It was here, but now is gone.

July 19, 2007 (5:02am)
54º F, Scattered clouds, No wind.

Good morning,

It was here, but now is gone - a wall that is. The major project for the day yesterday was to remove a wall. I accomplished that and rewired the electrical system in that area too. The wall I removed was the only wall in the house that had the electrical wiring inside of it rather than on the surface. When I finally was able to get the OSB off, there was what looked like a spider web of wiring inside. I now have about 10-12 feet of extra wire added to my collection in the shop. Since the wiring is only temporary until we get to re-paneling the walls, it is also on the surface of the walls and ceiling for the time being. While I don’t like to do that, at least it looks some neater than the rest of the house wiring. My Woman was some worried that I would not be able to get the wiring hooked up right. Guess I fooled her! Redoing the electrical system is still on the agenda of things to do in the Hobbit Hus.

Taking off of the OSB paneling was a real chore. It was attached to the studs with everything from 20d ring-shank pole barn nails to 3d aluminum siding nails and everything in-between! Eventually everything did come apart. Using big hammers and a couple of crowbars for most, but did have to use a Johnson bar in a couple of places that were hard to get to with any leverage. Many of the nails were 8d ring-shank nails and they were really tough to pull. Now I have a pretty good size stack of lumber in varying sizes to pull nails from. It will give me a supply of lumber for various other projects.

With the wall gone, we can finally empty the truck and get things in places where they belong, at least for the moment. They probably will be moved several times until every thing really settles into their places. Heck of a big game of checkers! Seems it is always my move too. With the wall out, this room really feels bigger, even though it has not changed that much in size. It does add another outside window, so ventilation should be improved some too.

I will also take out a wall between the kitchen and the "eating place" in do time also. That will allow me to put in a real gas range, albeit a small apartment sized one. Will have to make some new cabinets and counters too. The bedroom is in the center of the east wall of the house. It is too bad it isn’t in one corner, as the rest of the house is kind of a "U" shape around it. This house started out much smaller with additions to the north and south. For the size of the building, there are lots of little spaces surrounded by walls. Kind of hard to work around too, as I am sure some are bearing walls I don’t want to mess with.

In reading my Mom’s diary, 1934-1935, I am surprised to see how often she drove Dad’s car. I think I remember only a couple of time she drove, and I think that was the ‘50 Dodge, under some duress with Dad pushing her to do so. She said she didn’t like to drive. She also was learning mechanical drawing from Dad, who bought her a drawing board and T-square of her own. I knew that had happened as she was pretty proud of learning that. Dad also bought her a flyrod to fish with. Now that I never saw her used, but she did go fishing occasionally with us when Bill and I were kids. It really is interesting, and inspiring, to see how their two lives centered on each other, even years before they were married.

The day yesterday was another beautiful one. The temperature got all the way up to 75º F finally, but working in the small corner of this house, caused me to shed some liquid rather copiously. The weatherman indicated we were to have some showers, but they all happened to the east or south of us. It appeared as if FISKLAND received more rain however. Today is to be a bit warmer and sunny. Looks as if the next couple of days are to be similar, but some warmer. We could use rain for the blackberries and raspberries, even though I had my first wild raspberry the other day. They are not ripening at present. I am looking forward to a pie - cobbler at least!

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>