Several months ago, I built the legs for a glass oval coffee table top. Neither Jeanine nor I were fans of the proportions. Today, I built a second version based on a suggestion from Jeanine to mimic the style of a side table I had built using bamboo. Although I have been generally glued to coverage of the Paris Olympics this week, I have little interest in watching basketball and used those intervals to complete the new base.
Today, proved to be quite eventful. Due to heavy rain throughout the day, the pickup of the Tiny House was postponed. Weather permitting we are now scheduled for Thursday.
Just ahead of a dinner party with my oldest friend, Tom Metzold and his lovely wife Karen, we received and accepted an offer on the Road House. We purchased the house almost three years ago as a base of operations while building the River House. It proved to be a much better decision than renting during that construction period both financially and from a comfort point of view.
The prospective new owners lived in a house just 500 feet away for 13 years and we are pleased that they will be returning to the neighborhood. The closing is scheduled for September 9th.
This Common Sandpiper has been feeding near the shoreline in front of our house for several weeks. The level of the Sudbury River has been getting lower throughout the summer months exposing more of the river bank and creating a larger buffet area for our little visitor.
We received an offer on the River House today from a local couple and expect another from a family relocating from Piscataway, NJ. We have set a deadline of 6 PM tomorrow for “best and final” offers and will make our decision once we have all the paperwork in hand. Fingers crossed.
Jeanine and I did a little yard work today before tuning in to the Olympics. The Open House hosted yesterday by Jeanine has produced two interested parties that have expressed interest in making offers. The timing could not be better with the Tiny House being picked up on Tuesday by its new owner. We are also expecting a visit from a Concord Natural Resource Commission representative this week to confirm that we have satisfied the requirements to secure our Certificate of Compliance on the River House.
For the first time in my life, I encountered an entirely yellow spider. You would think that identification would be easy. My best guess is that it is a Yellow Crab Spider. Most odd is that I found it affixed to the driver’s side door of my car, a highly questionable location to be setting up shop.
The Yellow Crab Spider, scientifically known as Misumena vatia, is a species of crab spider found in North America and Europe. It is notable for its ability to change color to match its surroundings, primarily yellow or white, allowing it to camouflage effectively on flowers such as daisies and goldenrods. This spider’s front legs are longer and extend sideways, resembling a crab, which helps it ambush prey, typically pollinating insects like bees and butterflies. Females are larger than males, and after mating, they lay eggs and guard them until they hatch. The Yellow Crab Spider does not spin webs to catch prey but instead relies on its camouflage and agility to capture insects.
My cousin Heather arrived for an overnight visit this afternoon. The last time she was here, she said there was nothing more than a hole in the ground, so she witnessed the full transformation. She has recently taken up watercolor painting and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing her artwork. I not so subtly put in a request for one of her pieces. It was wonderful catching up on family news and comparing notes on retirement planning. We are scheduling an east coast seaboard road trip in late October and will visit with her again as we pass through North Carolina where she lives with her husband Burton.
After countless hours trying to locate a suitable wooden or stone top for our patio bistro table, I created a temporary solution using bluestone I salvaged from the foyer floor in the original River House. I took the square slab and cut it into an octagon. The results proved better than expected and might become our permanent solution. I still need to level the base and attach the stone, a project for a less uncomfortably humid day. Jeanine has been waiting patiently for a table on the patio where she can enjoy her morning coffee and do her daily writing. I suspect I will receive the final verdict tomorrow morning.
Missing from our patio is a small table where one might enjoy a morning coffee, dining with a friend, or working on a laptop. Jeanine and I selected the pictured metal base which arrived yesterday. We are still deciding on a natural stone or live-edge wood top. Our plan was for a 28″ diameter top but after making a cardboard mockup at that dimension we have decided that a 30″ or 32″ top will work better. Thus far, however, we have had little success locating a suitable candidate.
It never ceases to amaze me how many varieties of mushrooms there are. Pictured above is one I discovered at the Road House. The top half looks like a pie you might find in a fancy restaurant.
I have a low tolerance for tools that irritate me. When it comes to sucking up dust, my shop vac is among the best available. Even so, I hate using it because the power cord is a pain in the ass. There is no place to stow it on the machine and it is very inflexible. This morning, I decided to address both shortcomings. I replaced the power cord with a very pliable one and fixed a cord caddy to the side of the vacuum. One hour of work transformed this machine into one I will enjoy using for the rest of my life. While I was at it, I decided to upgrade the mobility base for my combination sanding machine. When I originally built it, I decided on two fixed caster and one pivoting caster. The arrangement worked but the base was not as stable as I would like. I decided to add an additional pivoting caster and to reposition the exisitng one. Another good investment of an hour.
Since completing her book, Jeanine no longer participates in the writer’s group of which she was a member for many years. She was thrilled to be invited to a party to celebrate the 90th birthday of one member and the 70th of another. To resolve a scheduling conflict, she offered to have the party at our house. I was evicted for the evening and decided to have dinner at a sports bar where I watched coverage of the Olympics.
Pictured below is the same group celebrating a birthday in our Mattison Dr. home back in 2017.
Kyle hosted a barbecue for Erica and Lily on the last day of their visit to Massachusetts. We enjoyed several rounds of bocce, the newly introduced Olympic sport of boyfriend lifting, and a tour of his patio project that is rapidly approaching completion. Tomorrow, they leave for Vermont where they will spend several days visiting with Jeanine’s sister, Susan.
With Maya as her coach, Lily made her first kayak excursion this evening. Within a few minutes, she looked like a duck in water. Earlier in the day, Lily and her mom were the guests of our neighbor Dave who gave them a floating tour of Fairhaven Bay aboard his small electric-powered boat. Unfortunately, the battery died and he had to row back to shore. Despite the setback, the group got to see two bald eagles during their outing.
At the request of a neighbor, I have joined a project to map the location of water chestnuts along our stretch of the river. Water chestnuts are an invasive species that grows among the water lilies that line the river banks. The originator of the project hopes to use AI to analyze aerial photos to delineate where the water chestnuts are. I offered to provide the aerial photographs. Pictured below is a low-resolution panorama of a partial segment of the river that I stitched together from several images. The map below identifies the path of my drone flight and the location where the images were captured. It remains to be seen if the goals of the project can be achieved and I will certainly report on the outcome in a future post.
Our visit to the Museum of Science today started with a showdown between Erica and one of the resident felines. I enjoyed resting in a perfect-sized chair while exploring an exhibit on perspective. The Electricity Theater was a big hit with Lily as were the interactive exhibits. I have been to the MoS many times and always look forward to discovering what’s new. On this visit, I was pleased to see an iRobot Roomba within the artificial intelligence exhibit as well as a robotic dog created by Boston Dynamics.
Erica, Jeanine’s niece, and her daughter Lily are visiting us for the next few days. Lily (just turned eleven) enjoys building things and making jewelry. I thought building a jewelry box would be fun for us to do together. Like Maya, she has an engineering-oriented brain and was quick to learn how to safely use the miter saw and table saw. Over the course of an hour, she was able to complete the box sides and apply a water-based finish to the top. We will be ready to begin assembly during our next work session.
This pair of damselflies elected to use the outside of my office window as a mating site. If not for the yummy dinner waiting for me, I would have set up my tripod and done a better job of lighting the backlit scene. I have a feeling, that this will not be the last time I get such an opportunity.
It is always exciting when we get a new first time visitor at the River House. The Muscovy duck is a large, domesticated waterfowl native to Central and South America. It is known for its distinctive red facial caruncles (fleshy protuberances), which are more pronounced in males. Muscovy ducks have a unique appearance, with glossy black plumage that can exhibit iridescent green and purple hues. They are generally quieter than other duck species, producing a soft hiss instead of quacking. Muscovy ducks are hardy birds, well-adapted to a variety of environments, and are often kept for their meat, eggs, and as pest controllers in gardens and farms. This morning one was perched on a log right in front of the house and was most cooperative as I moved down to the bank to photograph him.
Noddle’s Island was historically one of the Boston Harbor Islands. Most of the original land of Noddle’s Island now makes up the southern part of the neighborhood of East Boston; it is now part of the mainland since the strait connecting Noddle’s Island to Hog Island and that connecting Hog Island to the mainland city of Revere was filled in the early 20th century. The original contours of Noddle’s Island were also greatly obscured by the 20th-century construction of Logan International Airport, which filled the tidal flats between Noddle’s Island and Governor’s, Bird, and Apple islands to its east.
After another morning spent spreading wood chips, Jeanine and I scouted the Sailing Center at Pier’s Point where we encountered the above-pictured pavillion. When we walked out to the end of the pier we were treated to a commanding view of the Boston skyline which now includes the 600 foot tall One Congress Street building, the new global headquarters for State Street.
During the construction of our new house, I needed a way to shuttle my tools and parts to and from the job site. The pictured stack of portable toolboxes and parts organizers was the perfect solution and served me well. Now that I am fully ensconced in my new shop, these have just been collecting dust and I listed them for sale this afternoon.
For the second day, Jeanine and I worked on spreading wood chips around the house. Although not very glamorous work, it is a good exercise. Despite hours at the task, the pile of chips does not seem to be shrinking and we have two others just like it elsewhere on our property, the donated remnants of tree work done by our neighbors.
For the second time in as many days, the Concord Bridge used one of my aerial photos in their reporting. Pictured above is the Massachusetts Correctional Institute at Concord. Earlier this year the last inmates were transferred out making way for the sale of the complex by the state. The future use of the site is up in the air and will no doubt be the source of much debate within the town.
Earlier this week, I was asked by the Managing Editor of the Concord Bridge if I would take aerial photographs of various places in town for the paper. I agreed, starting with the Concord-MCI prison for an upcoming article on the future of the now-decommissioned facility. Other locations on the list included Walden Pond and Warner Pond. Tragically, there was a drowning at Walden yesterday, and I was asked to provide the images I had shot the day before, one of which appears above.
Moments after sharing my photos I found two of them included in this posting on the Concord Bridge website.
Eventually, I will come to grips with the fact that I am no longer a spring chicken and probably do not belong on a 24-foot ladder with a 15-foot pole saw. Today was not that day, as I up-limbed several trees needing pruning. The work was not made easier by the extreme heat combined with my choice of a long-sleeved shirt and long pants to protect my skin from the limbs falling past me. When I completed the work, I was as physically spent and left with the realization that I really should not be doing this kind of work any more. Getting old sucks. Falling off a ladder with a mini-chain saw probably sucks more.
Due to the amount of mud present, I have been reluctant to do any yard work near the river banks on our property. Today, that excuse evaporated with the arrival of the pictured muck boots. I was relieved when I slipped them on and found the fit to be good, a concern I have whenever purchasing footwear online. Unlike other new purchases, I am not looking forward to using my new boots.
Despite above-average rainfall over the past months, the level of the Sudbury River has returned to a normal level. During parts of the winter, water was present from tree line to tree line. This afternoon, I flew my drone from our patio up to Fairhaven Bay to survey the waterline. Note to self: I think it would be very cool to record my altitude and geolocation so that I can return to this same vantage point for future photos illustrating the changing look of the river through the seasons. I ended the flight with an aerial selfie.
Something I have been meaning to do for some time now is to replace our mailbox with a more substantial one and to replace the cross members on the post we share with neighbors. The old ones were rotting and not level. The new box is more in keeping with the modern design of our house and I like the way the large numbers appear on the door.
During one of my many trips from the mailbox to my shop for a forgotten tool or needed fastener, I encountered this Eastern Milk Snake crossing the driveway. These snakes are non-poisonous, non-venomous, have tiny teeth, and are docile unless provoked. It was odd to encounter one during the day as they are primarily nocturnal hunters. They are a welcome member of our local ecosystem feeding primarily on mice, other small mammals, snakes, birds, bird eggs, slugs, and other invertebrates.
We hosted a Euro Cup finals viewing party in the afternoon with the kids. Maya came with her boyfriend, Owen, and flatmate Zoe. Nicolai arrived with amp soccer teammate Musa, and Kyle was solo. Jeanine was only slightly interested in the match but did think to take a picture of the assembled group. While studying the image, I have tried with no success to locate Owen’s head. His left foot can be seen in a black sock.
Discovered in early 2023, pictured above are three of five musket balls that were unearthed in Minute Man National Park. These musket balls were found near the Old North Bridge on the eastern side of the Concord River where British soldiers formed up to resist the colonial militia when the “shot heard round the world” was fired. The British used standardized musket ball sizes while the colonists cast their own to match their specific rifles (40 to 70 caliber). Only later in the war did the Colonial army begin to standardize as well. This difference and where they were found offer compelling evidence that they were fired at the British by the Minutemen. Striations on the musket balls confirmed they were fired rather than dropped.
Today, for the first time, they went on public display at Minute Man National Park where Jeanine and I were first in line to see them this morning. It is fascinating to live in a place with such a rich history of our nation.
Mulching was the order of business this morning. Jeanine had 4 cubic yards of finely chopped leaf mulch delivered earlier this week and we have been installing it in 2 hour shifts. Today it was my turn as she prepared food for an evening gathering we hosted. Nicolai joined us for the party and chipped in as our expert “Tangerita” maker and guacamole chef.
At Formlabs, where Maya works, you know you have “arrived” when you get “photochopped”. A picture taken of you at work is distributed to the photochop group and is edited into several outrageous and funny versions that are then circulated within the team. The original image shows Maya and a colleague presenting a soon-to-be-released new product. Regrettably, I am not at liberty to show that photo. The chopped version, however, requires no explanation. Go Maya!
Jeanine borrowed a page from Maya’s playbook and offered to puppy-sit for a friend so she could get a dog fix. I was invited to join the fun but was busy with several projects. One was to build a simple open box to hold small cloth hand towels. We use these to replace paper towels and wash them when soiled. They have been sitting on our kitchen counter in an undersized store-bought box for months and it irks me to see them stuffed inside. I used box joints for the new box and started the project by fabricating a simple jig to cut them. It still needs another finishing coat but I already like the appearance of the joints. Now that I have the box joint jig, I can see knocking out several other storage boxes for the kitchen.
It is hard to believe but this is my 9000th post. That works out to one per day for nearly 25 years. In fact, it has only been 19 years and a couple of months. In the early years of the blog, I posted each picture as a standalone post, sometimes several in one day. Later, I switched to a single post per day which explains the discrepancy.
Jeanine and I spent a good portion of the morning weeding and mulching our newly planted yard. It is tedious work and the key is to do a little bit every day rather than trying to get it all done at once. This is especially true on really hot days like we have been experiencing for the past week. So far, most of our plants are doing very well, the one exception being our elephant ear hostas which have succumbed to the nourishment of our local deer population. Fortunately, our smaller hostas do not appear to be on their dining menu.
Over the years, I have been adding only cordless handheld power tools to my shop. It is hard to quantify just how much easier and more pleasurable they are to use without having to worry about cord management. Today, I put several corded tools up for sale for which I now have cordless equivalents or no longer use. I was motivated by the discovery that several companies now make tools that are compatible with the DeWALT battery system in which I am heavily invested. To justify a new tool purchase, I feel the need to sell tools that I use infrequently. New tools arriving shortly include a cordless soldering iron, cordless hot melt glue gun, and cordless plastic welding gun.
Nico has been named to the U.S. Amputee Soccer Men’s Team that will travel to Honduras in September for the inaugural Gold Cup which will include the national teams from Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Although it will likely conflict with my own soccer schedule, I think I would like to attend this tournament.