Snowfall new record.

Downpours driveway messiness.

Creosote. Wood stench.

 

Not-so-memorable March.

New pipe nastiness.

Best was sun and loft!

 

Make it so! This task is done:

 

(213.84) Radiant flooring 20': fins installed

Start date: 1/13/08

Completion date: 3/29/08

Site days: 2.25

Cass formed fins, stapled up fins, formed more fins. Chris finished stapling up fins in March. He must have been tired because he somehow thought to note a lack of tacos during one stapling session. "No tacos were harmed while Chris stapled up some fins. And hey... Cass was right; it is relatively warm under here."

 

Mentionable Meals:

 

3/7/08: Breakfast outside, with layers on, sitting on buckets, in the shoveled path to solar panel, nestled in between snow banks. Mmm... Chocolate heart. Solar power hot lattes and pastries. Chris makes a face in the snow pile.

3/22/08: Trial of prepared vittles, purchased from coop in the biweekly shopping run, in hopes that they make for more variety with ease of prep (none): a spinach artichoke noodle dish.

3/29/08: Hoping to get more done and save time, C&C opt for having their lunch up at the MLA. Bench placed in the connector, with one door closed to keep some of the cold air of their backsides while they sit and eat. Later, Chris, normally not cold, gets so; he is quite ready and anxious to go down to Park Ave for evening snack!

 

C&C look forward to warmer times and maybe someday soon, they could snack aloft the loft...

 

Making Much Progress?

 

(213.18) Construct walls and loft - 30' yurt: framing:

"Oooh, aaah" says Chris, hardly adequate to convey his happiness reviewing Carpenter Cassandra's work on the weekends; in particular, after she got the V frame (almost 12' long) built and up onto the loft (6'5.5" tall) all by herself. Generally, framing went like this: she measured and marked, he cut the 2*4's, she built the frames outside on the deck (easier to build out there and spares the floor any additional accidental nicks), she got the frames back in herself. On weekends, they worked together on some of the frame installation, and to solve problems and answer questions for Cass to proceed. Much of the basic loft structure is up: walls defining pantry, closets, bathroom.

 

Mired

 

(310.00) Winter Access tasks (shoveling, etc):

Happened all month, including the final day of March! Snow, snow, snow. Ice, ice, ice. 54.75 hours total; "only" 29.32% of month's total hours. Gee, does that mean spring is around the corner?

 

(300.45) Woodstove maintenance/problems:

Replacing a pipe section makes Cass really really sick. Chris takes her outside to escape; into the very cold temperatures, helping her walk around a bit to stabilize. Chris' covering of pipe in foil reduces the pipe's toxic emissions. Her NMT practitioner is called for aid. Creosote continues to be problem as the angle was wrong after installation. Fixed the following weekend. Stench and smoke and problems continue. Cass has difficult time recovering, shakiness pervades her month.

 

(300.40) Cass Phone:

Lotta testing and trials for phone. No USC: doesn't have antenna adapter and doesn't get signal inside. Trial with Ken's service makes AT&T seem the route to go. Significantly better data, when signal available. Antenna work required in order to get signal inside.

 

Makes Major Mess

 

What happens to a steep driveway, in a winter with masses of snow build-up, when ten continuous hours of heavy rains pour down? Makes major mess. Nowhere for such quantities of water to go but down, taking some of the driveway with it. Ruts created. New Q task created. Chris' discouragement and frustration condensed into the new task name, which has been altered slightly for publication: 545.00 YIDDEE HSODIF: Yikes, Its Dire Driveway Erosion…Eek! aka Holy (Salad) Our Driveway Is (Fruity)!

 

The 2nd Saturday of March featured those continuous downpours. Chris remains chagrined that he did not stop everything else and sacrifice getting soaked to create water bars and breaks in the snow banks that very day. Opting to do dry, indoor, building-related work instead seemed acceptable to him at the time, but led to a Sunday involving moaning, hugs, and heart-dropping assessment of the damage. C&C started work on:

 

545.01 YIDDEE HSODIF: Damage Assessment

545.02 YIDDEE HSODIF: Damage Control

 

Temperatures had dropped, freezing the driveway solid such that creation of water bars began with the ice chopper. Along the driveway, points in the snow banks were designated for breaks. Throughout the rest of the month, snow banks, taller than C or C, were chopped and shoveled at those points. Chris' purchase of new tool, a trencher, helped greatly in creating water bars to direct melt and runoff to the snow bank breaks, and off the driveway.

 

C and C and Marching onward...

 

Chris: Unhappy March Travels made a metaphoric mess. One week his route home took him several hours northwest to Burlington, to rent a car, drive down to Poocham, spend the night there, travel further south to Hartford to pickup his vehicle and finally return home as he would have done the day prior; this was still better than what the airlines were proposing: getting him home Saturday night. The final weekend of March featured flight delays for a return home of 3AM; sadly, a much more common occurrence.

 

Cass: Much of March's daily journal shows difficult days for Cassandra as she struggles with winter's pervasive troubles: creosote and woodstove, working in the cold and damp weather, feeling sick and shaky, trying to get through the day while accomplishing building. Her favorite times in March were shoveling in the brilliant sunshine and anytime when the sky was clear with a lack of bitter winds; times when the sun's warming could be enjoyed and make working outside and in the unheated yurt much more tolerable! Discovering that C&C's two portable solar panels can power various tune-playing devices was another sunny joy.

 

C&C Marching Onward: Start of the month involved shoveling in the sun together. Nice! Mid-month, considerations were underway to find out if a leave-of-absence from work could be afforded in order to gain more progress. To get done by December, how many hours, how will it happen? One thing's for sure: Q tasks need to move on... (and take Bubba away too!)

 

Total Hours: 186.75

 

A Tasks: 91 hrs, 48.7%

 

78.5 hrs (213.18 Construct walls and loft - 30' yurt: framing)

6.5 hrs (213.84 Radiant flooring 20': fins installed)

2.75 hrs (275.04 Materials transport/inventory)

1.5 hrs (306.01 Determine tasks she can do during week alone)

1.25 hrs (213.36 Site cleanup (general and for Cass safety))

0.25 hrs (303.17 Drainage below retaining wall)

0.25 hrs (213.85 Radiant flooring 30': fins installed)

 

Q Tasks: 95.75 hrs, 51.3%

 

26.5 hrs (310.11 Shovel Main Drive: Middle)

16.5 hrs (300.4 Cass Phone)

11.5 hrs (545.02 YIDDEE HSODIF: Damage Control)

10.5 hrs (310.1 Shovel Main Drive: Lower)

9.75 hrs (310.01 Keep deck cleared)

6.25 hrs (310.05 Shovel: Park to Main)

5.75 hrs (288.08 Split and stack wood)

3.25 hrs (300.45 Woodstove maintenance/problems)

2 hrs (545.01 YIDDEE HSODIF: Damage Assessment)

1.25 hrs (310.15 Keep Utility Shed cleared)

0.75 hrs (300.52 Clean sediment filter)

0.5 hrs (310.14 Snow Off Shed Roofs)

0.5 hrs (742.02 JaBoSTH: Quackers)

0.25 hrs (300.48 Get water flowing again)

0.25 hrs (288.09 Cut and store downed trees)

0.25 hrs (305.04 Daitemaceous earth)

 

3/31/08 March ends:

 

·         Yet another difficult day for Cass, working in cold temperatures, feeling sick, with wood smoke problems.

·         Precipitation starting as snow, turned to drizzle later and kept on drizzling.

·         Snow, cold, white... spring is going to show up sometime, right?