Building Forms, Placing Forms, Filling Forms...

Ok...now that P and I finished digging out the giant hole, we had "our wayne" inspect it and low and behold it passed! Hip Hip Hooray! NO MORE DIGGING!!!!...at least for now that is.
This week it is all about forms. Forms are the very next step in building our foundation. We build forms to mold a solid concrete slab in order to stack our cinder block.
Here is how we did it...

First we built the forms...

Then we placed the forms in the ditch...

Then help arrived...









(My sister Tracey and my brother-in-law Jon - Thanks for the extra hands Guys!)

Then we filled the forms half way...

Next we added rebar to reinforce our work...

Then we finished filling and topping off the forms.

Then I took a cute picture of myself:)

And a cute picture of P...

And lastly we signed our work.

All in a single days work:)

Tomorrow we will take a day for some much needed R & R **sigh**

Thursday we will remove the forms and repeat the process for the other side of the boulder.

To be continued....

Huh? Turtle Crossing? What the *#@!?

Ok...I have both seen and heard of the occasional "deer crossing" and the rare "moose crossing" and every so often I have even come across one of those adorable "duck crossing" signs, but never before in my life have I seen a turtle crossing! Exactly how long does it take a turtle to cross the road? Would it or could it cause a country turtle traffic Jam? Would they radio the town Sherriff to come and direct all the turtle traffic?
I find it so interesting how different things are around here and we are only 2 hours from Boston! I love the contrast between the city and the country. For instance, in the city, walking alone at night may not be wise because a creeper might mug you; however, in the country, walking alone at night may not be wise because a bear might eat you. In the city one may worry about making it to the mall before it closes; however, in the country, it's very simple...there is no mall!
Other than the turtle crossing, P & I have seen many, many, things in these parts that both baffle us along with putting a big smiles on our faces. From time to time throughout our blog cabin adventure I will throw one of these "interesting country sightings" in for you to ponder over as we do. All these little country quirks and differences are what made P and I fall in love with this area in the first place. Now, along with breaking for moose and for the deer and for the ducks, P & I can also say...we break for turtles;)

Cement Mixer Score!

It used to be that P and I would get excited to buy a new flat screen TV, some new clothes, taking a ride to Starbucks for a Vanilla Latte or maybe even some new furniture to spiff up our house a bit. These days, our priorities have changed a little... hmmmm...on second thought, maybe they have changed a lot. What reeeeally gets us excited these days is anything that will save us some hard cash on our blog cabin renovations and our most recent purchase really has us jazzed! Congratulations J & P, you are now the proud owners of your very own new "used" CEMENT MIXER!!! YEAH!
“Our Wayne” comes through for us yet again and finds us this hidden jewel! Really…how does he do it? Great things are happening here! That's right, we just bought our very own new "used" cement mixer for $25.00 and here is why this is so amazing… In order for us to start and complete our block foundation, we would need to rent a cement mixer. Renting a cement mixer from our local hardware store would run us $40.00 per day. Now, follow along closely because I need to do some math and us “creative types” aren’t wizards with the following 3 things: grammar (as you have probably noticed ugggghhh!) domestics, and my personal nemesis….wait for it...lol...numbers:( Even though this is a personal weakness of mine, I must "go there" to keep you all informed so, without further hesitation, here we go! Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!…READY??? GO! Ok, we would need to rent a mixer for at least 5 days. $40.00 per day X 5 days would run us $200.00….are you still with me? Ok good, let’s continue…this $200.00 is just for one half of the foundation. Right now our plan is to build one half of the foundation for the back of the house and hold off on the rest. "Why?" you ask...because we are only completing this portion for now so that we can add an addition for our kitchen and bath. So, for us to then complete the other half of the foundation later, it would run us an additional $200.00 and let’s just tack on another 3 days to give us some cushion room for the occasional “whoops” that happens so very often in my world…$40.00 per day X 3 days is $120.00 for a grand total of $520.00 and that is not including tax.
So, in conclusion, from all the “concrete” information gathered above – pun intended, we spent $25.00 and saved $495.00! THANKS DAD!
Oh…and I didn’t even tell you the best part! Our new "used" cement mixer is ELECTRIC! Yeah...it spins on its own;)~ When P & I buy something new “used,” we go alllll out!


**FYI we will be doing blog cabin renovations all next week! Stay tuned for more posts!**

Dirty Pictures, a Boulder, & a Plan...

This past weekend we got down and dirty...GRRRRRRR! Under the direct orders of "Our Wayne," We dug out the ditch where our new foundation will be going! There are many things we are learning along the way. We are learning about building permits, building codes, building inspectors - we will bake them brownies;)... Cinder block, the formula on how to mix concrete which by the way is 1:2:3 parts by dry volume....I know, I was like "I dunno what that means" either. That is: one part cement, two parts sand and three parts coarse aggregate....Aggre...what?? hahaha...Anywho, we are learning about all that and much, much, more...frost lines, snapping lines, tape measures, tree roots(which we have learned to saw through with our trusty bow saw!~Thanks Uncle Jim!), hatchets, pick axes, silt fence, conservation - we will bake them brownies;)...and the most important thing we have learned to date...ahem...wearing a good pair of work gloves will keep the dirt out from under your finger nails! We may work like construction men, but a girls got to draw the line somewhere! Work gloves are the way to go if you want to keep your hands soft and nails clean! We also learned that in construction, the plan is only as good as the current situation...In other words, things can change as you go along and they usually do."Our Wayne" instructed us to dig as follows: 5 feet from the back of the house to the front at 15 inches down, 2 feet across and dig the entire length of the back of the house 9 inches down.....then, it was dig 8 feet from the back of the house to the front at 21 inches down, 2 feet across and dig the entire length of the back of the house 27 inches down ....then it was...8 feet from the back of the house to the front at 4 feet down, 2 feet across and dig the entire length of the back of the house 27 inches dooow...hmmm...on 2nd thought...China...just dig and when you hit China, hop a plane back and let me know that you guys are done and that should be good. hahaha. It was not quite that dramatic, but when you are hot, dirty, smelly and exhausted, that is what it can feel like. We dug, and dug, and dug, and dug some more. We hit small rocks, medium rocks, rocks that were hugged tightly by big thick tree roots, rocks that were flat and rocks that were round and then,...then we hit the mother of all those rocks and found the rock that stepped up a class in the whole rock society...a rock that was in a category of it's own...we hit... a boulder! At first "P" and I thought, "What are we going to do???" Would we have to rent a jack hammer?? Would we need to get some dynamite?? We stopped and starred at it for a while like we just uncovered the findings in some archeological dig and then we waited and we spoke to "Our Wayne." Low and behold, this rock was a gift! According to "Our Wayne" we can use this rock as part of our foundation because...well let's face it, this rock ain't goin' nowhere! It will provide a good solid base for our foundation and on top of that, it saved us about 3 -4 hours of digging along with some supply cost for concrete and cinder block! Thank you big boulder...thank you!

Meet “Our Wayne”…

Wayne is my dad and our ticket to achieving our country dream! Remember how I said that “P” and I have no skills or experience in building anything? Well, lucky for us we don’t have to because we have “a Wayne!” “Wayne’s” are very rare and skilled in all areas of fixing, altering, re-working, and re-building. Given enough time and enough epoxy, it is said that “a Wayne” can fix anything! Once, when my sister was little, she had a little toy bus that followed any line you could possibly think to draw with the magic crayon that came with it. One day, just for fun, my sister decided to take apart the entire bus ... we are talking about hundreds of teeny tiny pieces here ... down to miniscule springs and micro screws. Our mom looked at it and shook her head back and forth saying, “that's never getting put back together.”, but my sister knew she had a secret weapon…she had “a Wayne” and was totally confident "My dad will fix it!" Three hours, a set of miniature screwdrivers, a soldering iron, and 2 migraines later he totally did ... the whole thing… good as new!
"Our Wayne” is the best model on the market. Local legend has it that the well known character “the professor” on Gilligan’s Island was based on our very own “Wayne!” Though my dad denies this as he adamantly disputes the claim by saying, “IF THAT WERE ME, I WOULD'NT SPEND ALL THAT TIME FRIGGIN' AROUND WITH THAT GILLIGAN, I WOULD HAVE RE-BUILT THAT BOAT AND GOTTEN US OFF THE ISLAND!!!” we are honored that the entertainment industry recognized his genius and made millions off that show.
Though "our Wayne” receives no royalties from the re-runs, it works to our advantage because instead of touring Europe and traveling the world in his retirement, we get to spend time with "our Wayne” by making him the Captain of our blog cabin adventure!

"Our Wayne" learned everything he knows about building from my grandfather who was both a carpenter by profession and a craftsman by pride. Most people don’t know this, but there is a big difference between a carpenter and a craftsman. You can be a carpenter and have the knowledge and the “know how” to fix something, but it is rare to find a craftsman which is an artist in the way they complete their “finish work.” A craftsman really takes pride in their finish work. They understand that building is not only in the function of what they are fixing, but also the form. For instance if your average Joe were to build a coconut radio to signal an S.O.S., he would probably crack the coconut on a nearby rock and attach it to a rusty piece of wire from the engine of the S.S. Minnow and try to transmit a signal…now…if “our Wayne” were to build a coconut radio to signal an S.O.S., he would first build a grinder to run off of a foot pump to sharpen his machete and put a nice sharp edge on it. He would then locate a coconut that is a perfect sphere and exactly 10 inches in diameter. Next, using a ruler he made from a flat piece of drift wood he would mark the center of the coconut for a completely dimensional split. After cracking the coconut, he would then buff up the outer shell to a nice polished shine. He would then, remove the coconut meat for a better transmit. After that, taking the rusty engine wire, he would create a mixture of sea water and other Island elements and soak the wire in for exactly 30 minutes to electrolytically de-oxidize the rust and convert the rust back into iron. Lastly, he would take the coconut meat, season it, and slow roast it over an open fire to serve it to the rest of the castaways to enjoy while he begins to transmit.
Catch my drift???

**stay tuned for camp projects completed this past weekend under the orders and supervision of "Our Wayne!"**

J & P...a solid foundation

We met in October of 1999, fell in love in 2000, bought a house in Boston in 2001, married in 2004 and have been having the time of our lives ever since. We are both dreamers that love adventure and truly believe that it's all about the journey and not the destination. We both grew up in the city, "P"(top left) on the outskirts of Boston and me, "J"(bottom right) in CT 40 minutes outside of NYC. We are both creative and love the arts...life without art is boring hello! We have dogs and not kids, art and not a Mercedes and we would choose a Sal's greasy cheese pizza over caviar any day of the week. Neither of us knows anything about building, but because we are creative, we can see this cute broken down little shack that is currently in worst shape then our garden shed and we can envision something great! A cozy little country house with a deck overlooking the river, pine walls, a loft and a wood burning stove. A weekend getaway from the city! Even though right now it has no ceiling and the windows are broken and the bathroom has no door and there are stacks of bricks on each corner preventing it from rolling into the river and oh yeah...the door knob continuously spins around and around and around in your hand without even opening the door....we know someday when the renovations are complete and we are old and retired there, we will look back on this crazy adventure and re-live the journey all over again. So, stay tuned as we renovate this little shack into the country dream we envision.

-J