More Parts More Snow

It is coming along nicely. More parts were added to the hanging clothes closet; a right side support, the top shelf, a footer and a board inside the closet for fastening the rod on the left side.

Some trim work will be done before the doors are hung and some after. I have some nice 1 x 4 red oak to trim the top. It will hide the seam between the header and the top shelf and help hide the tracks for the closet doors. The footer will likely get the same trim treatment.

Some 3/4 inch trim will go on the right and left uprights to hide the cut ends of the plywood and make the front flush. I'll also be adding trim to the back of the cabinet and closet top shelves since I don't want things falling behind there in the little gap against the wall. If I leave that gap open it will just collect cat hair.

It's almost ready for hanging clothes.

There was about an inch and half of snow on the ground this morning. And on the front porch. Snow collects sawdust really well. The kitty cat tracks are now loaded with sawdust to go with the dirt no doubt. Good thing my fancy porcelain tile floors look like a blend of dirt and sawdust.

It was a beautiful sunny day, though a bit on the frigid side, fresh with new snow. I should have gone for a stroll. But I am not really trusting there will be a long winter. The snow in this week's diagnosis has changed to rain. Of course it can always change back. I need these snow days for my winter projects. There is a hefty list I would like to get done. Now where did I put that list?

A Slow Accumulation

It was mostly rain during the night. I woke up to more rain and and some random flakes. Things quickly changed. By 9:30 am we were doing pure snow and the temperature began to drop.

The diagnosis was a wee bit off in its timing. They did get the essence of the weathers right. The new essence is I may get one to three inches of snow tonight. It is slowly accumulating.

Sideways snow and dwindling temperatures are not in any way optimum conditions for cutting, sanding and staining closet parts. I did all that under semi-cover on the front porch then brought the parts in to dry.

The snow continued to intensify. I lost interest in making more parts.

The framing for the header is done. The two boards against the wall are screwed into the studs. The side panel is screwed into the floor with brackets. It is most sturdy. I am considering an additional support post near the right front side if I can make it work. The closet parts are slowly accumulating.

I am about 1/4 inch off square which annoys me to no end. Let's just say my drywall walls accentuated every deviation in the wood of the framing. A great deal of effort was made to make the cozy cabin plumb and square. No such effort was made when the drywall was hung. I'll have to make it work.

Next I need to build a footer for the 42 and 1/2 inch rough opening height for the bifold doors. The top shelf can also be done. How will I fasten the hanger rod? I don't want that weight supported in the drywall. That needs some thinking. The seam hiding trim work is also in the contemplation phase.

Miss Collar is still feeling put out by the disruption in her sleeping quarters. She was out in the snow all day and only came in at dark for her dinner. Then she headed right back out. Ding Cat! I don't argue with her when she wants out. It involves too much drama.

There is sun in the diagnosis for tomorrow. More closet parts should accumulate.

Let The Clothes Closet Begin

I ordered my 42 inch high, raw pine, bifold doors today and picked up a bunch of woods to build the hanging clothes closet. The side panel of finish grade oak plywood is cut. The top shelf will be the same oak plywood. Now I need to do lots of measuring, measuring twice and thinking.

I just noticed the rough opening size requested for each of the 24 inch wide bifold doors is 26 inches in width. I have 50 and a 3/4 inches of width to use here with my side panel now in place. Who leaves an inch of space on both sides of a door like that? My bathroom's bifold closet door's rough opening is only 3/4 of an inch wider than the door itself. I'll give each door an extra inch of width for the rough opening.

I need to do some thinking. It's a wooden puzzle that has to fit together perfectly and look good when it's done. Plan B is already forming. I'm thinking. I believe nice trim work will be involved.

The shelves I had been using for my folded clothes are extra now. I will fill them with stuff, no problem.

Two heavy, square, orange painted cement pots followed me home from Florida after Christmas. This is where they landed. Where they might eventually end up is another matter. The Objets de junke that have been gathering around Turd Blossom Lake will be artfully distributed throughout the gardens one day. One day when there are gardens.

Winter is scheduled to return tonight with sleet and freezing rain. There is a good dollop of winter and snow in the diagnosis for most of next week. This is closet building weathers except for the staining part. I should be done with this long before the bifold doors arrive and have plenty of winter weathers to contemplate built in library shelves.

Up Where I Live

Home. A small house on a big mountain.

There Once Was A Mighty Oak

After two hundred years it got knocked down and couldn't get back up again. Now it is wood looking for a hearth.

Once heavily shaded camellias struggle in the sun.

Yet they bloom on.

It was a mighty oak.

That supported other forms of life.

 



















And cast a protective shade over ancient camellias.

Now a new garden style takes shape in the hot Florida sun.

And feral kitties stalk the grounds.

Life Changes.

A Process Roundup

A nearly done, newly painted front porch coordinates with the cozy cabin. The rubberneckers won't cringe looking at an unpainted porch when they drive slowly by.

Evergreens grow and multiply to give a garden in the deciduous forest winter interest.

Will the cauliflower survive to flower caulis come spring? They are proving most hardy. I still have potatoes and parsnips to dig when a desire arrives.

One clothes cabinet is complete. I will fill it with more stuff and clutter up the top on a nice snowy day. Building the hanging clothes closet can commence anytime.

Progress is being made on winter time processes.

No Where Past The Front Porch

There wasn't much snow, but that wind! If you stayed out there long enough it would have been the end of the world. That Ding Cat Miss Collar has stuck to her routine, wanting out at 6am and is still out there some where. I've called, but I doubt she can hear me over the howling wind. Dinner time usually brings her in.

Button didn't get past the front porch. Miss Dinah didn't get out the front door. Miss Collar came home and was thrown into a tizzy because I parked my truck at the top of the drive. Something is out of place. She thinks a stranger is lurking about. Ding Cat! She's still out there in that wind. I better go move the truck back to its proper place.

The snow is pretty much done. It amounted to about half an inch. The wind is not done. It still roars.

There are going to be a lot of sticks to pick up. These are tree trimming winds.

Maybe tomorrow we will get a little bit past the front porch.

Just Buckets Of Rain

The sky let loose at noon. Buckets of rain descended from the heavens.

Napping was only partially successful as thick rain drops ricocheted off a metal roof.

Is this the calm before the snow? A tiny spot of sunshine before night fell.

It's the end of the hemlocks as we know it. They began falling in earnest a few weeks ago. Today's winds moved things along and the real wind in the diagnosis has yet to arrive. It's coming in with the cold.

What will the world look like in the morning? Will it still be here or covered in a layer of frozen ash?

All I know is I won't be working tomorrow. I'll decide what I want to do for the end of the world when I get up in the morning.

Before The Snow

It is starting with wicked winds and a light rain. According to the diagnosis it will be changing to snow and vicious winds tonight. Tree damaging, power outage, winds they say. I will venture out into the rain. Necessary preparations need to be made. Better to do them in the rain, then sit tight and enjoy the light snow delivered on blizzard winds.

There was a meeting of the noses yesterday while the weathers were still acceptable for baby kitties to be outside. Did you smell what I smelled?

There might be a varmint hiding in the Stella de Boros.

After a brief excursion outside this morning in which the determination was made that no varmint is worth getting wet over, they are back inside working on destroying the sofa and door mats. They will grow out of it to become lounge kitties. I just need patience.

How much snow will I get? Normally I add a few inches to the diagnosis which is for Clyde proper down in the valley. I'm Clyde improper as the crow flies, way out near the Tennessee border in the snow belt.

It appears that a dose of winter will be delivered on schedule tomorrow.

A Week Before Christmas

In the mountains of North Carolina, the camellia is having a very good year. Serious. This is not in the low country of South Carolina. You can call it the Lake Junaluska effect compounded by a courtyard micro climate effect and toss in the fact that winter is on hiatus. Some years the camellia buds are known to freeze.

There is a weak snow coming up in the diagnosis for me, but I doubt any of it will fall on these fishies.

Christmas Shopping Down By The River

I hate shopping. Shopping by obligation does not make it any better. So imagine my delight when I went shopping down by the river and was done in five minutes. I had an idea of what I wanted and went directly to a local artisan's store where I thought such things could be found. I asked for help the moment I walked in the door. I described what I wanted and who it was for and was led instantly to the perfect items. When you say, "that's very nice" and it's exactly the type of thing you had in mind at the first things you see, it's a good sign.

To make things even better there were interesting shrubberies to see. I had no idea there was a yellow berried nandina.

When I pulled into the parking lot these lily looking things were the first thing I noticed. It's December. Yes the weathers have been a tad warm, but these can't be lilies. A closer look has me thinking they are a euphorbia of some sort. Still, it's December. Is there a euphorbia that should still be looking like this when all the other perennials are frozen dead and brown? Does anyone know what this is? If I could have a stand of that all winter I may need some.

Five minutes of Christmas shopping and I was done. It was a blessed event.

I can't really say where I went. I don't want anyone shaking their gifts trying to figure out what's inside. It was near this building with the trees growing inside of it. Yes, those trees are inside the building. I was down by the river.

A little take out 12 Bones BBQ was also involved in my excursion. It was a really blessed event.

Multiple Neuroses

This one has confinement issues and is afraid of everything out of the routine. She can't stand being alone inside with no way of escape. Sometimes she just can't stand being inside. Despite near 24 hours of rain she has been out there because something has set her off. She came in late for dinner and fled.

That something is a disturbance in her sleeping quarters. I have rearranged things and it is not to her liking. The smell of the fresh cherry stain on the cabinet base may also be a factor.

The base is done. The pulls are on. Now it is ready for a top which I would have done today, but for the rain. The top will need to be cut to length and stained.

She was not happy that I moved my grandmother's old steamer trunk to the other side of the room. It's not supposed to be over there. The last two times she tried to sleep in her bed, she could only handle for a couple minutes before she fled out into the rain.

This one has abandonment issues and is the neediest and most vocal cat I have ever met. She is an attention junkie, forever trying to get in your business and stubborn as a mule.

Button by contrast is the mellowest dude you can imagine. He's good with whatever.

Baby kitties don't do rain. After going in and out, in and out and finally being convinced that yes it is wet out there, in they come. In between naps and checking on the weathers they bounce off the walls.

Good thing I am only in the planning stages and not the building phase for the hanging clothes closet half of the disturbance in Miss Collar's sleeping quarters. I'm not a carpenter so this takes some thinking. I want it to be flush with the cabinets and it only needs to be 48 inches high. I also plan to use the top of this closet as shelf space. Today at Lowes I was most pleased to find they can order me some ready to stain, raw pine, bi-fold doors that are only 42 inches tall.

The clothes and all that stuff in the corner need an away place to stay.

My neurosis is my closet has to look like a fine piece of cabinetry. This can't be some plywood and duct tape box. I'm not a carpenter or a furniture maker. This will take some thinking.

A Busy Bloom Day

One base for the dresser cabinets was built, stained and hauled up to the loft. Next time I am in town I can buy my counter top and door handles.

The posts, railings and balusters of one front porch are painted, one coat. If it fades quickly to a grey wash I might be forced to do a second coat. I sure hope not.

Next comes the floor. It needs a power wash first. With three cats bouncing around that could prove challenging. The main roof beam also needs painting. That should be easy.

While I was busy building and painting, Albuca spiralis was busy blooming for Bloom Day. This little bulb has bloomed four times since the minion bought it for me during the Asheville Fling. It is blooming, but it doesn't look too happy about being inside. It dropped all its old leaves and put out all new. The new leaves are decidedly lacking the spiralis.

Finally I have a front porch that is not all bare unpainted wood that stuck out like a sore thumb. That is good enough for me for a Bloom Day in December.

There are a whole lot of balusters on the back stairs and service entrance. I am not feeling inspired in the least to take on that process. Please let it snow. I will probably have to tell myself, you can do it, one baluster at a time even if you only do one baluster a day, maybe two.