BBQ finished

A the BBQ is now complete with the addition of a nice green granite counter-top. :-)

BBQ area - almost complete

Worked for the last few days finishing up the backyard BBQ area. It's only taken my ~4 years! The grill and the doors still have their protective coatings on them. They are actually stainless steel. The firepit area is will be fill with crushed glass and a ring of fire will rise out of it.

Fire pit - Day 2

Filled in the seat corner.

Fire pit day 1

I started on the brick fire pit in the back yard. There'll be one more layer on top of this one.

Final gate installed

This is the fourth and final gate to my garden -- a project that has taken me about 3 years to complete finally done. Thanks to my mom for the help.

Side gate complete

Finished up the side gate. Thanks to Angel for the help!

Gate

Today I built another gate for the backyard. I don't think I could have designed a much more labor-intensive gate design; it took me about 5 hours to mill all the 2x2s. Next, trim the edges and hang it.

Gate support v 1.2

I had still more left over material and I felt like it needed a little more so I'm up to v 1.2 on this thing. I threw out the rest of the wood to stop the temptation of adding more!

Gate support v 1.1

I thought it needed a little more and I had some leftover material so I added this spiral-y bit.

Gate arch

The gate I made for the side is so heavy that it was causing the post to lean inwards making it hard to open. I couldn't put a tension wire on the opposite side because of an adjacent driveway so my only solution was to add a compression element pushing the post away from the house. To keep with the tree and vine theme I built this from a glued up laminate of 2x2s.

Glazed fountain spouts

My friends John and Chris Gray at Clayworks glazed and fired the spouts I built last week. They look very nice. Next step is to mortar them in to place -- which is going to be a pain because it is now 103 degrees outside!

Fountain spouts

Today I sculpted the spouts for the fountain on my back porch. The white boards under each are scaffolds supporting them until the dry at which time I will remove, glaze, and fire them. The firing should cause them to shrink so then I will be able to mortar them back into position.

Utility yard fence

In the last few days I've finished up the fence line that separates the backyard from the utility yard. This involved staining more boards with Pinofin which is as malodorous as it is beautiful. Thanks to Jules for the help with staining! Fortunately she is hard-of-smelling so didn't notice how bad it was!

Finished utility yard

Finished up the utility yard today which involved raising the AC units and changing grade a little bit. This weekend I'm going to stain the pickets and rebuilt the rear fence line.

Utility yard

Before (aftually after moving a palette of wood with the help of my neighbor, thanks Verner.)


Yesterday I graded and filled gravel along the sides. The brick ramps are for moving the wheel-barrow.


We moved all the bricks and wood into this pile near where the BBQ will go.


After regrading and filling with gravel. (Not shown, about 1/3 as much still to go)


Today Aaron and I did huge amount of work. I dug 3" deep channels under the fence line to improve drainage. The we regraded the area and dug drainage troughs. We moved all the junk out of the back including a half palette of bricks. I've moved piles bricks so many damned times, I've lost count; at least now they are sitting next to where the BBQ pit will be so they are within arms reach of their final resting place. Then we took down part of the fence in order to improve the grade, laid down a weed barrier, and hauled about 12 loads of gravel up the steps. I'm beat.

Workshop demo, Kitchenette framing, fence

"Yeah, those aren't necessary", says Bruce as he cuts them out. (He's the one who put them there in the first place. :-)



After duct and electrical rearrangements, leaving only the pipe to be re-routed.



Having two excellent professional carpenters around sure boosts the productivity. We began the morning by demolishing part of the chase that is adjacent to the workshop wall where we are opening space for a new set of tool drawers and storage. This required moving around a few supports, ducts, and eletrical boxes (my job). There's a big sewage pipe in the middle of this which will be re-routed when the plumber comes on Thursday. Then Bruce and Kurt framed out the wall where the kitchette will go and we went over to a discount appliance store and purchased the microwave/vent hood, half-size dishwasher, and gas cook top which look pretty nice for a pretty reasonable price of about $1100. Then I worked for a few hours on revisions to Andy's paper and then after a 1 hour gym, I managed to get 4 of the 6 stringers up on the back fence.

Fence line, Bed spreads, Screening, Sophia Collier, and a paper for the Royal Society

Today was an oddly productive day. In the morning I dug post holes for a last bit of fence line that will separate my utility yard from my back yard. Then Bruce came over for measurement on the screening that for the upstairs porch. Then Amberlee came over and we had a little Christmas where we opened all the packages that she had ordered for me -- a new bed headboard, douvet, sheets, and pillows! For lunch I had a marvelous time meeting with Sophia Collier who was introduced to me by my attorney. Sophia and I were apparently born with the same mutant genes; we both left school (I in 11th and she in 12th) and we went off to various other endeavors (although hers have been generally more profitable than mine!) After a career in such things as soda and mutual fund management, she's now into CNC artwork. She has a CNC mill, 3D software, and a lot of fun ideas. We geeked out for hours on art and science projects of all kinds and she gave me much valuable feedback with regards to my various forthcoming enterprises. After lunch I set the fence posts and poured the footer concrete and then started on the rewrite of the paper I've been writing with Andy Ellington for the Royal Society journal Interface which came back with deservedly so-so reviews and which as a result (as seems to often be the case with peer-reviewed journals) is forcing a rewrite that will no doubt result in a better paper.