LJ is up early, about 5:30. I sleep in until 7 or so, until the coffee is made, anyway. Then I crawl out. LJ has the wood fire going again but the little propane unit kept the cabin warm all night and he stayed in bed; he didn’t have to sleep in a chair feeding the fire. We have a donut and coffee, then get around and go to town. We need a sheet of plywood for my kitchen cupboard and since we need the trailer to haul it, Himself gets 4 treated 4X4 posts while we are there. Next spring he will replace the old tree trunks that are currently holding up the front porch but are starting to rot and we don't want to lose that porch!
Took the plywood to Too, to use the electric saw as I needed a couple of pieces 5+ feet by 20 inches and that would be a lot of hand sawing! Unfortunately, after we throw the wood out and plug in the 35-year old circular saw, it doesn’t work. The switch is bad. We discuss, while Himself bangs the saw on the ground and knocks it up along side the switch, that we bought the saw when we lived in our first home in Sioux City. We needed the saw when we shingled the house. So, it has been a good ol’ saw but today, it is not going to work. We take it down to the cabin to warm up. It is about 18 degrees and I’m freezing so I think maybe the saw is cold too. Himself finally takes it apart and there is 35-years' worth of sawdust packed in around the switch and it won't toggle. He clears that out and uses some WD40 and works and reworks the switch and when he puts it back together, the switch works and Himself saves the day! He is good! Working in the snow and cold, I mark out the pieces I need and even mark out notches for the corners so I won’t have to hand saw them back at III. I’m feeling mighty smug – Himself has saved me a lot of hand sawing and that cupboard should go right together!
So, we batten down the hatches again at Too and skip back to III. We get right on breakfast as that donut didn’t stick to my ribs. After eating, Himself takes the chainsaw to clear more saplings up the drive and I start in on my cupboard. I have to attach some braces to my frame, to hold the shelf so I saw several 2X4s and I have gotten pretty capable, hand sawing, and soon have the braces cut and screwed on to the frame. I no sooner think about the next step and I realize that the notches I had Himself cut out with the power saw are not big enough and I am going to have to enlarge all four notches. With the hand saw. ¾” plywood . . . oh no.
So, back to the saw but they go quicker than I had imagined and recutting my notches hasn’t been too much of a set back. I carry the shelf in and have to drop it in from the top, all the time hoping that there is enough room in there to work with it. After I drop it, I see that I still need another half inch out of two corners and not only that, I can’t get the shelf back out. Now, I am disgusted!
I wrestle that shelf and cuss and spit. But that doesn’t help so I go sit down and think it through. There might be just enough room for me to get the saw in to take out that inch. Sure enough, I wrestle it some more and wield the saw and one place I have to use the chisel. I am just about done when Himself walks in. I tell him that I will never ever attempt to build anything and he can see I’ve been in a fix but just then I knock that last bit of wood out with the chisel and the shelf falls down into place. Aha! A tight fit but it works! Himself helps me carry in the counter top, the last step, and at least it fits. Then it is just a simple matter to throw a screw in each corner of the top and I am done.
Sitting by the fire, several hours later, I say, “the next time I build . . .” oops. Already I have forgotten my promise never, ever to build another thing!
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