And coming around the far turn

 

Teenager

Adult

 

Upon returning from St Thomas with the lumber to finish trimming out the kitchen baseboards and the front door porch I stacked it to left it dry out for a couple of weeks. The stuff is literally dripping with the treatment. It gets all over the truck when it is really fresh. Like I said, I put it up wet but not dripping!

 

Home Depot finally received more of the travertine bullnose I needed to trim out the porch. Because they never had enough I had been buying 8-10, one foot pieces, whenever they had any over the last year. Now I had the forty I needed. I was really looking forward to getting this work done. Despite my best efforts water was still finding its way in along the edge. Not a lot but just enough to piss me off on occasion, leaving a water mark after it would dry.

What you can no longer see in the photo above is the seam between the 2x12 and 2x4 that I used as a combo fascia board to encapsulate the red iron i beam. There were no 2x16's available and even if there were I couldn't afford it--not to mention the weight. To cover the seam I cut the 16" tiles in four inch strips. They are already in place above waiting for the bullnose.

 Place camera on scaffolding, run down plank, pick up bullnose and smile!

 

There's always drama with everything. As I mentioned I bought all the bullnose over the course of a year. All from the same supplier in Turkey. I was so looking forward to put it up. I laid it out to get the color mix right and got to it. Well as it turns out every batch while looking the same was slighly different, each in a different way. Either the curve was bigger or smaller, likewise for the height, depth and all the ways it could be measured. Basically everything was off about an 1/8". Maybe no big deal to a professional but a huge headache to me. If you know where to look you will see it.

The finished look before grouting.  

 

A baby burro having its leg fixed after being hit by a car

 

In what has to be a first, Tortola's Road Town Ferry sunk in the harbor while being worked on.

 

http://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?page=Article&articleID=1342093661

Drying out!

 

With the lumber dripped dried I set about encapsulating the small front door porch. You can see some of the rippled milling I have to deal with.

Priming the baseboards before putting them up.

I had not shaved in so long that when I did, I had this! Denise's worst fears about me turning into Grizzly Adams came true when we did a Skype call. She can handle a lot of things but facial hair is not one of them! I figure with the gray hair folks will stop thinking I'm in my 40's. ;~)))))

 

Tropical storm Rafael taking shape

What a nice hurricane. Changing course several times to miss everyone!

 You have your info commercials and we have ours! ;~))

 

September, October and November, my favorite months. Empty beaches, well almost, and warm water. Every time I have to jump to town for fresh produce or other supplies I try to get to the beach about 3:30pm. That gives me an hour before the showers close at Trunk Bay.

Full screen a must....

 

Next up, downstairs.

The router, miter saw and the table saw you don't see.

I should have taken some before and after pics. What you don't see, this area was piled high with everything that had been stored inside and was moved to pour the floor during the last concrete work.

It was a good two days before I had everything stored and new work benches in place. I relocated everything from upstairs. All future messes will be made down here. It feels so good. Progress.

The work benches also doubled as my scaffolding while I put in the electric for the fans, lights and put up metal furring strips to drop the ceiling below the red iron. I screwed up the electric. More on that later.

After trimming out the columns etc I started putting up the ceiling. A lot of the 4x8 beadboard panels had suffered some cosmetic termite damage with their long years in the containers.

No worries however. These two products, which I tested by applying them to another board and leaving it out in the weather for several months, passed the test. One for bulk, the other for skim coating. With time and patience it makes crude treated lumber look like its been milled.

 

Same drill as everywhere else, multiple coats of paint to get a build with wood putty skim coats in between. In the end four or five coats. Hey, its new construction--that's what it takes.

It feels like a death in the family. My sander of 17 years gave up the ghost. I can't bring myself to throw it in the garbage yet. I'm getting pathetic!

After multiple coats the columns are starting to look pretty good. A half column will be put up on the far concrete corner, housing a two way light switch for the covered porch lights. With all the small changes I make as I go along, things I thought out years ago sometimes get overlooked. This time it was the layout and location of the lights. I got carried away with the idea of wall sconces on each side of the bedroom doors and another by the utility room. Wired everything and put up the ceiling only to remember why I did not do that years ago--the storm shutters have to go where the sconces would be! Duh. My hope, with four inch recessed lights I should be able to get my arm up into the ceiling and get a hold of the wires. If not, I'll have to take down the ceiling.

This is how it happens.

 

The best nine minutes for anyone building, buying or remodeling.
 

 

In another surprise I found I was allergic to the new treated lumber. Blistering everywhere the saw dust and sweat mixed. The itching later was worse than poison ivy. The first attack was everywhere over my chest and arms. The old stuff never bothered me.

 

Back to the crash chronicles. I guess they are happy the retaining wall was done! Thankfully no one was hurt.

 

 On a truly sad note there was a small airplane crash at sea between St Thomas and St Croix. One survivor. The wreckage arrives in St Thomas.

http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com/index.php/582-news/2012-10-news/8266-downed-aircraft-located-and-bodies-of-two-missing-passengers-recovered

 

 the day after

 

Back to upstairs....

The discarded original screens got recycled into the porch railings. Copper tubing with number 3 rebar inserts. Simple, strong and a very inexpensive to construct. Did I mention the patina?

Waiting for the top rail.

That's is far as I got when I ran out of my 10' copper pipe. I'll get the rest when I return from San Francisco. This year I'm leaving the day before Thanksgiving and staying for six weeks. Denise was not able to make her October visit so we are doing a twofer! See you next year assuming the Mayans are wrong!

 

Lazy days of summer

 

http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/legion/exhibitions/man-ray-lee-miller-partners-surrealism

Home for a little culture at the Legion of Honor Museum. San Francisco has to be the world's most comfortable fur lined rut! It is golden handcuffs and then some.

The lawn in front overlooking the Marin headlands and entry to SF Bay. The Golden Gate Bridge is just to the right

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Miller

http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Legion-s-Man-Ray-Lee-Miller-exhibition-3705408.php

 

Summertime in SF

 

 

 

 Over at the de Young, Gaultier. Aimed at the runway/couture crowd. Us ragamuffins know of him through Madonna.

 

 

The real buzz were the interactive mannequins. Holographic faces were projected from above giving them a very real life like appearance with active facial features. I'm sure it will only be a few years until these are the standard in high end stores.

 

They talked and followed you with their eyes.

I had been hoping for something more along these lines after hearing the pre show buzz.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickle_Family_Circus

Lorenzo Pisoni, a play about him as a child in the Pickle Family circus. It's a San Francisco thing. Thank you for the tickets, Marilyn and Tim.

 

In a bit of lucky timing I was home for the entire Olympics. What a treat, having missed 2008. I think most of the medal winning female runners all went to the same "valley girl" finishing school that Serena Williams attended, which however, did not prevent her from doing the Crip Walk after winning the US Open. So many beauties from the Caribbean. Jamaica rules. Here they are in case you missed them.

 

In a first, we did not go to the movies. This from a couple that generally went forty or more times per year for the last 25 years! I think they are saving everything until the end of the year.

Did a quick jump up to the Sierra foothills to visit and see the progress on my cousin Craig's very large home he's been building on his own over the years. My original inspiration to a large extent, especially the steel. Talk about a big project. Plus he has to come up from San Diego these days to work on it. Whew. I think I may have finally pulled ahead of him!

 

Lost in the shuffle on the last update, the time I spent making the window and screen frames. During the planning stage I decided early on that I would build my own simple windows so as not to be trapped into their exact placement, what size and the expense. Don't even talk about custom made mahogany windows. As it turns out, a brilliant, lucky move on my part. Three planned windows became french doors and another picture window was changed into an opening window. It is not out of the question that I may not have made those changes if I already had bought and paid for the windows sitting in a container.

While most folks have double hung windows, they go up and down, our design constraints/aesthetics called for french windows or casement as they are called. Easy to construct. Well actually, nothing is easy to construct but easy compared most others!
  

While most casement windows open out, ours were to open in so that you could reach out and close the shutters as in the picture above. Further adding to the design demands, the necessity of screens that would also open to the inside. Among the many reasons windows open out are space limitations on the inside and most shutters are ornamental. Our shutters are a working necessity and must be reached from the inside. I'm not going to be putting up ladders to close my shutters or having to hire someone when I'm 100! ;~)

There are a host of design considerations/hassles associated with inside opening windows I won't bore you with but a major one for me, besides space requirements, was the look of clutter/congestion. I had been so used to the open casement during construction--the lower window to the right above--that when I hung the screens on hinges with the windows next, I did not like the look. Clean, open with no upkeep, became complicated with long range maintenance. All this and knowing the windows would rarely be closed. The house is in the tropics. Even in the heaviest rains, not tropical storms, very little rain comes inside because of our position on the hill, the rain forest, blah, blah.

So what to do? I don't want rain coming in, no matter how little, but I don't want windows taking up space on the inside and they must open to the inside. Driving around San Francisco the bell went off!

There it is. The solution, called by some the "Hollywood Regency" look. Canvas above all the windows. When we go to town or St Thomas, we simply open the screen, reach out and close the shutters. Short of a tropical storm no rain will be coming in. Did I mention it is significantly cheaper, glass is dear, and the upkeep is a lot easier. The canvas will be pressure washed, along with everything else, a couple of times a year. Now if I had only thought of this before I spent a few weeks making the windows and screens. I'll scrap the screens and design new ones using the stainless steel hinges and the simple 1930's latches that we purchased in SF for the windows.

 

Home, East End and Coral Bay

Returned to St John on August 12th. Truck had its standard small flat but started right up. The shack was in perfect condition with the ice cubes in the bowl still holding their shape so I knew the power outages were minor--I can still eat the food!

 

Beaches were still crowded by my standards--but considered empty by east coast folks. Every year the tourist season seems to get a little longer.

 

Full screen....

 

 

Gecko eggs found behind a chest. They all hatched.

Just before I returned

It knocked down one small dead tree. 

 

Jumped on the barge to St Thomas for a food and materials run. The feral cats all showed up along with the chickens. Word gets out pretty quick! Cat food and rice on the list.

A couple of days later I finished the new screens. They look great. However I'm not putting them up until everything else is done. I don't want to get any paint/topping mud splatter on them. After the screens I skim coated the living room ceiling once again and around the crown and base board moldings to even out the plaster. Afterwards I painted the last coat of oil primer on all the interior trim. I have lost count on the number coats. Multiple coats of oil give a good "build". It helps make average carpentry look good.

 

Not my first choice in primers. Lots of VOCs and it doesn't self level because it drys so quick. If you are not spraying, I'm not, you have two choices. Brush marks vs a tight stipple from a "slim jim" roller.

 

Yup, the same roller you would use to paint behind the toilet tank. Truth is, I needed the stipple. It covers all the imperfections in the wood for the most part. Secondly, using this roller I'm able to paint the entire trim in a few hours allowing for multiple coats with the necessary wood putty skim coat where necessary. Everyday you just put on a coat before moving onto something else. For the last coat you do an easy hand sand knocking down some of the stipple. You can never really hide it however. That is the draw back to quick dry primers unless you spray. I know, I know, TMI, TMI.

 

Finally my favorite part with my favorite paint--Satin Impervo! Here's something you don't see in California, Impervo in gallons. I'm making noises like Tim the Tool Man. Put it up with a slim jim and brush it out. Again several coats over a number of days. It does take several days between coats when there is humidity in the air. This is one of the reasons folks use the quick dry paints down here. Myself, I always use oil on interior trim. Besides how it looks, it cleans, it's durable and most importantly it is sandable when the time comes to paint again. Meanwhile the color gets a little richer over time. Latex is for walls! Duh.

 

A quick primer on the founding of the National Park.



If the events described in this short video had not happened Denise and I would not be building here.

The trim turned out better than I expected. You would have to see the original wood to fully understand this comment. Paradise lumber is still out of the 1x8 stock I need to finish the Kitchen and bathroom baseboards. They were out of it when I left to go to SF. "Dem barges takes a long time".

Isaac stayed south. Another near miss.
 

In a bit of bad news AT&T cut me off from my unlimited data 'air card'. From my usual 20-40 gigs a month streaming Hulu and Netflix etc, I'm supposed to throttle back to 5 gigs--NOT POSSIBLE and they know it. I'll have to look into something local. St John has come a long way in the last five years. Even my dentist is on island!

Tomorrow I'll jump back to St Thomas for the baseboard lumber at MSI and more paint. There is a rhythm to it all. It does a person good.