Well today wasn’t as exciting as yesterday but we got some things done. Yesterday we drove the vardo to the scales a mile up town Geyserville. So Raven spent the night in the wagon, more comfortable with extra blankets under her, I guess the mattress is hard. I got up earlier the second time than she did. Played in the garden tasting all the herbs. I walked out back and picked a huge bag of green pears to ripen for work. The ripe ones are wormy.
When she got up we each took a shower and headed to town in my car. First stop Bucky’s for coffee, then a walk to the farmers market. Big cucumbers eight for $5 was a good deal for dills. All the best Roma tomatoes 5 lbs. for sauce. I’ll cook them up tomorrow morning. We picked up some local kielbasa sausages for a celebration lunch for the road trip. Another stop at Shelton’s for potato salad, bubbly water and dill for the pickles. Homeward bound.
I prepped the grill with charcoal, lit it, looked at my watch and put it back out, way too early. Raven needed to call her friend at noon, digging through her email for the number. I pulled out the gate stuff, laid it out in the driveway on short stock angled in the corners to hold it off the pavement. I spent way too much time looking for the caulk gun, damn, can’t find it. OK it’s time to light the coals.
I cooked up the kielbasa as Raven prepped the plates with cucumbers, tomato and potato salad. We ate inside to dodge the bees. Horseradish sauce went well with it. We agreed the bought potato salad didn’t measure up to mine, needs curry and a bit, but not bad, quicker and tasty.
After lunch I headed to Harry’s corner store for a new caulk gun, $3.50, cheaper than the search. But now it’s getting hot. Raven is varnishing the shelf boards with polyurethane in the shade. I laid out the first layer of gate boards, measured them square with Ravens help and marked the alignment. I broke out the dowel kit and set the depth, drilled the uprights, inserted the metal center plug markers and laid out the cross beams, tapped to mark with a hammer. Drill the matching hole, insert the dowels. one side of the cross beams doesn’t line up square. I know I have some fudge room, mark it square and trim with the band saw, it lines up. I cut open the glue tube and begin with glue on the six beams after a preliminary layout of the second middle layer. One screw inside, the far side to match, tap the upright board into place and drill screw square with the big tee. Too much glue, run for a wet rag and wipe it down, alright.
I chose to chisel the metal plates into the center second layer on the outer unsanded boards but not the inner thinner sanded slats. I used a metal grade counter sink to drill the plates to allow the flat head screws to flush. Everything is glued and screwed, aligned with two screws in most locations except the top arc connect. One of two gates except the last outer five dress boards and the angle brace.
With the glue and the plates, plus another angle metal piece under the board it should be very strong.
Tomorrow I’ll start earlier as the sun is way too hot. Raven finished the new shelves with two coats of poly, ready for assembly next week. Time she headed home, a productive day.
8shotoflove8 