Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Had to go to my local lumber yard to buy some pressure treated 2x8’s. Home Cheapo was out, and they say that lumber was diverted to Florida to deal with Hurricane Ian’s aftermath.
While at Home Cheapo I was looking at more Milwaukee Packout tool boxes, and I decided to buy their large toolbox. I asked an employee to scan the tag for the price: $89.00, then I opened the lid to show the tray inside and inquired if the tray comes with the tool box, and I was told yes.
So at the checkout, the cashier opens the tool box, removes the tray, then replaces it and rings me up.
When I get home I see a sticker on the tray that it is sold separately, and I go online to discover I got the $39.97 tray for free. Pretty much as a result of three oversights/mistakes: mine; an employee; and the cashier. Anyway seems like it was meant to be…
Truth be told, even if the Home Cheapo employee told me they were separate items I still would of bought both items because I like them and need them. Pretty much this large tool box will be for all my battery powered Milwaukee tools and batteries.
So another act of divine intervention, and I saved $39.97 plus tax. I love it.
Ordered a cubic yard of gravel for my 4x8 cedar shed. I’m hoping that “Maggie” does not want it painted. Pretty much weathered knotted cedar gets a nice grey patina that I favor over extra work. The gravel will get delivered tomorrow.
Been playing my three Santa Cruz’s. The new 1934 Model “F” now has this growl of overtones on the low end. The sound resembles a horn section in complexity and fullness. This is a mucho crazy guitar, and it is still breaking in. Every day it is different and more and more open. The sound is getting much more full, and something happened in my playing that is a bit of a breakthrough.
I kinda am developing my own voice, concept, and style. I play with pick and fingers so what is emerging is kinda like a piano where the left hand handles the bass line, and the right the treble register. My approach is that the pick is like my left hand with a percussive attack on the bass strings, and my three fingers work the three higher strings.
I am developing this technic where I can strum two or three wound strings, and pull on the treble strings. The sound is hard to describe but the tone is like a piano on the bass strings and a harp being plucked on the treble strings. Of course I mix things up a lot so conventional guitar playing also is used. Anyways there is a lot of surprise happening, because a lot is going on.
Cal
While at Home Cheapo I was looking at more Milwaukee Packout tool boxes, and I decided to buy their large toolbox. I asked an employee to scan the tag for the price: $89.00, then I opened the lid to show the tray inside and inquired if the tray comes with the tool box, and I was told yes.
So at the checkout, the cashier opens the tool box, removes the tray, then replaces it and rings me up.
When I get home I see a sticker on the tray that it is sold separately, and I go online to discover I got the $39.97 tray for free. Pretty much as a result of three oversights/mistakes: mine; an employee; and the cashier. Anyway seems like it was meant to be…
Truth be told, even if the Home Cheapo employee told me they were separate items I still would of bought both items because I like them and need them. Pretty much this large tool box will be for all my battery powered Milwaukee tools and batteries.
So another act of divine intervention, and I saved $39.97 plus tax. I love it.
Ordered a cubic yard of gravel for my 4x8 cedar shed. I’m hoping that “Maggie” does not want it painted. Pretty much weathered knotted cedar gets a nice grey patina that I favor over extra work. The gravel will get delivered tomorrow.
Been playing my three Santa Cruz’s. The new 1934 Model “F” now has this growl of overtones on the low end. The sound resembles a horn section in complexity and fullness. This is a mucho crazy guitar, and it is still breaking in. Every day it is different and more and more open. The sound is getting much more full, and something happened in my playing that is a bit of a breakthrough.
I kinda am developing my own voice, concept, and style. I play with pick and fingers so what is emerging is kinda like a piano where the left hand handles the bass line, and the right the treble register. My approach is that the pick is like my left hand with a percussive attack on the bass strings, and my three fingers work the three higher strings.
I am developing this technic where I can strum two or three wound strings, and pull on the treble strings. The sound is hard to describe but the tone is like a piano on the bass strings and a harp being plucked on the treble strings. Of course I mix things up a lot so conventional guitar playing also is used. Anyways there is a lot of surprise happening, because a lot is going on.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Last night I saw the motion detector go off so I looked out at the patio/pergola. No wind so it had to be an animal. I went to the kitchen door and I saw a bat flying around our butterfly bush.
Today I saw scuff marks on my side lawn, very very close to our house right next to them pergola. A deer beginning to mark territory for the fall rut.
Generally I see scuffs in the back backyard, but this is basically on the first building lot on the dead end next to my driveway.
Cal
Today I saw scuff marks on my side lawn, very very close to our house right next to them pergola. A deer beginning to mark territory for the fall rut.
Generally I see scuffs in the back backyard, but this is basically on the first building lot on the dead end next to my driveway.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I daydream a lot. It seems like retirement for me is a big regression back into my childhood where I live in a world of wonder again when all things are possible.
I wonder how many after 40 years of work or more of struggle will end with a safe place in retirement. They say that 2/3rds of Americans don’t have pensions, and that nowadays only about a third have defined benefit plans.
My early retirement happened because additions to my hospital pension were “froze” and future additions would not happen. In my case it did not pay to continue working, especially since I had saved enough.
In the past, in the old days 2/3rds of workers had pensions, but the 401K displaced about a third of that benefit. This in my book translates into more uncertainty and less security for many. The burden of planning for retirement now kinda falls fully on an individual, and know that it is human nature not to think long-long term.
So I regress back into my childhood to continue to grow mentally and spiritually. I am growing up still and I’m almost 65. My world has its limits, so I deeply think about not wasting money, and I plan deep into the future. I still have time constraints, even though I have more time, life is still very busy, and I am very much alive.
Projects like the 1966 C-10 truck I look forward to, but have to wait. The same for my darkroom, my clean room (digital studio), and my back-backyard. All require lots of time and money, and pretty much cheaping out is cheating oneself because at this point in the game it is “One and done” to only spend my money once.
So I wonder how many will not be able to re-enter the sense of wonder of childhood again.
Sadly I feel lucky knowing that for many there childhood is rooted in the past and will be dead in the future, meanwhile my childhood continues. Every day involves a sense of play with only a little planning. Each day is special and contains a certain amount of adventure. I re-imbrace my curiousity to the extent that I feel like a child again, and actually a child who is pampered, indulged and spoiled.
How cool is that?
Cal
I wonder how many after 40 years of work or more of struggle will end with a safe place in retirement. They say that 2/3rds of Americans don’t have pensions, and that nowadays only about a third have defined benefit plans.
My early retirement happened because additions to my hospital pension were “froze” and future additions would not happen. In my case it did not pay to continue working, especially since I had saved enough.
In the past, in the old days 2/3rds of workers had pensions, but the 401K displaced about a third of that benefit. This in my book translates into more uncertainty and less security for many. The burden of planning for retirement now kinda falls fully on an individual, and know that it is human nature not to think long-long term.
So I regress back into my childhood to continue to grow mentally and spiritually. I am growing up still and I’m almost 65. My world has its limits, so I deeply think about not wasting money, and I plan deep into the future. I still have time constraints, even though I have more time, life is still very busy, and I am very much alive.
Projects like the 1966 C-10 truck I look forward to, but have to wait. The same for my darkroom, my clean room (digital studio), and my back-backyard. All require lots of time and money, and pretty much cheaping out is cheating oneself because at this point in the game it is “One and done” to only spend my money once.
So I wonder how many will not be able to re-enter the sense of wonder of childhood again.
Sadly I feel lucky knowing that for many there childhood is rooted in the past and will be dead in the future, meanwhile my childhood continues. Every day involves a sense of play with only a little planning. Each day is special and contains a certain amount of adventure. I re-imbrace my curiousity to the extent that I feel like a child again, and actually a child who is pampered, indulged and spoiled.
How cool is that?
Cal
JoeV
Thin Air, Bright Sun
Cal, I’m retiring at year’s end, and still feel childlike because I’ve been able to pursue creative pastimes on my off days, which I intend on doing more of after retirement. I’m at a position to retire that many people can’t, and know I’m blessed.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Joe,
Congrates. I write a lot about my retirement here to help others.
First off it takes a lot of planning, but also know that not one thing I planned on actually happened.
Sadly I found that many people do not have a life out of work. When I worked at Grumman (17 years) the pension fund became way overfunded because so many died within their first year of retirement. How sad is that?
My old boss at the hospital where I worked (22 years) retired at 67 and then got another job just to have something to do. Perhaps his wife did not want him at home. If this is true I understand. This is a guy who said, “I come to work for fun.”
Anyways How-Weird was pretty much a loser who was socially inept.
Anyways my analogy that retirement is like a return to childhood rings true for me.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Did my phone interview for signing up for Medicare Parts “A and “B.” I kinda learned what to expect and that Medicare is kinda like high deductible health insurance like the coverage I have now that was provided at a group rate for me as an early retiree. Pretty much I have to pay for this out of my pocket.
Medicare kinda pays only 80% of the cost, and in the aftermarket you can “buy” additional coverage.
So pretty much you have to speculate a bit and perhaps even gamble.
In my case I expect to live past 100, I have no disease except for Cold Agutinen Disease which remains asymptomatic and where I have to limit my exposure to severe cold, and I take no medications.
Pretty much I can live with high deductible insurance, but everyone is different.
So I head into moving a cubic yard of gravel that came in a “ man-bag” that I recycled into my back-backyard to build out a bed for my 4x8 cedar shed.
Cal
Medicare kinda pays only 80% of the cost, and in the aftermarket you can “buy” additional coverage.
So pretty much you have to speculate a bit and perhaps even gamble.
In my case I expect to live past 100, I have no disease except for Cold Agutinen Disease which remains asymptomatic and where I have to limit my exposure to severe cold, and I take no medications.
Pretty much I can live with high deductible insurance, but everyone is different.
So I head into moving a cubic yard of gravel that came in a “ man-bag” that I recycled into my back-backyard to build out a bed for my 4x8 cedar shed.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
They say when inflation exceeds 5% that it generally takes about a decade to reign in. Consider this because inflation is currently ay 8.7%.
The CPI is calculated with about 30% accounting for housing/rent. Currently rents are accelerating higher, but home sales and prices are only moderating.
This is a problem for the FED because of a housing shortage exacerbated by people like me who secured low rate 30 year mortgages and people who refi’ed at low rates who are unlikely to sell. Pretty much a self inflicted wound caused by FED policy and low interest, but also a spillover from 2007-2008. Remember the housing crisis?
So rents will likely go through a protracted lengthy period that could be a decade or more, meanwhile housing may correct some, but not move so far down in price. Basically supply and demand will remain a shortage and keep home prices high or more or less stable.
I surely don’t have the cash to sell my current home and then buy another home with all cash.
So this has me thinking of what to do with my cash, now that I can expect high inflation to persist. Pretty much one has to figure out how to store value or wealth, and perhaps stocks, bonds or cash is not without risk or downside.
So I am thinking aloud… but I don’t want to waste my ammo…
Cal
The CPI is calculated with about 30% accounting for housing/rent. Currently rents are accelerating higher, but home sales and prices are only moderating.
This is a problem for the FED because of a housing shortage exacerbated by people like me who secured low rate 30 year mortgages and people who refi’ed at low rates who are unlikely to sell. Pretty much a self inflicted wound caused by FED policy and low interest, but also a spillover from 2007-2008. Remember the housing crisis?
So rents will likely go through a protracted lengthy period that could be a decade or more, meanwhile housing may correct some, but not move so far down in price. Basically supply and demand will remain a shortage and keep home prices high or more or less stable.
I surely don’t have the cash to sell my current home and then buy another home with all cash.
So this has me thinking of what to do with my cash, now that I can expect high inflation to persist. Pretty much one has to figure out how to store value or wealth, and perhaps stocks, bonds or cash is not without risk or downside.
So I am thinking aloud… but I don’t want to waste my ammo…
Cal
robert blu
quiet photographer
“Anyways my analogy that retirement is like a return to childhood rings true for me.”
True for sure, I confirm it! Very cool !
True for sure, I confirm it! Very cool !
Out to Lunch
Ventor
A return to my childhood days: no. To my twenties: yes. Cheers, OtL.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Robert,
We are lucky, but sadly many are not.
From the post directly above yours it lays out that the FED is behind the curve by allowing inflation to get over 5%. Now it is embedded and it is suggested that it may take a decade or longer to tame.
I am old enough to remember the 70’s and early 80’s when in the U.S. we had double digit inflation and double digit unemployment. In 1976 when I graduated High School it was very difficult to get even a job for minimum wage.
Debt crisis is probable ahead. A good question is who will buy bonds to maintain the debt levels? Look at what happened in Britain recently.
I’m particularly lucky to own a house and to have secured a 30 year mortgage at record low rates. People that are forced to rent will be the collateral damage ahead as rents accelerate in an unforgiving manner.
There is mucho trouble ahead here with people that work from home. It is reported that these workers are likely to be the ones targeted for lay offs and reductions in the labor force. Also more than 50% of CEO’s are looking to trim down the workforce.
”Look out below,” I say.
Cal
We are lucky, but sadly many are not.
From the post directly above yours it lays out that the FED is behind the curve by allowing inflation to get over 5%. Now it is embedded and it is suggested that it may take a decade or longer to tame.
I am old enough to remember the 70’s and early 80’s when in the U.S. we had double digit inflation and double digit unemployment. In 1976 when I graduated High School it was very difficult to get even a job for minimum wage.
Debt crisis is probable ahead. A good question is who will buy bonds to maintain the debt levels? Look at what happened in Britain recently.
I’m particularly lucky to own a house and to have secured a 30 year mortgage at record low rates. People that are forced to rent will be the collateral damage ahead as rents accelerate in an unforgiving manner.
There is mucho trouble ahead here with people that work from home. It is reported that these workers are likely to be the ones targeted for lay offs and reductions in the labor force. Also more than 50% of CEO’s are looking to trim down the workforce.
”Look out below,” I say.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
OTL,
Understood. We are today grown ups/adults, but still my behavior and mode of thinking still strongly resembles that of a child.
Work is not in my mind or the future.
I embrace fantasy.
I explore impossibilities and even the impossible.
My days are filled with play and playing around, and pretty much I don’t do what I don’t want to do. Is this behavior not child like?
In my twenties a lot of uncertainty lay ahead, I had to work, and I worked hard. I still had fun, but life was not so care free.
Most of all I daydream a lot, and a real sense of wonder, wonder of a child, has returned.
In my twenties life was kinda serious and fun was somewhat limited. It was not a time of leisure like my retirement today.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
After the kitchen remodel I needed a break. Pretty much it was like a marathon like event, and I am pleased with the result. A nice fancy and lux kitchen that honors the arts and craft era of a 1912 house that is kinda timeless and won’t become so dated decades from now.
”One and done,” as my neighbor says.
“Maggie” I think already is hinting on assuming daycare responsibility for the newborn grandson. Oh-well. With a family comes the good, the bad, and the ugly…
I kinda grew up alone, and perhaps because I took care of my little brother and my father that it became natural to be a caretaker of sorts. Maybe I am use to dysfunction.
At the Meet-Up I told Snarky Joe of some of the Long Island suburban dysfunction that happened. One story involved my friend’s mother assembling a cat-A-NINE-tails out of electrical cords to beat up Gary for staying out all night. His mother tied knots in the end.
Gary and his friend somehow got cornered between his friend’s mother armed with a broom handle and his mother, and he had just enough time to turn his back while his mother swung the whip that Gary says tore the shirt off his back. Ouch.
What I failed to reveal to Joe is that this happened in the street right in front of Gary’s house. Evidently the two mothers planned an assault together, formed an alliance, and planed their ambush that in modern terms was kinda like a surprise drone attack.
Anyways you can’t make this stuff up.
Before the Meet-Up yesterday I was thinking that the new Santa Cruz 1934 Model “F” is so great that it kinda crushed the new/old all mahogany 1929 Model “F,” and I was thinking of selling it. Mahogany promotes predominantly mids and emphasizes the fundamentals. The bass and treble get kinda compressed.
I kinda beat in the guitar to get the top to flex which lowered the response of the trebles as the bass response got bigger, but in the end the guitar lost any lively feel and the overall tone became dull and unexciting.
So I came to a point where I became disappointed. I basically bought a guitar that was a decade old and went unloved sitting in a case for ten years, that basically was brand new. I always knew I got such a good deal that I could always get my cash back. Oh-well. I happen to get it at a crazy low price, and it was a custom ordered guitar that had some mucho expensive upgrades. For me it was an experiment of sorts, but I had reached the conclusion that perhaps this experiment was a dud.
Generally small mahogany guitars have this wonderful treble brightness that is sweet and inviting. The native warmth adds to the sweetness, and I guess the person who custom ordered the guitar and I were expecting to take things further to expand that envelope and add in an increased bass response to kinda create a “Monster” of sorts, but I came to realize there is a reason why small guitars are favored as “hog” guitars, meaning all mahogany.
So I remembered this piano tuner’s trick of winding strings on a piano to effectively tighten the windings that brightens the strings. On a flat top guitar it involves loosening the strings and rotating the bridge end part of the string like a crank, then replacing the string end loaded with extra tension.
You can do this only on the wound strings, so the trick is to find the right amount of turns to match and balance the response of the two unwound strings, the “B” and high “E.” I tried 3 turns then 4 turns and eventually 5 turns which is about the max, and I recovered fully all the treble response that was lost. It seems the overtones that adds richness returned as all the parcels that became diminished returned to add, to compliment, and reinforce the strong fundamental that a Hog-guitar is known for.
So pretty much again I have a new guitar. All these overtones I can hear spreading and increasing as the top and braces get trained to flex in a new manner. Know that the thud became mud on the low end, but now this guitar is kinda exciting.
So generally I wake up in the morning like today, and I get an epiphany of sorts every day when I think about what I did the day before, and I extract profound meanings of sorts from all my playfulness that adds a deeper meaning to my life.
I also realize perhaps that I need to get back to work with some of my home tasks that lead back into photography. I often go off topic because I easily get distracted, and perhaps I have the attention span of a small annoying inbreed dog that barks all the time, but eventually I settle down and get back on track.
So I kinda know that I have a lot of house stuff to get behind me, so I can get photography back into my life. I realize that is my ultimate goal and my true identity. In the end all this housework is photography related, and like the Hog-“F” this is an evolutionary process.
BTW the piano tuner’s trick is kinda secrete. On most guitars it is not needed, but know that it can be used on new guitars to speed up the break-in. It seems the top and braces have to get trained to flex, and as the flexibility increases the need to wind the strings will become less. At some point that will take some time a guitar will get “played-in” where the flex is at the limit, and by then the gauge of the strings can drop for easier playing. Pretty much less energy is required to fully utilize the tonal envelope and to exploit the full dynamic range.
So I guess you can tell I worked in research labs for all of my career (day-jobs). This same skill is what made me a good fine art printer and a skilled photographer. What a great asset.
Sorry for the long rant, but more than ever in retirement I have the time to find profound meaning and deep discovery of who I really am. In the end everything in life is kinda photography related. For me, a person who was kinda crazy anxious, and perhaps to the point where I scared people, is that for me both music and photography are the same struggle to be in the moment.
Devil Christian I think has it right that my style of shooting is “performative.” He knows me well.
Cal
”One and done,” as my neighbor says.
“Maggie” I think already is hinting on assuming daycare responsibility for the newborn grandson. Oh-well. With a family comes the good, the bad, and the ugly…
I kinda grew up alone, and perhaps because I took care of my little brother and my father that it became natural to be a caretaker of sorts. Maybe I am use to dysfunction.
At the Meet-Up I told Snarky Joe of some of the Long Island suburban dysfunction that happened. One story involved my friend’s mother assembling a cat-A-NINE-tails out of electrical cords to beat up Gary for staying out all night. His mother tied knots in the end.
Gary and his friend somehow got cornered between his friend’s mother armed with a broom handle and his mother, and he had just enough time to turn his back while his mother swung the whip that Gary says tore the shirt off his back. Ouch.
What I failed to reveal to Joe is that this happened in the street right in front of Gary’s house. Evidently the two mothers planned an assault together, formed an alliance, and planed their ambush that in modern terms was kinda like a surprise drone attack.
Anyways you can’t make this stuff up.
Before the Meet-Up yesterday I was thinking that the new Santa Cruz 1934 Model “F” is so great that it kinda crushed the new/old all mahogany 1929 Model “F,” and I was thinking of selling it. Mahogany promotes predominantly mids and emphasizes the fundamentals. The bass and treble get kinda compressed.
I kinda beat in the guitar to get the top to flex which lowered the response of the trebles as the bass response got bigger, but in the end the guitar lost any lively feel and the overall tone became dull and unexciting.
So I came to a point where I became disappointed. I basically bought a guitar that was a decade old and went unloved sitting in a case for ten years, that basically was brand new. I always knew I got such a good deal that I could always get my cash back. Oh-well. I happen to get it at a crazy low price, and it was a custom ordered guitar that had some mucho expensive upgrades. For me it was an experiment of sorts, but I had reached the conclusion that perhaps this experiment was a dud.
Generally small mahogany guitars have this wonderful treble brightness that is sweet and inviting. The native warmth adds to the sweetness, and I guess the person who custom ordered the guitar and I were expecting to take things further to expand that envelope and add in an increased bass response to kinda create a “Monster” of sorts, but I came to realize there is a reason why small guitars are favored as “hog” guitars, meaning all mahogany.
So I remembered this piano tuner’s trick of winding strings on a piano to effectively tighten the windings that brightens the strings. On a flat top guitar it involves loosening the strings and rotating the bridge end part of the string like a crank, then replacing the string end loaded with extra tension.
You can do this only on the wound strings, so the trick is to find the right amount of turns to match and balance the response of the two unwound strings, the “B” and high “E.” I tried 3 turns then 4 turns and eventually 5 turns which is about the max, and I recovered fully all the treble response that was lost. It seems the overtones that adds richness returned as all the parcels that became diminished returned to add, to compliment, and reinforce the strong fundamental that a Hog-guitar is known for.
So pretty much again I have a new guitar. All these overtones I can hear spreading and increasing as the top and braces get trained to flex in a new manner. Know that the thud became mud on the low end, but now this guitar is kinda exciting.
So generally I wake up in the morning like today, and I get an epiphany of sorts every day when I think about what I did the day before, and I extract profound meanings of sorts from all my playfulness that adds a deeper meaning to my life.
I also realize perhaps that I need to get back to work with some of my home tasks that lead back into photography. I often go off topic because I easily get distracted, and perhaps I have the attention span of a small annoying inbreed dog that barks all the time, but eventually I settle down and get back on track.
So I kinda know that I have a lot of house stuff to get behind me, so I can get photography back into my life. I realize that is my ultimate goal and my true identity. In the end all this housework is photography related, and like the Hog-“F” this is an evolutionary process.
BTW the piano tuner’s trick is kinda secrete. On most guitars it is not needed, but know that it can be used on new guitars to speed up the break-in. It seems the top and braces have to get trained to flex, and as the flexibility increases the need to wind the strings will become less. At some point that will take some time a guitar will get “played-in” where the flex is at the limit, and by then the gauge of the strings can drop for easier playing. Pretty much less energy is required to fully utilize the tonal envelope and to exploit the full dynamic range.
So I guess you can tell I worked in research labs for all of my career (day-jobs). This same skill is what made me a good fine art printer and a skilled photographer. What a great asset.
Sorry for the long rant, but more than ever in retirement I have the time to find profound meaning and deep discovery of who I really am. In the end everything in life is kinda photography related. For me, a person who was kinda crazy anxious, and perhaps to the point where I scared people, is that for me both music and photography are the same struggle to be in the moment.
Devil Christian I think has it right that my style of shooting is “performative.” He knows me well.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Been building my 4x8 cedar shed. Kinda fun like a Lego kit except for grown ups.
Glad I have two Milwaukee cordless drills: one for driving; the other for pilot holes. Saves a lot of time to be able to just grab the rigged tool you need.
I set up the shed along a fence where it is tucked away from view and blocked in by a row of large White Pines. I also got my wish where “Maggie” wants the cedar to grey out and get weathered. This will kinda blend into the background and basically this shed will not be very visible. It smells nice, and cedar is an insect repellant.
An unintended consequence is that Maggie really likes the shed, so much so that she wants to use it as an outdoor office that is remote from the house. I still have to put on a cedar shingle roof. The shed is kinda lux and beautiful, and when it gets weathered and greyed out even more pretty like an old barn.
Then the idea came to mind to tuck another shed in the other corner where it would be nested among our neighbor’s large spruce trees and our European pear tree.
Then I get the idea to supersize the second shed.
Anyways no obscuring of the grand view of the marsh and forest beyond, the footprints are only 4 foot wide, and the sheds are tucked away in unused space on the sides that otherwise is wasted.
So the second shed will be 4x12, and have double sliding doors with a 5 foot opening. I might be jumping the shark, but this 4x12 would be a great cabana if we got a lap pool. The small shed I just put up has hinged twin barn doors and no windows. The larger shed has windows.
Anyways, I was thinking of how the garage was going to get built out to have an fire space detached from the house, but I like the added privacy and the office space detatched from the garage, even though it might get used only say 7-8 months of the year.
I really like this layout better, even if the square footage is smaller. One reason is that the back-backyard remains uncluttered and spacious because the footprints are so tiny, and then the sheds flank the property and are opposite each other in otherwise unused space.
The back-backyard is still big and feels vast. Nothing is crowded.
Cal
Glad I have two Milwaukee cordless drills: one for driving; the other for pilot holes. Saves a lot of time to be able to just grab the rigged tool you need.
I set up the shed along a fence where it is tucked away from view and blocked in by a row of large White Pines. I also got my wish where “Maggie” wants the cedar to grey out and get weathered. This will kinda blend into the background and basically this shed will not be very visible. It smells nice, and cedar is an insect repellant.
An unintended consequence is that Maggie really likes the shed, so much so that she wants to use it as an outdoor office that is remote from the house. I still have to put on a cedar shingle roof. The shed is kinda lux and beautiful, and when it gets weathered and greyed out even more pretty like an old barn.
Then the idea came to mind to tuck another shed in the other corner where it would be nested among our neighbor’s large spruce trees and our European pear tree.
Then I get the idea to supersize the second shed.
Anyways no obscuring of the grand view of the marsh and forest beyond, the footprints are only 4 foot wide, and the sheds are tucked away in unused space on the sides that otherwise is wasted.
So the second shed will be 4x12, and have double sliding doors with a 5 foot opening. I might be jumping the shark, but this 4x12 would be a great cabana if we got a lap pool. The small shed I just put up has hinged twin barn doors and no windows. The larger shed has windows.
Anyways, I was thinking of how the garage was going to get built out to have an fire space detached from the house, but I like the added privacy and the office space detatched from the garage, even though it might get used only say 7-8 months of the year.
I really like this layout better, even if the square footage is smaller. One reason is that the back-backyard remains uncluttered and spacious because the footprints are so tiny, and then the sheds flank the property and are opposite each other in otherwise unused space.
The back-backyard is still big and feels vast. Nothing is crowded.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Today I’ll hit the over 100 year old lumber yard in Peekskill to buy cedar shingles. Originally this 4x8 cedar shed was going to lean off the rear of the garage, but then we decided to set it off the back and build a bigger structure off the garage, but then that evolved into a second shed just opposite the small shed I just put together.
The coolest thing is that these sheds are kinda lux and the cedar will weather into a grey that will make them look like old barns. Also they are so tucked in, have a small tiny footprint that does not clutter up the yard. They pretty much hide under the cover of trees. The effect is timeless because it seems like the surrounding trees make it appear as if the structures were always there.
I also think it is clever to avoid higher taxes. I gain 80 feet of workspace and storage. It actually is a bonus to create detached spaces. The smaller shed with double barn doors is in the sun and is like a detached porch with a wonderful view of a valley, forest, a frog pond, and a brook. The larger/longer shed will be more sheltered under a canopy of a stand of trees and is in an area of almost total shade: large spruces from my nieghbor’s yard and a European pear tree along with some large maple saplings will flank the shed on three sides. The longer shed will have sliding barn doors.
In Greenpoint we had two floors of a 25 foot wide row house, plus a full basement, and a back yard. The backyard had a above ground pool that was removed, and the pool had a concrete surround. We kinda made various gardens that defined different spaces, so that is kinda happening organically.
There is the pergola/patio off the kitchen in between the house and garage. I define this space as our “front-backyard” as we have two building lots on a 40x200.
There is a two car garage with a very short driveway. I like that the driveway is short because when it snows it is less work.
Then there is the “back backyard” that is mostly lawn, then a transitional area I call the “table” then a drop off that is evolving into a cliff as I build it out with clean fill that is part of a valley that is a large marsh.
So the yard is evolving where separate and different spaces are emerging organically over time, and in a rather thoughtful and meaningful way.
The lawn area would be ideal for a pool BTW.
I like the hinting of old barn that the two sheds would provide, also they could serve as cabanas. Such a pretty setting right on the very edge of Peekskill, in a neighborhood that is a maze of dead ends.
I’m excited…
Cal
The coolest thing is that these sheds are kinda lux and the cedar will weather into a grey that will make them look like old barns. Also they are so tucked in, have a small tiny footprint that does not clutter up the yard. They pretty much hide under the cover of trees. The effect is timeless because it seems like the surrounding trees make it appear as if the structures were always there.
I also think it is clever to avoid higher taxes. I gain 80 feet of workspace and storage. It actually is a bonus to create detached spaces. The smaller shed with double barn doors is in the sun and is like a detached porch with a wonderful view of a valley, forest, a frog pond, and a brook. The larger/longer shed will be more sheltered under a canopy of a stand of trees and is in an area of almost total shade: large spruces from my nieghbor’s yard and a European pear tree along with some large maple saplings will flank the shed on three sides. The longer shed will have sliding barn doors.
In Greenpoint we had two floors of a 25 foot wide row house, plus a full basement, and a back yard. The backyard had a above ground pool that was removed, and the pool had a concrete surround. We kinda made various gardens that defined different spaces, so that is kinda happening organically.
There is the pergola/patio off the kitchen in between the house and garage. I define this space as our “front-backyard” as we have two building lots on a 40x200.
There is a two car garage with a very short driveway. I like that the driveway is short because when it snows it is less work.
Then there is the “back backyard” that is mostly lawn, then a transitional area I call the “table” then a drop off that is evolving into a cliff as I build it out with clean fill that is part of a valley that is a large marsh.
So the yard is evolving where separate and different spaces are emerging organically over time, and in a rather thoughtful and meaningful way.
The lawn area would be ideal for a pool BTW.
I like the hinting of old barn that the two sheds would provide, also they could serve as cabanas. Such a pretty setting right on the very edge of Peekskill, in a neighborhood that is a maze of dead ends.
I’m excited…
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I got a Flu shot today. Use to get one at the hospital where I worked every year, and this year I got a free one at CVS. “Maggie” tells me that this year’s Flu goes upper respiratory and is expected to be bad.
Been busy taking advantage of nice fall weather while it lasts. I dug up a bed that had densely packed Hostas and mucho Iris and moved them to the circle I made of cobblestones that is in the front yard.
The bed along the garage was choking and the Iris and Hosta needed to be divided and redistributed. In the spring next year I hope to have a nice bed in the front yard. The Iris are not bearded and I have two other beds that I have to dig up that are thick with bearded Iris. Problem is where to plant them. I happen to love more the unbearded Iris.
On the guitar front I restrung the Hog-“F” with low tension strings because the guitar had a tone that was boomy and overly thick with a lack of treble. The lighter gauge strings move the top less, but plays like an electric guitar. Had to do the piano tuner’s trick of winding the wound strings 4 turns to get a wonderful balanced response.
So I kinda discover that the guitar was built with the lighter gauge strings in mind, and pretty much the Hog-F is like a big parlor guitar that responds to a light touch. The big body generates ample bass, and the build of the guitar is made for finger style.
Anyways I am pleased at the result. The heavy gauge strings I use to use flexed the top and sped up break-in. The Hog-F now has its voice developed, and it is an exceptional guitar that I bought for no money.
So now the second shed has expanded to an 8x12 that makes a 96 square foot workspace for me. I like where it will sit in the yard. Very private.
“Maggie” is kinda stressed by all these book deadlines and editing schedule. She says she is overwhelmed. Not sure it is worth the bother. Not so sure that this is a path to happiness.
So it is a tale of two retired people: one that is relaxed and happy; and another who is tense and perhaps not happy.
Sadly “why” is a good question.
Cal
Been busy taking advantage of nice fall weather while it lasts. I dug up a bed that had densely packed Hostas and mucho Iris and moved them to the circle I made of cobblestones that is in the front yard.
The bed along the garage was choking and the Iris and Hosta needed to be divided and redistributed. In the spring next year I hope to have a nice bed in the front yard. The Iris are not bearded and I have two other beds that I have to dig up that are thick with bearded Iris. Problem is where to plant them. I happen to love more the unbearded Iris.
On the guitar front I restrung the Hog-“F” with low tension strings because the guitar had a tone that was boomy and overly thick with a lack of treble. The lighter gauge strings move the top less, but plays like an electric guitar. Had to do the piano tuner’s trick of winding the wound strings 4 turns to get a wonderful balanced response.
So I kinda discover that the guitar was built with the lighter gauge strings in mind, and pretty much the Hog-F is like a big parlor guitar that responds to a light touch. The big body generates ample bass, and the build of the guitar is made for finger style.
Anyways I am pleased at the result. The heavy gauge strings I use to use flexed the top and sped up break-in. The Hog-F now has its voice developed, and it is an exceptional guitar that I bought for no money.
So now the second shed has expanded to an 8x12 that makes a 96 square foot workspace for me. I like where it will sit in the yard. Very private.
“Maggie” is kinda stressed by all these book deadlines and editing schedule. She says she is overwhelmed. Not sure it is worth the bother. Not so sure that this is a path to happiness.
So it is a tale of two retired people: one that is relaxed and happy; and another who is tense and perhaps not happy.
Sadly “why” is a good question.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
The next couple of days of expected rain is welcomed. The Iris I divided and transplanted will have some time to re-root and will overcome the shock I induced.
My Hog-F now has an open tone that is bell like, but as it gets more played in I expect the volume to increase. This morning’s playing already started that path. Seems evident to me that in time this will be a very interesting guitar because it already is. Understand that it sat in a case for a decade, and basically it is still a new guitar.
Maybe tomorrow I I can pick up the cedar shingles I ordered. The shed roof is just covered in tar paper and drip edge at this point.
I’ll be making the most of the few rainy days. Perhaps the sun will dry the grass enough to do a mow one of these days. If not: oh-well. Pretty much I will be relaxing and practicing guitar. On that front a lot of development is happening and a style is developing and emerging.
Pretty much a style is a signature, and it is important to have your own feel and vibe.
Cal
My Hog-F now has an open tone that is bell like, but as it gets more played in I expect the volume to increase. This morning’s playing already started that path. Seems evident to me that in time this will be a very interesting guitar because it already is. Understand that it sat in a case for a decade, and basically it is still a new guitar.
Maybe tomorrow I I can pick up the cedar shingles I ordered. The shed roof is just covered in tar paper and drip edge at this point.
I’ll be making the most of the few rainy days. Perhaps the sun will dry the grass enough to do a mow one of these days. If not: oh-well. Pretty much I will be relaxing and practicing guitar. On that front a lot of development is happening and a style is developing and emerging.
Pretty much a style is a signature, and it is important to have your own feel and vibe.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
“I was just minding my own business,” I say, when “Maggie” tells me that our agent will be flying in from London and will be in New York next weekend. Vanessa wants to have a meeting.
So pretty much retirement might get busy…
Would be nice to have a lap pool in the back-backyard though. How cool would that be? Anyways, life is not boring, but this could be trouble…
It’s been a couple of years since I had a real hair cut, the last one I did myself because I got some spray foam insulation in my hair from working in a crawl space around the time of the lock down.
Like in Project Runway I might have to get cleaned up and get a makeover. Presently I look like a surfer dude. I look a bit feral, I guess that is my style.
Cal
So pretty much retirement might get busy…
Would be nice to have a lap pool in the back-backyard though. How cool would that be? Anyways, life is not boring, but this could be trouble…
It’s been a couple of years since I had a real hair cut, the last one I did myself because I got some spray foam insulation in my hair from working in a crawl space around the time of the lock down.
Like in Project Runway I might have to get cleaned up and get a makeover. Presently I look like a surfer dude. I look a bit feral, I guess that is my style.
Cal
robert blu
quiet photographer
ptpdprinter
Veteran
I just looked down and I have a hole in my sock. I guess that is my style. The thing is you can't see it when I put on my shoe, so it is more like a secret identity. How cool is that?
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
PTP,
Mighty cool. I won’t tell anyone. We’ll keep this secret. LOL.
Before I retired I wore Patagonia rock climbing knickers to work. It was almost a half year before How-Weird, my direct supervisor, decided one day I was not following the dress code of the hospital. He made a big deal and wrote me up, but upon his retirement I went back to my dress code. No one else complained or minded, because I was too cool.
Anyways I did not look like a Cyclotron Engineer.
Pretty much I’m still not wearing socks. Generally it is after Thanksgiving that I start wearing them. I have a reputation for being lazy. Know that I have been wearing slippers all summer and today.
Cal