The Shed in Question

Last year we had a lucky break and I told my husband to order that shed he had wanted, the one that would empty the garage of gardening stuff.  You have undoubtedly read my anti-shed rants.

Well, he ordered a kit large enough to be a garage. We did not expect that my sinus would be so infected that my ENT ordered me inside unless I wore a mask. Nor were we expecting I would have surgery nor that three weeks would be necessary to recuperate. Hence, what should have been done by Halloween still has about town square feet of shingles needed on the back. We would have finished Sunday but ran out of the special nails he wanted to resist the damp and salty coastal air.

Here is the shed in September:

We wanted the shed to complement the house so, like our house it has red clapboards on the front and oil-dipped cedar shingles every where else. Guess which take longer to put up? We have worked on the shingles for 2 weeks, and I have done anything that did not require power tools. I also painted the clapboards in the garage. Here is the nearly complete beast:

                                                                               

So, it is a rather nice building. I feel satisfaction in having helped. I should stop my whining. The weather these past few weeks has been a mix, from 14°F and sleeting to 60°F and sunny. So, while there were days it was lovely to be out, there were others where I made Don bring out the contractors Halogen light to give me a place to warm up.  By the way, Weight Watchers online give points for carpentry!

Tips:

• Until I took stage craft in school, I had no idea how to hold a hammer. The tendency is to hold it close to the neck in order to maintain control, but if you hold the grip at the lower position of the grip, the weight of the hammer as it swings will make the nail go in with fewer strikes.

• Since I was wearing gloves a lot, I would often start the nails on a flat surface and then take a bunch up the ladder.  Otherwise I tend to drop the nails with the gloves causing me to be more clumsy than usual.

Shed Happens, It Still Happens--Send Hand Warmers!

The Farshtunken shed still demands my presence. If the hammering hadn't removed all will to live I would take a picture to show you how stupid we are for buying it. Perhaps later. I may suggest you have a peek at Flavor Wire online. It is one of those sites that compiles lists of things. Mental Floss is also hilarious.

Oh Shed, Hot Stuff!

Oh Shed

My husband's company sold this year, not the kind of sold that turned him into a retired gent, but the kind that means we have better insurance. So, I said why not buy the shed so we can clean up the garage?  So he ordered a ginormous KIT that we have until the snow falls to put together. He sprained his back this week meaning he needed more of my help that normal. Including lifting these huge roof beams to sit on top the wall posts.It has been wet out lately so each weighs a lot more than normal too.

"This is a bad idea," I told him several days ago, "One of us is already hurt, and the other is accident prone. And, I don't think we will do this without one of us ending up in the hospital."
Could he have made plans with a friend to help? Eff yeah.
Did I get hurt? Of course—I banged my knee. It still hurts.

I went in to call a friend who is coming over to help and while I was doing that he put one beam up on his own.  With a sprained back.
For what the shed cost it should have come with a team of men to put it together or it should have come already put together.
Humph!
So, our friend came by in an hour the two guys got done more than we had done in several hours.
My knee still hurts.

Just pull the film off and voila!

In other news, we had a love affair with European appliances and got a "special" oven when we built the house. Over time, the display which shows what mode you are using, bake, convection, broil, etc., became nearly impossible to read. It had gotten to the point that I would set what I thought was the temp and use an oven thermometer. Well, the good part of  living with an engineer is that they will take stuff apart to fix it. The bad part is that,...

He looks on line ffor replacement parts. $800 for a new panel, but then he goes to forums. And, just about everyone with this oven has the same problem, and the others don't use their oven.

He starts to take the oven apart to fix the circuit board the way this guy recommends. He discovers there is a piece of acetate film, red over the green color light in the temp/mode window. Red cancels green making the whole thing a mystery! Of course, in the meantime he demolished the timer and it will take a few days to fix that. I am feeling a new oven in my future!