Planting a Tree
Posted by Wayne
Yesterday I decided I had enough of our house being the only one in the neighborhood without a mature tree in the front yard, so I decided to plant one. I shall realize the fruits of my labor in approximately 20 years.
I have often wondered why our house had no tree in the front yard, I’m betting that there there was one there early on that died. We probably won’t be here in 20 years to see the full grown tree, but I think it will be nice for the people who live here then.
Removing a Stake or Fencepost
Posted by Wayne
Planting a tree yesterday made me consider how I would remove the support stakes I pounded in with a sledgehammer once they’re no longer needed. I used the steel tee fence posts, and they’re not exactly meant to be easily removed (they’re impossible to simply pull out by hand).
“Tee Fence Post”
Russian Dacha
Posted by Wayne
The other day at work as my colleagues and I gathered for a meeting I was describing the documentary “Alone in the Wilderness” that I had seen the previous night on PBS. I was amazed that the guy had built his house, by himself, in the middle of nowhere with no power tools.
Mike G., the Quality Assurance director at my company, who happens to be from Russia, wasn’t as amazed with the story as I was. He was impressed that the guy lived in the Alaskan wilderness for 30 odd years, but not that he had built a house by himself with no power tools. Mike tells me that growing up in Russia his father had built two houses by himself with no power tools, one for himself and one for a neighbor, and he was not a professional builder. He says in Russia it isn’t that uncommon for people to build their own houses.
Alone in the Wilderness
Posted by Wayne
Last night I was hypnotized by a movie on PBS called “Alone in the Wilderness”. It’s a documentary about a crusty old guy who is builds himself a log cabin next to an extremely remote Alaskan lake. He was filmed building the cabin “by himself”, but obviously there was a person there filming too. In any case, I was extremely impressed with the guy’s craftsmanship and the ease with which he built the cabin over several months to prepare for the harsh Alaskan winter.
