every single stud on the south wall had already been repaired at some point in the past - and that they are, every one of them, rotten.
new sill and footing on south wall new sill and footing on south wall
It sure is pretty! We had to replace chunks of all the south studs, reinforce them, put in new footers, and put in a sill. It was a little tricky cutting the footers to the correct length with no sill. Did I mention the wall is being held up by jacks inside the building?
After the demo and rebuild of the south wall After the demo and rebuild of the south wall
No doubt the neighbours think it's even worse now, but the building is immeasurably stronger now. I no longer think it might just fall over.
The new south wall The new south wall
Here's a medium shot of the new sill and studs.
Conquering hero? Not so much. Conquering hero? Not so much.
I'm sweaty and dirty after an all-day demo and rebuild.



Unemployed? On Summer break? Just need an excuse for a day off your regular 9 to 5? Come on over TUESDAY and help in the epic chapel rebuild! Tasty refreshing beverages provided, and all workers will be invited to the dedication dinner when we're finally done with the building!
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Construction!

6 Jul 2010 09:39
thomryng: (Pistachio House)
So it's 9:30 AM on the Tuesday of what should have been my vacation, had I not been laid off last week.

My vacation plan was to work on the outbuilding / chapel and to turn it into a usable building. Other than adding "looking for work" onto my daily to do list, I see no reason to change my plans for this week.

The building is a disaster. Right now it has no roof, no floor, and parts of it need to be re-framed. However, I have recently come into the possession of a book on repairing and restoring old barns and sheds. Suddenly, the project is a lot less overwhelming than I thought it was, and I've already revisited some of the early complicating decisions I made on this project.




Not that it will be particularly easy, mind, but now at least I know what I'm going to do.

First thing is to head to the pawn shop and see if I can buy a sabre saw for cheap.

Does anybody have a pair of eight foot house jacks I could borrow for a couple of days?

Edited to add: Just picked up a slightly used DeWalt reciprocating saw for $32.

Needless to say, the project is on a tight budget (of previously allocated funds). Let's see how much of this I can do for.... $500? Got to remember to keep on my Thinking Brain.
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Saturday

26 Jun 2010 23:25
thomryng: (Default)
No game today, and yet I am just plain exhausted. I thought weekends were supposed to be relaxing?

I did manage a quick jaunt to Culpepper Books, where I purchased a lovely copy of the Divine Comedy with the Doré illustrations. That was between gardening and spring cleaning.

It has become apparent to me that we live in a big rambling farm house. Not much of a farm, mind, but we visited some chickens recently purchased by our neighbour Lisa, and I think they're doable.

Of course, building a coop is about ninth on my list of major home projects, so I'm thinking maybe 2012.
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Oy

22 Sep 2008 17:51
thomryng: (Spiffy)
My executive producer and my co-writer spent the last week in Westport, Connecticut conducting a series of tours designed to show off our pilot project.

Results were mixed, though generally positive.

We discovered some unanticipated issues with the attention span of passengers watching on-board video versus just looking out the window.

So, as we seem to do every month, we completely changed what it is we do and how it is we do it.

( Wherein our author whinges mightily )

I think I'll buy a kilt and a barn full of rum.
  • Current Mood: I surrender
  • Current Location: commuting on a train
  • Current Music: the rhythm of the rails
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Huzzah for Ludicrous!

13 Sep 2008 09:52
thomryng: (Pistachio House)
I will refer you, dear friends, to the post made by my lovely wife here. She explains the situation quite succinctly.

I don't think it quite captures the level of noise in the house right now. Have you ever flown in a turboprop airplane? No? Have you ever had a hair dryer up to your ear constantly day and night? No?

Well, come over to my house if you'd like a taste of "so loud you have to shout to hear yourself".

It appears that we shall be living out of a hotel for a month or two or three.

Remember kids: the Devil hates silence, because that's when we hear God.
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Whew!

12 Jun 2007 17:26
thomryng: (Stupor Mundi)
The madness that is the second-to-last week of school, with its graduations and field day gyrations, has given way to the collapsing soufflé that is the last week of school.

I'm feeling much better about life in general, and the stress level has noticeably dropped. It hasn't quite dropped to the Summer Holiday level, but it's hovering right near the Now, What I Was Supposed to be Doing? level.

Some time in the next month, I rather suspect it will be at the Sangrias on the Patio level, a state of affairs to which I look forward with no little anticipation.

The weekend was gardening in the rain, followed by gardening in the sunshine. The fig has been joined by an olive. In between, there were Irish (sic) pubs and gawdawful fish and chips at a place that should probably stick with pizza.

I don't think I mentioned it earlier, but I built fully half of Piazza della Pistachio on Memorial Day, just so we would have some place to put the grill.

Today is my last day of staying late at work.
  • Current Mood: upbeat
  • Current Location: Visitation Catholic School, Tacoma
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Storm Aftermath

15 Dec 2006 09:01
thomryng: (Pistachio House)
Seventy mile per hour winds last night and torrential rain. We lost power briefly, but otherwise we were remarkably untouched by the storm considering that we live on top of a hill.

Property damage seems minimal. Part of the fence blew down, snapping a 4x4 post in the process, and the roof on the shed has been further damaged, allowing water to pour into the structure. I'm willing to concede at this point that the shed may be a tear-down rebuild.

My school appears to be the only school in the city open today. I have the day off - so of course I'm trying to catch up on all the things I haven't been able to do this week, like clean house.

And, apparently, repair fences.
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