BEL #784
Fellow Boot
Jared and I were at the
Bark Park today, continuing work on the front gate. Here's the bottom of the "hinge" pivot for the gate. It will open inwards (thanks,
Derek! 
) and will be about 7 feet tall. We used a paddle bit, then chiseled around the opening to broaden it for the gate post, and then I puffed a bunch of air in it to shake out the wood chips.
Here's Jared drilling the opening for the vertical gate frame posts to fit into the horizontal gate support that goes across the top. Since we couldn't remember the name of the specific piece, we're calling it the "gate plate" and that suits us just fine. For such demanding drill work, it's worthwhile to brace the drill against your leg to cushion the inevitable kick-back and resistance that occurs while drilling into unpredictable wood like these posts.
The vertical posts require holes that are roughly 5 or 6 inches in diameter, so we're using the paddle bit again to drill several holes within that diameter space, then chiseling them out.
Because the holes in the gate plate are hand-drilled and are chisel-finished, the end result is somewhat tapered. While Jared was drilling the gate plate, I was trimming down the top ends of each post to look like this, in an effort to make it a smooth-but-snug fit when we eventually assemble the gate frame.
In the afternoon, I teamed up with
Shawn and
Matt to finish off as many of the firewood logs that had been stranded down in
Arrakis (the parking lot behind the
Classroom) for months. Bucking is 95% complete, so now most effort will go into splitting and stacking. The "Easter deadline" has long since come and gone, but when this work is finally done for the season I'll be pleased.
The kitchen here has been a hive of activity most evenings. Everyone is interested to use the kitchen gadgets, to share recipes and ideas, and even to do group meal prep. This evening, we wrapped our day processing about 10 pounds of rhubarb, then went into more Walking Onion shredding and drying, hummus-making, and bulk pasta cooking.
We have six
Boots here now, including myself, and four more are scheduled to arrive this coming Sunday. Being able to share the kitchen between so many people (especially for our 1-hour lunch break) will undoubtedly be a challenge, but if we practice bulk meal prep for grab-and-go items, then there ought to be more chances for people to use the stove or other kitchen stuff without bumping elbows so frequently.
Pictured here are
Seth (left) and Matt, prepping their respective kitchen projects.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!
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