!!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

BRK #229

Lotsa labor located at the Lab today. Things were exciting.

For instance: I found the wasp nest...! The entire time I was working there, until I had relocated it to the backwoods, I was half-expecting a cloud of them to burst forth out of the nest and sting me until their asses fell off. I suppose it was my lucky day.

The nest was just a shade larger than a softball, by my estimation. Here it is under the floorboards.



I moved it to an ash bucket with a tight-fitting lid for transport away from Cooper Cabin.



Once I moved them out, I set to work clearing the area under the floorboards for dousing with DE and then adding the flooring. It's hard to believe that crater was started when one little wasp decided... "I mean yeah, I do really want to live here. But I don't want to be lonely... HEY GUYS!"







Added three new floorboards today. Things look nicer and even though you can't see it there are many, many fewer bugs. I suppose I could eventually replace that seventh floorboard all the way to the right, and then be done with it. Now that the nest is found, that last one is a lower priority.



In the afternoon, Reid and I took an expedition up to the Lab for a lumber tree hunt. This one did not disappoint. Maybe it was in excess of two stories tall.



Reid stood clear and I took point on felling the tree.





Discounting the bark, there's close to 18 inches in diameter of wood for use as panels and other lumber once we have this pieced-up and sorted for the Sawmill.



Reid and I wrapped-up our time at the Lab by limbing the tree and then starting the process of quartering the length into manageable logs. Gonna sleep well tonight.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

I don't think I've ever known anyone to relocate a yellow jacket nest! I'm impressed!

Nancy Merry wrote:I don't think I've ever known anyone to relocate a yellow jacket nest! I'm impressed!

I think the secret is to move 'em out when they least expect it. The coldest time of the year is a wise choice, I'd say.

BRK #230

What a day...! Thank goodness a hearty Taco Tuesday dinner was there to save me.

Today seemed like the start of Mud Season, for real. Deer were out, flocks of birds were out, even bunnies were out and about. Oh, and all the snow is melting around us. We had actual rain last night, at least for a little while.

All the changes in the weather, however, require a transition of tactics and tools. The vehicles in particular today suffered under our lack of adjustment to the conditions.

Here's a photo of the tractor, when it decided it didn't want to hang on to one of the tire chains any longer. We're still wondering why it finally decided to shrug this one off, at least temporarily. All the fasteners and chains were still there, so far as we can tell. We can blame it on the slush, I think.



A short time after that occurred, I ended up taking an impromptu hike out to some neglected sections of the property. Here's the Lemon Tree Site: a double sun-scoop that was originally intended to facilitate the growing of citrus fruit in Montana. It may not look very impressive but it's a sizeable engineering feat, plus there's animal and plant activity all over it.



Using wedges, chainsaws, and extra batteries, the team was able to buck that massive tree Reid and I felled yesterday to manageable - but still quite heavy - sections.



BONUS PANORAMIC PIC: If you want to see what today's afternoon worksite would look like if it were incorporated into a double-gatefold album cover, well, here's your chance! Pictured from left to right are Wesley, Reid, Caleb, and Moto Jeff. Tractor is far off to the right, too timid to plow the road... But the most important question is: what would be this band's name?

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BRK #231

Happy Roundwood Furniture Day to you...!

It's another brand-new Half-Assed Holiday, and one we were all excited to experience. But first: here's today's obligatory cat picture. Looks like it was a bit too early in the morning for everyone.



Now that's out of the way, I'm pleased to share photos from today's efforts in building two kitchen chairs for the Fisher Price House. I'll tell you up front that the chairs weren't finished, and we'll probably have them done by the end of the week. It was a sizeable challenge and a lot of firsts for us, in general.

Reid prepped us with the chair designs in a fancy-shmancy "burn after reading" secret document...



We broke up into smaller teams. Moto Jeff and I were in charge of adding tenons to all the cross-supports for the chairs. Along with a drawknife, we used the tenon-making tool mounted to a drill. It kind of looks like a "Marvin the Martian" ray gun.



You press the business-end onto a stick you want to trim down to a dowel of a certain size. For today, we made 1.5" and .75" tenons for the chair project. To start it off, we would clamp a branch into the shop vise, like this.



Here's Moto Jeff doin' a number on one of the branches.



Here's a selection of our finished tenons:



The other Boots were also busy, of course, on their own segments of the project. Pictured here are Wesley and Reid. Also working today were Caleb and SEPPer Julia.









I somehow lost my photo of Caleb at work with the chainsaw on a couple slabs of wood to make the seat planks, but at least here's a look at his progress.



At about half past 3, Moto Jeff and I had finished the tenons, so we peeled off to work in the kitchen to prepare our "Lumberjack Breakfast for Dinner." I'd say it turned out quite good. SEPPer Jeff even brought out some cinnamon rolls for us...!









Pancakes (regular sourdough and vegan), a couple types of sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, apple juice and orange juice... An excellent spread to finish off a heavy day. We're looking forward to wrapping-up those chairs this week.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!