Canoe Trailer

What?  Another project?  But you haven't finished the last one, or the one before that?

Yeah, yeah.  I know.  I'm a collector of projects evidently.

When transporting our canoes on top of the van, it's always a bit dicey.  Sure, they're lashed down as well as can be, and having 2 canoes side-by-side seems to help each other out.  But still they are big air-grabbing kites up there.  While you can go about 55 to 60 mph, I'd like to be able to feel safer to go a bit faster for those long 700 mile treks up to the Boundary Waters. 

So, a trailer is in order.  If I can get the canoes in the "wind shadow" of the van, they won't grab near as much air.  I also can stretch out the cross bars significantly, and that will only add to the stability.  (On top of the van, the cross bars are 37 inches apart.  On a trailer, I can make them as far apart as I want - perhaps like 8 feet!). 

I got a trailer from a friend at work.  He was cleaning up his yard and found a trailer in it, so I was able to drag it home.  It's not much to look at, and it is super light duty, but it should work just fine.  I need to stretch out the tongue a bit, and pound it back to straight, and add some wiring and lights, and remove the carpenter ants, but the title is clear and good.  Price was free, so that was an advantage, too.

Two New Family Members

Welcome Guinea Pig #1 and Guinea Pig #2.  They arrived today as the result of a Craigslist transaction.  Yet unnamed, I'm sure they will have, in the near future, very interesting and silly names concocted by the kids.

Back to School

Back to the routine!  Kids are now in 7th, 5th, and 1st grade!!

My Athletic Boys

Boy #1 is showing off his high-jumping 

skills with his Stomp Rocket:

Boy #2 is showing off his muscles 

complete with intimidating face:

The Barn Loft

I've been mulling over the idea of making a loft in the barn. 
A few things have led me to this idea:

• There's alot of wasted space up there
• It could be a cool play area for kids
• It will help with storage of that divorced lady's stuff that I've been storing for 2.5 years (free of charge).  I've moved her stuff perhaps a dozen times within my barn, and I'm getting rather tired of it all.

So, in the midst of my TV Room Remodel project, I started this new big project.

Perhaps the hardest part was simply clearing out the back 8 feet of the barn to have some work area.  I had to move that big metal storage rack over to the south wall.

I decided not to move my 10,000 pounds of firewood, too.  I simply climbed over it and on top of it to work those final few joists.

The floor height of the new loft is 8 feet above the cement floor.  It will get a little short the further you get away from the centerline, but hey, this is just storage.

The loft spans the entire width of my barn (36 feet) and is 8 feet wide.  I added a stairwell (not complete) for a couple of reasons.  It makes it real easy to get up and down, and because I've never cut a stair stringer before.  I had a friend at work (carpenter) help me with the math, and I now understand it's not as bad as I initially thought!

Yet to do: 
1.  Finish the other stair stringer, and add the steps
2.  Deck out the loft with plywood

Drywall Arch for DIY

Remodeling our TV room, I wanted to give it a little pizzazz.  I've always wanted to do a drywall arch, but never had the opportunity.  Here it is.

I formed my arch with plywood sandwich a 2x4.  The actual arch is simply small chunks of 2x4 cut up and glued in place.  

Each segment is perhaps 1.5 inches long.  I glued them across the entire archway on one plywood sheets with the arch already cut out with a jig saw.  

With that plywood and glued-arch assembly, I simply attached the mating half of plywood.

Arched corner bead is nice to work with.  I simply stapled it into my wood arch area.

No picture, but mudding the arch was simple, too.  I used the good bonding mud that dries pretty hard, and it's turning out real nice.  

All is Well

I went back to my home town this afternoon for a family friend's viewing.  It was good to see all my old friends again.  When I got home, I took a walk outside after kids got tucked away in their cozy beds.  I found a nice sunset illuminating the back yard.  It makes me think we're all right where we're supposed to be.