Garden Update

It has been raining here every day. We went out to the garden and discovered the lettuce was all rotting because it was so packed in and it had been so wet. So, we pulled it all, replanted a couple heads, and picked out good looking leaves for a big salad. The rest ended up in the compost. We also moved the carrots over away from the huge potatoes that were taking over everything.

We also ate our first spring peas. can't wait to pick more!

Fridge Trim

I worked a little last weekend on the gooseneck molding for the top of the fridge. It all starts with a couple pieces of popular that have been flush cut to a pattern on the router table.

After this I set up my router to act like a "pin router". This means that there is a ball bearing on the top that my piece runs against. You can see in this picture the ball bearing for the pin router as well as the 2" ball router bit. I have done one pass when this picture was taken.

The bit is moved up over the course of multiple passes. Eventually a 1" radius cove is formed. This is them cut on the back side to the correct height for the molding. Here is a picture of the two finished profiles before glue up and alignment of the back.


Glue up of the molding pieces.


This is what it will look like on the final piece. Obviously the back has not been trimmed and the ends have not been mitered up yet. But, getting closer.

Deck Spindle Work

We have been slowly progressing on the front porch spindles and rails. Had to make three jigs the other day to drill the holes for mounting all of the spindles in the correct locations. The first two pictures show the jig that was used on the front to drill a small pilot hole all the way through on the bottom railing piece.

You can see the small hole on the side that I use to line it up with the marks that I made for the spindle spacing.

The rail is then turned over and the holes are countersunk for the heads of the screws. I probably did not have to do this because the cedar is soft enough that the heads of the screws should be able to pull themselves flush.

Here is the second jig. Looks a lot like the first one but it is designed for the top rail piece. You can tell because the top piece does not have any bevel to it.

Here is the third jig for the day. It is used to drill a hole in the center of the spindles.


Here is what the panel looks like once all of the spindles are attached to the top and bottom rails.

Here is what it looks like just resting in place. The new top rails are still being put together so it will still be a little time before I can install them.

This is what it looks like from the outside.

Poppy and Volt - Big Beggars!

Volt begs for a treat...
Poppy decides she needs one too!

Neither are satisfied...

Flower Gardens - Update Photos

Hanging Baskets

We hung the baskets up on the front porch today. They are still small but it's early in the season. In the last few weeks, they have grown so much already.

Deck Chairs

Here are a couple Adirondack chairs that we got for the front porch. The color matches the ceiling.

Front Planters

Here is a pot I made for the front porch.

Last year Tyler and I bought some large urns to plant flowers in out front. We never ended up using them because they seemed too big. Today we decided to put them down at the base of the hill on either side of the steps. This made them seem smaller and looked much better. I filled them with lots of flowers and hopefully they will fill in nicely. We did have to cut away some grass and place a couple pavers underneath them. We are also planning on filling the bases with concrete to make them heavier.

Milk Delivery Box

We were having a small issue at our house - what to do with all the dog poop bags once we got home from walks with Poppy. We have no outside trash can and really didn't want to put the bags inside our kitchen so we had been leaving them on the front porch. This was not very attractive so we came up with a solution. We decide to design and build an older looking crate for milk home delivery. Then, we could secretly just fill it with the bags and empty it once a week on trash day.

Here is Kristen's design as a stencil:
The completed box built by Tyler:
And the box on the front porch:

We think this will look much better and serve its purpose well.

Recognition wheel for work

This was a small side project I was working on in the evenings over the past couple of weeks. My team at work has a recognition wheel that we spin (another one that I made). We use it in group meetings primarily as a way to recognize things that people do. You can spin the wheel and win Tulley's coffee giftcards, movie tickets and other exciting and not so exciting (high fives) items. Another group liked it so much they asked me to make one for them. A user spins the earth and the lights in the windows of the 314 Clipper airplane light up in sequence over and over until it stops on one. A bunch of prizes will be added to the red arrows to signify what is won.

Garden Update - May

Here are the May updates on the vegetable garden beds as well as the back shade bed. The first bed has chives, garlic, string beans, rhubarb, broccoli, asparagus, kale, red pepper, onions, leaks, artichoke, beats, peas and swiss chard. It is coming along but most of the items will take a little longer to get bigger.

The second bed is a little more wild. It contains lettuce, peas, celery, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatos, green peppers and carrots.

Here is the back shade bed that we started last fall and finished off this spring. I think that it is starting to slowly fill in.

Trying out the porch spindles

In addition to working on the fridge we have been slowly progressing along on the porch design getting all of the handrail stock and bottom stock cut. It will all be cedar so that it should not rot if the wood gets wet at all. I created a mockup of what the rail and base will look like with the spindles. There were a number of options for the top rail. Here they all are with the one that we are going with last.




Here is a quick picture of one of the top rails after it has been glued up. It is made of two pieces with a rabbet to accept the rail that captures the top of the rails.

Windy Day

It was really windy here yesterday - bad enough that one of the plum trees in front was being blown so hard that its roots were pulling up the soil around it. It is hard to see in the video but the ground around the tree was shifting and rising into the air at least six inches.

Painting the Porch Spindles

We have started to paint all of the porch spindles. The first coat is on all of the pieces and they have been sanded once. Sanding the turned portions was not as difficult as it may seem because I was able to chuck each one in the lathe which made them real quick to sand. Only about 15 left to put the second coat of paint on!

Top to the Fridge

Kristen was gone visiting her brother (and new baby) in Florida this last weekend so I worked on the bonnet top for the fridge. The front profile piece had already been cut. The back profile was rough cut and a pattern following bit was used to make sure that they were the same. Slats were glued between the front and back pieces. You can also see in this picture the screw holes (along the bottom) that will be used to attached the top to the fridge once it is complete.
Thin plywood is used to coat the surface. Although the pieces were quite flexible I also soaked them in water for a short time to allow them to bend further. Small brads were used to attach the panel to the inside surface. Glue was used to attach them to the cross braces. Here is a picture of the panel after it has been nailed up but before it is trimmed.
Here is a picture of the inside panel trimmed to the correct length. It also shows how the panel goes around the center post. The transition will be fared later with wood filler.

The back of the center post is glued onto the front. In this picture the top finial is just resting in place.

Next up is attaching the top pieces. Here is the second side not fully nailed down yet.

Both sides are nailed down and trimmed around the edges. You can see were the panel is notched around the two side posts.

The center post also gets some trim around it under the finial. These pieces were just created using the router table and the table saw. As you can see it is not finished quite yet

Here is what it looks like at this point on top of the fridge unit. It is still missing the trim that goes along the whole top edge.

Here is a sample of the trim piece being glued up. The gooseneck trim will be the next big task to finish off the top piece.