page 7
in the summer of '03 the szuplats purchased property
on 12 vacation lane.
found here will be details of putting a structure up
written mostly by erica and photographed a lot by ben,
however like most things in life there are exceptions....
for instance ben wrote that last useless sentence.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
jan 1, 2004
ben (above, left) digs holes for the sonotubes (carboard-y
cylinders that get filled up with cement as foundation supports
for the porch posts) while peggy (above, right) is working on
the chain gang (smashing leftover cement chunks from the house
foundation as filler in the sonotubes)
stach begins the plumbing!!! see the PVC
frivolous art shot
stach, peter, clayton, jen p. and erica also continued
to shingle the sides of the house...
on new year's eve and jan 1st, erica and ben painted
beadboard (strips of wood that will be the ceiling of the porch)
beadboard is one of the supplies purchased during yet again, MORE
trips to home depot and falmouth lumber.... the soft yellow was
picked out by ben, who also picked a deep blue for the trim (prob.
won't be painted til spring.) we got a nautical-esque front door
light called a "bulkhead" light also (apparently this
is some part of a boat- the bulkhead...?)
yet another in an endless supply of gorgeous winter
sunsets
yes virginia, the days are getting longer...
january 3 and 4
a slightly rain shorted weekend featured
more shingling-erica and jen (on left) are working
on the "east side" and pete nearly finishing
the street side
stach plumbing and the installation of the deck frame
work!!!!
alan and geoff join the crew
and ben managed to get the shackles off but still enjoys
the forced labor
weekend of january 10th and 11th
clayton put the final touches on the front of the house
on a bitterly cold saturday, the temperature was zero in the morning
and did not increase by a whole lot during the day. sunday was
not a whole lot different.... dominated by shingling and cold......hopefully
only a weekend or two more of shingling will be required to finish
the exterior work for the season........
i have to apologize to our faithful readers. we have
been bad parents to our little web page this week... personally
(ben here) i am begining to feel a little run down by all the
work, and could use a sleep/movie/coma day.... you know a good
ol pajamas all day sort of day...i know clayton doesnt know what
i mean.... but many others will...clayton's idea of a pajama all
day, day, is carharts and shingling so its good to have him on
the crew......
lastly, sunday saw our first e.r. visit! as geoff (bens
dad),who has been working on an interior closet wall (sorry no
photos yet...i told you we have been neglecting the site), smashed
his pinky finger with a hammer. the resulting blow split open
a little circular hole (and here is the gross part -avert your
eyes if you are squeamish)- a piece of flesh was protruding from
it. i figured they would either cut it off or push it back in
(the little piece of flesh poking out) any guesses from the faithful.....stay
tuned answer to come next week!!!
jan 14 erica here, reporting live from the arctic
freeze of the northeast. Some foolhardy person at the top of Mt.
Washington (NH) today reported the temperature as -100 degrees
(yes, that's Fahrenheit!) Otis Air Base is currently reporting
a temperature of -27. This is with the windchill
factor, but let it not be understated that it is in fact windy
here on Cape Cod.
We would be remiss if we did not update our loyal readers
regarding the finger injury which Geoff incurred last weekend
(when it was only moderately freezing.) Geoff was whisked away
by his speedy and competent nurse Kim to the Falmouth Hospital
E.R. There, they trimmed the heretofore undefined piece of flesh
from his split finger and sewed him back up! Apparently those
guys- the doctors- said this flesh was a little bit of fat, declared
it to be superfluous, and promptly snipped it! Undeterred, Geoff
was back in action (hopefully packing some peppy painkillers)
later that afternoon. I hope you all tallied your scores and know
if you were a winner in the Stuff it? or Snip it? contest. We
don't have prizes but you can bask in the glory of your vast medical
knowledge and can now repair your own split digits. Now that you
know how the experts do it, try it at home! If it looks useful,
stuff that bit of flesh back in before sewing up. If it looks
like we have evolved past it being a necessity, snip it off, then
sew! We of course wish Geoff all the best ice cream and pudding
for his recovery (or wait- is that for the tonsils?)
Despite the fact that I fritter away here, engaged
with what has become the center of all modern human life- yes,
I'm talking about the computer- Mother Nature is hard at work
reminding us that we humans are simply nowhere near as tough as
she. A good homebuilding analogy might be appropriate here and
I will say she is, in fact, tough as nails. And so, thus humbled,
we work on what we can- indoors. Ben can be seen painting the
Louvre or louver or whatever. You may recall some similar type
of word from high school French class. If you do, let me know!
I think it has something to do with windows, or opening windows.
Ah, yes, "Ouvre la fenetre." Ok, so it's not really
that close after all. Whatever this vent thing is called, it will
someday adorn the side of the house and be a proper little air
vent to our small attic space.
jan. 17 erica reports again from
the north, where the temperatures have warmed to a tropical 30
degrees. no kidding, today didn't seem so cold after all. three
of our four regular crew dealt with frozen pipe issues yesterday.
it's almost as if people have never heard of winter around here
before... meanwhile, shingling goes on...
jen fay (l) and pete (r) worked on the south side dormer
while i worked lazily on the porch area which is now finished.
ben can be seen here passing supplies up and out to
clayton on the dreaded "east" side. ben worked diligently
at many 2 x 4 projects today. to his surprise he quite enjoyed
the work, which included moving the bathroom door slightly to
the left, building a "window" above the stairs in the
bathroom wall, constructing knee walls in the eaves, and framing
up a space for the blue vent (pictured previously on jan 14.)
clayton kindly poses for the paparazzi and ben gets
in on the celebrity action (in the window.) clayton continues
to make headway on the shingling.
(left) the opening in the bathroom wall makes for easy
access to the window above the stairs. (right) neighbor pups or
foxes have been visiting the property.
it's
time; no septic teases here, just a click to page 8
bens first attempt at inserting a counter.....provided
by http://www.digits.com/