Cedaring the Barrels, Part One

Cedaring: v., transitive.  The act or process of putting cedar "staves" around the rain barrels. Creating the look of a wooden barrel by using cedar boards that have been shaped so they will conform somewhat to the roundness of the circumference of a large plastic-material barrel.

Very public.  Not subtle.

Rain barrels are on every corner of my house.  Five of them--we have extra corners because our house is not an exact rectangle.  Previous blogs have given the reasoning behind this strange ritual of saving rain when our last nine months have provided more moisture from the sky than can possibly be absorbed by the earth.  Logic says we are saving it for a (non) rainy day.  We'll, no doubt, have two or three of them this summer when we have a strong urge to turn on the outside faucet to water something.  Rain barrels to the ready.


Purpose aside, rain barrels au natural are not pretty.  The scratch-at-your-eyes bright blue does not blend.  Not in the slightest.  Last summer's installation all around the house was followed by a fancying-up of the barrel by the back door.  I put cedar around it.  Suddenly it was handsome, attractive and good looking.

Removing "Diaper" scattered the sawdust a bit.  It was
easily 6" deep inside the metal supports.

Things I get to do today says now is the time to finish the most public barrels that remain naked blue.  One day was spent shaping the staves--3 1/8" wide and an 8.5 degree slant on the edges. (Blog of 9/20/11 "Diapers for My Table Saw," shows the dust diaper I made last fall for the table saw.)  Shaping the cedar for two barrels created a mountain of sawdust.  The diaper did an excellent job of keeping it off the rest of the workshop which is really more garage, storage, and work-out gym.

I was all ready to slap those babies around the barrel, when I remembered that they needed a coat of waterproofing.  If you ever embark on any such project, here's a tip valued to save several hours.  Use a paint pad to spread the solution.  My paint "tray" was a recycled lettuce box.  My work surface was set on a little slant so the solution stayed at one end of the tray and could be worked into the paint pad easily.

Home-made paint tray.  So easy to "clean" up.

Tune in tomorrow when the actual cedaring begins.

Kiwi: Boy and Girl Do Their Thing

This was not a rush job.  At least not until the last hour or so.  Rain was promised, but it was a weakly-felt, never-really-intended commitment, so I knew I still had time.

Trellis for the boy (on the right)
and girl (on the left by the hose reel) 

What could not wait, however, were the growing kiwi plants.  Arctic Beauty Hardy Kiwi is, from all I've read, truly a beauty with its cream, pink and green leaves, its fragrant, honeybee-attracting flowers, and its yummy, grape-sized fruit.  And, from what I've read, it is a vigorous vine that can grow many feet in a season and bare up to 100 pounds of fruit.  They say right up front:  make a strong trellis for this plant.

Rails at top right will support the grown-up
kiwi vines and their fruit

The Things I get to do today for many days now included gathering supplies for this project. Then the weather chimed in with sun and sky and warmth. Time to get a move on. Put the blog aside (anyone can write anything on a rainy day), load up and put on the tool belt, and make a place for the girl and boy kiwi to do their thing.

I fetched out the plans, cut and placed the timbers, bolted and screwed them in place (I'm not so good with a hammer, and strong kiwi need screws and nuts and bolts).

Cedar, freshly weather-proofed with a waxy compound that makes it extra nice to touch, is always a pleasure to handle: smells lovely and looks rich.  I loved watching it come together.

Already learning to wrap around their support

Girl blossom buds

I checked on the kids in their newly remodeled setting just a few minutes ago.  They seem quite contented and looked so handsome I nearly burst my buttons.

Boy blossoms ready to pop out

Out to the Woodshed--Roofed and Loaded

This morning is chilled.  No visible sun.  My ears do not like my work hairdo today.  Folks with short hair and bare ears must suffer in the winter!  A wool scarf accents my "outfit" by wrapping over the work hat, ears and around the neck, tied in back--be grateful there is no picture of this.

None of that really matters because roofing the woodshed with reclaimed 1x6 cedar boards is top of the Things I get to do today. A split second after roofing is finished, collecting all the wood and stacking it in its brand-new, luxury accommodations will be "top" since both are on my "mission" list.

Warm gratitude swells up over the roof boards already being cut and ready to go.  My assistant/consultant/husband shows me a time-saving way, "how the big boys would do it," he calls it, to position each row of roof boards.  We position them together.  I screw them down.  The sky starts to spit as we place the last one.

The finished beauty

No time to waste.  I measure and cut the sides.  My "assistant" mans the cordless drill, screwing them in place.  Measure, cut, fasten.  Measure, cut, fasten.  It is beginning to sprinkle.  It's noon straight up as the last board is in place, including vertical section supports inside to keep the wood in place.

Yard-side view--perfect blend
Notice in right distance wood to be gathered

The rain is serious, but we aren't and don't care at all. Since I love to stack wood, that's my job while my husband wheels barrow after barrow from all over and dumps it within my reach.

Dry wood in the left compartment;
Center is still a bit wet;
Right side is full of  fresh trims from
the Apple Tree Face Lift

Every stick is stacked and stored.  Let it rain. And it's supposed to do that for the next full week. Since I make trip after trip "out to the Woodshed" to admire its handsome, elegant, practical, perfect suitedness, I'm noticing the rain.

Sweet roof.  The water runs right off!
It was tested immediately.

Practically invisible from the main patio

 We are eager to spend many evenings watching the fire and soaking up starlight.  

The end: but, of course, really the beginning.

Out to the Woodshed--to the Rafters

Front "wall" framed and in position

The weather is holding, and I'm on a mission.  "On a mission" is my family's code talk for "Get out of Mom's way."  Things I get to do today have never before included heading "out to the Woodshed."  And today I get to, though the woodshed has at this exact point in time only a floor and one wall.  Handy Andy's going to change that.

Sides braced and rafters on
Ready for the roof and side walls

Cutting rafters can be a challenge. The hen house ones took me hours. This time around, my "work shop" is right here on the back patio, and the new miter saw works so well, all that's left is to nail them in place (well, I did measure and carry the boards back and forth).  On rafters it's odd, but tiny little measurements of 1/8 of an inch can make things all cockeyed.  Not a problem. A little fine tuning with the hammer--BANG--and everything fits together just fine.




Roof will be made of the same cedar boards.  Twisted the arm of the table saw this afternoon to chamfer one edge of the boards so they would make better roof "shingles."  This shed is nearly ready to shine!

The weather gods say they'll hold off the rain tomorrow until noon.   With two people working (consultant-husband is joining me), I'm sure we'll make that appointment.  (In case you're wondering why it's raining on you and not me as I work, there's a bit of lag time between writing and posting a blog.  It really was sunny last week.)

Out to the Woodshed--from the Ground up

Perfect location:  next to the privacy fence
 Close but out of the way

Clear lines of where the pavers and frame were.
Now in its correct position.

He dropped by midday and announced, "Inspector's here to check you out."   Moments later it was clear that the pad/floor for the woodshed was too close to the fence leaving no room for the back wall needed to keep out the rain and let the wood dry which was the reason for the woodshed in the first place.  It's not everyday that the Things I get to do today include moving a foundation.  Oh, my, all in stride.  So much better to know that now rather than later.  Relatively simple process to move the "foundation" and paver blocks two inches away from the fence. Just glad my husband stopped by to eat his lunch.

Floor pavers and frame correctly position next to the fcnce

Back wall framed
Applying the reclaimed boards for the wall

Back wall in position

And in spite of the mistake, there was enough time in the between phone calls and dental appointments to frame up the back wall, put the boards on it and heft it into place.









 It has been a Handy Andy's dream: free materials; vibrant, loving, warm weather with the chickens making lazy sounds for my music; an outdoor work shop complete with a brand-new compound miter saw (my Christmas present from consultant, coach, husband).  Talk about a day to plark! Hold my feet down to the earth, mama. I'm nearly blissed away!

Out to the Woodshed*--the Thought

The woodshed is for him, or so my husband says.  With retirement in the future, he wants a place to hide-out if I get cranky about having him under foot.  It's true that I'm hot on the idea building a woodshed, but it would be way too cramped for a full-grown man--so wood only--unless I was really cranky.

Woodshed plans: 2 deep, 6 feet wide, 5 feet tall

Ninety percent inspiration and ten percent perspiration?   I've been planning the woodshed for weeks, seeing it in various locations, imagining it full of wood, playing the "store like things together, and store them where they are used" song in my head since we have wood for our chiminea and our indoor fireplace stored in five different locations in our yard.  The apple tree's recent face lift added a new mountain of wood going every which way right by the back door.  Time to move forward on this.





All the Things I get to do today in the woodworking department are brand new, first time, first person adventures for me.  Fortunately, my consultant-husband listens to plans with a builder's ear and gently channels wild visions into something that can actually be constructed and remain standing for a period of time.  So next come the paper (I like red lines rather than blue or green), straight edge, pencil (mechanical, please), and eraser.   Once it's on paper, it feels like it's nearly done.

With enough creative thought energy behind an idea, it begins to move on its own.  My sister's neighbor had an adjacent fence fall into their yard.  They offered her (and she offered me) all the cedar boards and the treated 2x4 stringers--enough material to build nearly the entire shed.  We are ready to go!

 *"Out to the Woodshed": several posts on my latest wood plark (play/work).  Tomorrow: the Outfit.

All you can eat or Chicken for dinner?

“So how can we help you today?”  the big guy behind the counter at the local lumber yard knows I show up there on serious business only.

“Well, I need some parts for a cover for the chicken buffet.”

He paused, “As in all-they-can-eat? Or we’re having chicken for dinner.”  He really knows better than to joke about the darlings at the back of my yard who, though they haven’t laid an egg in a long time (some of them never), keep me better entertained than the best rated TV sitcom. 

The chicken buffet is a brainchild birthed from necessity.  Chickens love grain and so do rodents.  How to feed the chickens and not the rats—that’s the question.  The buffet, then, is wooden tray perched on a post that has an ABS pipe sheath.  The chickens can easily fly two feet up to the perch, hop into the tray and be ankle deep in seeds, grains and chicken scratch.  We’ve never seen a rat even try to climb that pipe.  Pray no one is giving them flying lessons.

Nora Jones dining in.

But the rainy season arrived yesterday, and the roof for the buffet can’t wait any longer.  My chickens are pretty classy ladies.  Singers, they are, all of them.  There’s Gwyneth Poultry (the slender blonde), Nora Jones, Nina Simone, Latifah, and Miss Lena Horne.  A group of women of this caliber deserve only the best.  So there are cedar shingles on the roof which is supported by smooth pine uprights.  Never mind that I’ve never before cedar-shingled a roof.  It's on my list of Things I get to do today.  For these sweet chicks I’ll do just about anything.

Learned oh so much on this part.

Today as afternoon was turning into evening, I secured the last bolt to the roof structure that will shelter my girls’ food, nibbles and treats from the rain of fall and possible snow of winter.

And tomorrow after I’ve fed myself and brushed my teeth, I’ll head out to the hen pen with the fragrance of cedar in my nose.  A few bolts secured on each end and I’ll flip on the sign “Open for business—all you can eat.”

Nora on the left and Gwyneth, fluff toward camera, checking out the business.

Diapers for my table saw

At first I didn't know whether to call it a diaper or a skirt, but then as I pondered the purpose of the garment, I said diaper, definitely diaper.  Skirts are never used to catch waste products, diapers definitely are.  Having settled the name issue first, I went on to design this nappy contraption in my head while sawdust was flying all over the garage which means all over the weightlifting and fitness equipment, all over the extra food supplies,  all over the camping equipment, all over everything.  And that's the trouble with my newest, latest and greatest plarking projects ("plark" is focused play, as in 3/4 play and 1/4 work without any of the negative thoughts associated with work).  One of the side effects of this particular form of plarking is sawdust.

When you use a table saw, you get lots of sawdust.  I love working with wood, and I never knew that until about two years ago.   Since then, in addition to piles of sawdust, I've created a chicken tractor,  a chicken coop, chicken roosts and ramps--anything and everything to do with chickens--nest boxes, boxes for treats, a food buffet to feed the hens but not the rats.  And gates.  I've made lots of gates to keep the chickens and the yard and the garden separate.

But then last spring this amazing book called Vertical Gardening by Derek Fell (Rodale Press) fell into my hands, and I began building things for the garden.  A vertical garden involves a structure that will support the plants as they grow up, freeing the soil space for the stem and roots of the plants and therefore making really good use of the garden space one has.  So I built seven of these structures for my garden beds and spent all of a rainy Mother's Day in the garage with the table saw creating the cross members and support pieces.  In other words--making lots more sawdust!

And today I was making a huge ring of sawdust on the garage floor while the finer particles were drifting on to absolutely everything else as I fine tuned the metamorphous of my vertical garden structure into a protected area and greenhouse for winter and a seedling nursery for spring.  And that's when I had had enough!  Enough of the sawdust stuck to the bottom of my shoes and tracked onto areas of the floor not already thick with the fragrant fibers, enough of the fairy ring of sawdust creeping wider and wider onto the yet-bare floor.  This was one of the Things I get to do today!

With the design in my head and not even taking off my gloves, I found some discarded garden blanket and measured the waist  and "crotch" distance of the Rockwell/Delta 10" contractor's table saw.  Armed with this information, I quickly cut the fabric, found snap tape for holding it together in the front, found cord for the drawstring waist and the drawstring tuck-under-the-buns at the bottom.  Shortly thereafter this Rockwell/Delta table saw sat proudly outfitted in its own fresh, clean dust-diaper.