In late September I got a phone call from the lumber mill that was going to be making my aspen paneling for me. I was informed that they were on schedule, and my paneling would be ready in October as promised. My project was behind schedule, due to delays in availability of other materials. I had kind of been hoping that they would also be running behind schedule milling the paneling.... but they were not.
It seemed as though paneling was a long way off and I had to figure out something to do with it. I eventually made arrangements to pick up the material, and store it until spring. Low and behold here it is not even the end of November, and the installation of the paneling is underway. It has surprised even me.
With the recent push on getting the guest cottage winterized I'm now able to work inside. During this most recent trip out to Nordegg, I brought 75 lengths of paneling with me, and started on finishing and installation. The finishing is going a little slower than expected because the water-based lacquer I'm using takes a lot longer to dry than I expected. But over the course of two days working in the cottage I got 32 lengths of paneling finished, and 14 installed.
I got up on Saturday morning, November 27th, and headed over to the guest cottage to get a fire going. It was about 9:00 at that point, and I let the fire burn for a while to warm the place up, while I had breakfast. I ventured over after breakfast and got started. Although it was -8 overnight, it stayed just around freezing in the guest cottage, and once the fire had been going for a while it warmed up to 10, and eventually 15. I was able to work inside all day without a jacket... just coveralls and a hoodie.
My neighbor Rob came over to check on my progress and we visited for a little while, but other than that I worked all day until after dark. That sounds like a long day, but I can't get started until around 10:00AM and by 5:00 its dark and I'm shutting things down.
As the sun was going down, and I had to plug in the worklight, as I finished up the last of what I was doing. I got the 14th board installed on the ceiling in the east bedroom, and got the fourth and final coat of lacquer on the second set of boards.
As I stumbled around in the dark putting things away I realized that Black Friday has come and gone and I didn't even get a chance to go to the mall...! Somehow I didn't miss it... and as the day comes to an end I'm tired and sore from the work, and from my fall yesterday, but I have a great sense of accomplishment. I put a beef roast in the oven at about 5:30... well after it got dark... and will have a late supper.
I plan on staying out and continuing to work for the next few days. If the weather remains really mild and pleasant, as it has been, I may take a break for one day and go out for a drive with my camera. Today was not as mild as the past couple of days, but it still got up to around +4c. It is supposed to be a little milder the next couple of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment