I generally try not to post images of the same subject repeatedly but I had to make an exception for the tulips I photographed earlier this week. Because of the way our windows are situated in the River House great room, light was falling on both the interior and the underside of this flower. One can only marvel at the beauty of nature.

This evening, I returned to the soccer pitch for the first time in 9 months for an 8 pm practice under the lights. I skipped playing last fall for fear that an injury would keep me from working on the house project. I have lost quite a bit of muscle tone but managed to deliver a rather solid performance scoring a very nice goal during a scrimmage match. I have little doubt that tomorrow I will be nothing but a mass of aching muscles.

Jeanine has been invited to be a judge at this year’s Chopped for Charity, a fundraiser she established during her time as Executive Director at Open Table. I can’t think of a better way to honor her contributions to the organization than inviting her to be one of the judges, a job she was tailor-made for.

Initially, I was somewhat disappointed with the tulips that I purchased over the weekend. They immediately drooped over when I put them in a vase. Surprisingly, after a few days of hydration, they have started to “stand up” making for a rather interesting photographic composition. With spring just around the corner and cabinetmaking for the new house almost completed, I am looking forward to getting outside with my camera.

Maya sent this text to the family making good on my 15-year-old blog request to thank her brother for ferry services rendered. The photo was taken on a family vacation during which we rented an RV and toured the national parks of the West. The depicted adventure is of a hike we made to a remote slot canyon. I am looking forward to our next family vacation later this month. We are headed to the Lake District in the UK.

For the past week, Nicolai has been in Rome, Georgia participating in the third annual Adapt and Thrive invitational and practicing with the U.S. National Amputee Soccer Team. He is pictured above with U.S. Soccer Federation CEO, JT Batson, President, Cindy Parlow Cone, and teammate, Jovan. I am hoping Nico has some photos to share that I will post later this week.

When I entered my shop this morning, I was surprised to find a large turkey at the outside door. It took me a while to figure out that it was attracted by its reflection in the glass. Should he visit again in the fall, just ahead of Thanksgiving, I will be tempted to put one of the many sharp tools at my disposal to good use.

Jeanine and I glued up 23 drawer boxes this afternoon and evening. We have developed a very nice rhythm and can complete a box in about seven minutes. Jeanine applies glue to the two side pieces and me to the front and back. I then assemble the box and each of us clamps one end. I then put 3 pin nails in each corner after which we remove our respective clamps and I check and adjust for square while Jeanine removes excess glue squeeze out from the box and work table. Tomorrow, we will complete the last 8 drawer boxes bringing the total for the house to 112, and will both be happy to have this work behind us. Originally, I thought I would simply order these boxes from one of the companies that sells custom-sized drawer boxes. At an average of $150 a pop, however, I thought it a good use of our time to take $15 worth of raw materials and do the fabrication ourselves.

Over the last few days, I have done a lot of chainsaw work made considerably more difficult by my inability to properly tension the chain. After opening up the saw I discovered the root cause of the problem. The threaded shaft used to set tension was fractured (see the top right of the photo; I removed the broken section of the shaft from the adjustment block for clarity). Studying the design for a few minutes led me to conclude that it is fundamentally flawed and destined to fail again even with a brand-new shaft. Still, I needed to get the saw working again and searched for a replacement part on the internet only to discover that the part I need is now obsolete. Fortunately, I also discovered that the entire mechanism had been redesigned and was available as an upgrade kit for just over ten bucks. My anger at the shit design was replaced with appreciation for the improved version. Even so, the new version is simply a beefier variation of the original design and does not address the fundamental design issue (the adjustment block puts a flexing force on the threaded section which will fatigue and fail over time). Only time will tell how much longer the new version will last.

I had to be in Somerville today and as I was returning home, I passed the pictured house and had to stop for a photo. Located on Main Street, this property is decorated with a huge, colorful variety of found objects. The blue bottle assemblage out front is “Sapphire City” and the animal collection on the roof is “Dance Party.” I have since learned that the home is owned by the artist, Martha Friend, who has lived there for over 40 years. Originally a professional photographer, later earning an MSW, she has always had an interest in assemblage art and collage. If you visit during the yearly Somerville Open Studios in April and May then you can also tour the inside of the house, which is just as visually rich and engaging as the exterior.

My sister-in-law, Lauren, while driving past it, texted a photo of the Indianapolis home that we sold 20 years ago when I took a job in Massachusetts. By any measure, it is a beautiful house but looking back now it is hard to imagine something further from the style of the home we chose to build for ourselves. A 7,400 square foot English Tutor with a magnificent park-like backyard located across the street from the Governor’s mansion in a prestigious historic neighborhood, it recently sold for $1.75M. We purchased it for $850K and sold it for $1.25M eight years later after a good bit of renovation work, much of which I did and where I honed many of the skills I am using today for the new house. It proved to be a good investment, but more importantly, a place where the kids made some very fond childhood memories. I grabbed these images from Zillow.

This final photo is one I took of my office when we lived there. It is now my preferred virtual background for Zoom calls.

Today, I finished machining parts for 27 drawer boxes. 15 will go into the main bedroom walk-in closet and 12 are destined for the guest bedroom walk-in closet. Each drawer box requires a front, back, 2 sides, and a bottom. I am using lock miter joints for the corners which have the advantage of self-alignment and require clamping in only one direction. The price for this is that all four corners must be glued together simultaneously and given the relatively short open time of the glue I am using, it is best done with an assistant. Jeanine has become a very proficient glue buddy and I will wait until she returns from her Midwest road trip before attempting assembly.

The boys stopped by this afternoon to watch the Liverpool vs. Manchester United match. Maya dropped by at halftime and stayed for the remainder of the game even though the primary goal of her visit was to pick up tools for continuing repair work on her tiny house. I feel so lucky that the kids live close by and that we can gather like this at a moment’s notice. I did my best to channel my inner-Jeanine for the occasion. I chilled a couple of beers, put out peanuts (I found Jeanine’s hidden stash) and chips and made chicken with wild rice soup for Kyle. I contend that removing the lid from a can and heating its contents constitues making soup, an assertion that will no doubt be challenged by our resident soup gourmand.

Jeanine met her newest niece today for the first time and from the sound of things they have already bonded. For years now, Jeanine has been trying to schedule a visit to meet her but one thing or another (Covid, job, new house) has conspired to postpone this day.

I spent my day outdoors managing a second open burn in as many days. In light of yesterday’s visit from the fire department, I thought it best to minimize the amount of smoke I generated by limiting my burn to wood only (no pine needles). I also discovered that one of the trees that came down has encroached on our neighbors property, very nearly hitting their house. I reached out to let them know we would cover the cost of removal and any damage.

Conditions today were ideal for an open burn to get rid of all the trees that came down this winter. Air temperature was in the 50s and the sun was out for the first time in several days. Recent rains have left the ground cover very wet reducing the possibility of fire propagation. Unfortunately, the pine needles and limbs I was burning produced a great deal of smoke, enough to fill the entire river valley when the wind was in that direction. Reports of heavy smoke in Fairhaven Bay (about a mile upriver), resulted in a visit from the fire department to our address. Fortunately, my permit was in order, my same-day burn request had been approved, and my fire met all but one criterion; it was too close to the house. The requirement is 75 feet. The fire chief was very reasonable and suggested a different location near the top of the driveway for future fires. I was only able to take care of a third of the detritus and may look into buying a wood chipper to deal with the rest.

Maya shared this photo of Pipa whom she dog-sat for last weekend.

Text message thread:

Maya: Dog sat for Pipa last weekend. She’s a total weirdo. She’s primarily motivated by cheese and fear.

Nico: I like her for who she is.

Kyle: Aren’t we all.

Jeanine shared this picture of Gandalf. He belongs to her sister who she is visiting in Indianapolis. With Jeanine away I have been eating unhealthy foods and binge watching Suits, one of my favorite TV shows.