The Perfect Weekend

Charlestown, RI Seafood Festival

With all kinds of Seafood

 

Rides - Puke-A-Rama

 

More Food

 

Clam Cakes & Lobstah Rolls

 

 

Newport, RI

Concert Night on the Wharf

 

Double Decker Food Bus

 

Still a Working Waterfront

 

With time to Relax

 

Robin Wilson (center) Lead Singer for the Gin Blossoms in the Crowd

 

Like bookends, our weekend was spent doing yard work and stuff in the middle framed by some down time enjoying life. We spent the day on Friday at the Charlestown, RI Seafood Festival where we enjoyed  a couple of lobster rolls and an order of clam cakes. The clam cakes were disappointing as they had very few, if any, clams. The lobster rolls did not disappoint and made up for their seafood cousins. The weather (or “weatha” in our Boston accent) was perfect. It looked like a fun place to bring the kids as there were the usual carnival type rides and a bunch of games to play.

 

Saturday and Sunday were spent catching up on yard work. Our crab grass weeds at the house being constructed are doing tremendous and are a deep shade of green. I even broke the weed whacker out of the box where it has been aging for the past three weeks. It’s a noisy bugger though. Maybe when this one goes I’ll opt for one of those quieter battery powered ones.

 

Sunday night we were in Newport where we went to a 90’s tour concert where Fastball, Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth all played. It was a lot of fun with Sugar Ray and Gin Blossoms really getting the crowd going. We missed Fastball as we outside sitting on the dock having dinner when they came on. Smash Mouth must have been having an off night and we left about half way into their set like a couple of old fogies.

 

It was wide age ranging crowd. This was music from when my children were growing up and there were a lot of parents with their kids there. The best picture that I missed was of a boy who was about 11 sitting in his seat eating ice cream with earplugs in while his parents danced to the music. It’s funny while we’re becoming our parents, our kids are becoming us. The picture I did get (and nobody else but she will see) was of a lady that we know from church dancing on the chairs. Not something you would normally see in church. And she made us promise not to tell anyone. I’m pretty sure she’s not going to remember a lot anyways.

 

We had a great time and really enjoyed the show. And our ears have even stopped ringing. It was a perfect way to start and end a weekend with some good work done in between.

 

The way life should be all of the time.

 

Enjoy your week.

 

Trim Work

Finishing the Garage Door Trim

 

Rubber Tape over Edge of Windows Before Trim Work

This Helps to Seal the Windows from Water 

Trim Work. Wood Filler & Paint will Neaten It Up

 

Soffit with Soffit Vent

 

Soffit Vent

 

Windows & Corners Trimmed Out

 

We're Ready for the White Cedar Shingle Siding

 

 

The trim work is pretty much done with the windows all trimmed off and the corner boards in place. The garage doors are all also trimmed off.

 

The soffits with their trim are well along the way. It was interesting that they now use plastic vents as soffit vents.  I’ve seen all kinds of soffit vents. 3” round ones, 6” rectangle ones and metal ones that go in front of the gutter and so on.

 

 

These vents work in conjunction with the ridge vents on the roof peak where heated air moves by convection drawing the cooler air in at the soffits and venting the hotter air through the ridge vent. This helps to keep the roof cooler extending the life of the roof. It can also help keep moisture out of the attic which can create a mold problem.

 

The vents and roof rafters need to be kept clear so that the air can move through. Too often folks paint the vents thus clogging them or they block the vents or rafters with insulation. Doing any of that defeats their purpose and you’ll be replacing your roof in no time or hiring a mold remediator.

 

Now that the trim work is up, it won’t be long before the siding starts going on the house. It will be fantastic to have the outside completed. We’re almost four months into construction and a year and a half into the planning.

 

And it’s all coming together.

 

House Signature a/k/a Front Door

New Front Door!

 

From This When the Door was in Window Jail

 

And the Door Opening in the Front of the House

 

 

 

To This!

 

Now we Need a Front Porch!

 

Inside View (Hard to get a good shot with all of the light)

 



 

We now have a front door! OK, so it’s nailed shut and there aren’t any steps to it but it’s in. A front door says a lot about a house. It can signal a warm and welcoming house or it can be just the opposite, keeping the Halloween candy seekers away. And everyone else for that matter. Ever notice how you always seem to look at the front door when you’re checking out a house? It’s the signature of the house  isn’t it?

 

We opted for lots of windows which will let in tons of light to keep the front entrance warm and welcoming on the outside and inside. I’m sure we’ll put some sort of curtains over the windows to have some sense of privacy. I don’t want to scare the neighbors across the street in the morning after a night of too many gin and tonics.

 

We’re planning on having it stained and polyurethaned to protect it. I wish I could tell you the name or the model but I can’t remember at the moment. I’ll update this once I do.

 

Now the character of the house is starting to show. We have a front door to welcome friends through.

 

And our house has a signature.

 

Roofing & Skylights

On the Ridge. Note how he has a rope tied to his harness.

 

The planking provides a good place to stage work

 

Starting Roof around the Skylights

Roofing the last of the Exposed Section

Adding the Flashing

 

 

The Roof is Finished!

Framing around the Skylight. This method maximizes the light

Room over the Garage Looking from the Entrance

View from the Other End. These two Skylights really open up the room.

 

I went over to the house on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to see the framing crew working. They had been waiting for the skylights for the room over the garage to come in before finishing the roof. The shipment arrived on Thursday and they were now tackling the installation and wrapping up the roof.

 

It was a hot and muggy day again and I’d take a break every now and then from what I was working on and watch these guys work. They were absolute professionals and kept the work moving even on what had to be a very hot roof.

 

By the end of the day, the roof was now complete and the skylights installed. This is great news because this means that I’ll no longer have rain coming in and finding its way to the basement where I still have a large puddle from the last rain storm. Now it can finally start drying out.

 

And begin week three of the weed whacker still in the box. Man am I going to be in trouble.

 

Enjoy your week.

Newport Antiques Show

Nautical Antiques

 

Ship Model that the Exhibitor had reconstructed from Pieces

http://www.whitesnauticalantiques.com/

Great Ideas for the Garden

More Ideas (and money)

Old Wood Carving Set

Close up of a George III table

Small Sampling of Art work

http://www.davidbrooker.com/

 

Ship made out of bone by French Prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars

Close up of another bone ship. Note the Amazing detail.

 

 

Jeanne sur la terrasse

Daniel Ridgway Knight

 

With permission of the Rehs Gallaries, Inc.

http://www.rehs.com

 

There is nothing like seeing the actual piece.

 

So I’ve found another reason to hit PowerBall.

 

Yesterday was dreary with off and on rain and a slight chill to the air. I had taken the day off from work to do “things” around the house but the weather was in the way of accomplishing anything. And being a guy, any excuse is a good excuse to do something other than what I should be doing. So we headed down to the Newport Antiques Show  http://www.newportantiqueshow.com/).

 

Now, I have to tell you, this is not your run of the mill antique show that is made up of a few antiques with junk from somebody’s basement thrown in. It is all high end furniture, artwork, jewelry and so on. And a checkbook would not be enough. I’m not even sure a credit card would be enough. You’d have to have your personal investment advisor in tow with a suitcase full of cash. But hey, we can dream. And marvel. And laugh. Laugh because the money I had put in my wallet in case there were any “finds” was staying right where it was. There wasn’t enough of it.

 

But it was fun and entertaining and the exhibitors were great taking the time to explain the pieces and give us the history behind them. I felt like I was at The Very Best of the Antiques Road Show Live. At one exhibit of artwork (http://www.hill-stone.com/) they had a couple of engravings by Rembrandt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt) listed around $110,000. Yes, those zeros are correct. The exhibitor took the time to explain how works like that were an investment just like diamonds. I cracked that I would need a bigger credit line. I didn’t get a smile in return. But he was still a gentleman and took the time to explain all about the various works that he had on display. He must have been practicing.

 

I don’t think there was a single exhibit where I didn’t see something that I wanted to buy. But the best was the Rehs Gallery Exhibit (http://www.rehs.com/ )where I “discovered” that I liked paintings by Daniel Ridgway Night  (http://www.danielridgwayknight.org/), Julien Dupre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julien_Dupr%C3%A9) and Antoine Blanchard (http://www.antoineblanchard.org/) . Of course all of them were out of my price range with one selling for around $400,000.

 

And that’s why I now have another reason to hit PowerBall.

 

Enjoy your weekend.

My Nail Collection

Magnet Nail Sweeper and Friends

My Nail Collection.



Through the past couple of months as construction has been going on, I noticed that there were a ton of nails on the ground around the house with a bunch more in the driveway.  I know nails just go with having a house built but that doesn’t mean I can’t let them drive me crazy.  And they do.

I had nails everywhere. Short nails, long nails. New nails, nails that are already rusting due to the rain. Roof nails, spikes, you name it. I have them. And they are everywhere. I had been picking them up by hand and dropping them in a pile in front of the garage like one of those rock cairns you see on trails in the woods. I was hoping that by leaving them there the builders would realize that I'm kind of crazy about not having nails in my future lawn which will then find their way into my lawnmower tires. Or in my driveway which would make it into my car tires. Or worse, the tires on my better half’s car. Instead, I believe they started helping me build up the pile by dropping more nails to replace the ones that I've picked up. And I’ve also found that no matter how many I’ve picked up, when it rains, they magically grow like weeds.

So I picked up one of those metal sweepers from the local big box home improvement store. I really wanted the type which was a magnet on wheels but didn’t want to spend the $75 they were asking for one. Besides, being the impatient guy that I am, you had to order it and I didn’t want to wait. So I picked up the cheap $10 model. I’m not sure one is better than the other.

The one I have you sweep over the nails and the “powerful” magnet is supposed to pick to pick them up. Most of the time, you have to actually touch the nail to pick it up. At least it has saved my back. So I’ve been dropping the nails in old flower pots. It will be interesting to see how many I collect by the time this is all done.

It’s the small things in life…

 

We Have Heat!

We Have a Furnace!

Yup, same one. Different angle.

Like an Octopus, the duct work is ready to snare something.

Future home of a Bathroom

Looking towards my shop area which I'm going to have to reconfigure. 

Future Family Room

Future Spa. Nah, not really. It's just wet. The stairs will come down on the left.

I'm thinking a Wine closet on the right to store my $10 bottles of wine.

Family Room looking towards where the stairs will come in on the left.

 

 

Who would ever think that after three weeks of 90+ degrees I’d be happy about heat? That’s because our furnace was installed. Yay! It’s a major component of the house and seeing it installed is just great.   Its gas fired and that’s about all I can tell you at this point. And the fact that it’s installed. The duct work is well along the way too. That means the air conditioning can’t be too far behind.

 

And believe it or not it’s actually cooled off outside too. Now it’s only in the 80’s. So much for living in New England!

 

Enjoy your week.