Tag: Tony Foster
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Plank by Plank
A hale hurrah to Glen and Tony for their enclosure fence progress. Plank by plank, they’re installing the tree-to-timber pickets, advancing the privacy screen behind Rosslyn’s carriage barn that will conceal the generator, mini-split compressor, propane tank, etc. while framing the sunken courtyard west of the icehouse. Yet another tree-to-timber project, all of the cedar…
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Lakeside Staircase: Demo
With a grateful nod to the weather gods and resounding applause for Glen’s and Tony’s concerted effort, I offer you another progress report on repairs to Rosslyn’s lakeside staircase. Several years into this slooow rolling maintenance project, we’ve successfully implemented the second phase: demo and cleanup. Here’s where I left off a little less than…
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Poetics of Planing
As Tony concludes his transformation of our homegrown cedar into finish grade planks for the privacy fence enclosure I pause to ponder the poetics of planing. Almost 3-1/2 months ago, the notion appeared as part of a poem. Come and chant with me,a poetics of planing —unroughing, smoothingtruing, straightening —for patient makersalchemizing plants in-to ingredients…
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Lakeside Staircase: Recon
After several years of delays — from false start to postponement to more false starts — Glen and Tony have resuscitated Rosslyn’s lakeside staircase repairs. Today I’ll catch you up on their preliminary “deep dive” (don’t worry, I’m speaking figuratively since Lake Champlain water temperatures are presently inhospitable at best.) We started out by assessing…
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Pickets & Kindling
While Glen has been enjoying some much deserved R&R, Tony has been finalizing preparations for the privacy enclosure behind the carriage barn. Woodworking, especially repurposing rough or recycled material into finish grade lumber, has proven to be a well matched and rewarding undertaking for Tony over the last year and a half. Again and again…
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Perfect Imperfection
Tonight’s update captures a typical exchange within the team, this one between Tony, Pam, and me pertaining to the cedar board in the photo below. How do we approach a board with so much character? — Tony Foster Great question, right? Tony has been transforming rough cut cedar into properly finished and dimensioned pickets for…
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Tree-to-Timber
As we prepare to fabricate the privacy enclosure behind the carriage barn, the constituent parts are starting to fall into place. One of the most important is the material that we’re using for the pickets. Yet another tree-to-timber project, all of the cedar slats/boards that will comprise the fence pickets grew less than 150’ from…
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Crazy Biz?!
Crazy biz?! It’s fair to say that, since day one, I’ve taken pretty ample creative license with these Bloganuary prompts. I accepted the challenge without much reflection. Why not add a new twist to my daily installments? Like discovering a new spice? I remember when I discovered za’atar via Yotam Ottolenghi. Wow! It was like…
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Old Year’s Day
Did you know that another name for New Year’s Eve Day is Old Year’s Day? Not used widely, in my experience, but logical. Retrospective. Emphasis on the year expiring rather than the year arriving. Despite a personal proclivity for forward-looking and possibility, a year-end review offers merits too. This day’s, this year’s minutes are too…
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Hibernal High
I almost preempted this evening’s post with an update on the rising, rising, rising lake levels. Given the alarming uptick — Lake Champlain has risen approximately 2’ in the last couple of days with waters currently approaching spring flood stage — our attention is focused on meteorological forecasts. But angsty fretting serves no one, so…
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Cargo Sled
Hat tip to Tony, Glen, and Yard Glider (yardglider.com), “the cart without wheels”. After brainstorming how best to transport seven aluminum framed, wood decked dock sections to three different areas of the property. Heavy, large, (4’x13’) and unwieldy, relocating the docks had been challenging my imagination. Meet the cargo sled! This clever contraption turned out…
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Stumping
As political pundits’ newscycle turns to election stumping, our workcycle turns to ash stumping. The inevitable next step in our current homegrown lumber undertaking is to transform the stumps (leftover from five removed ash trees) into mulch and then prepare the ground for grass seeding in the spring. After felling five ash trees in the…