specks of gypsum in my eyes Thursday, February 26 2009
The other day I cut a rectangular hole in the basement hallway ceiling just outside one of the two doors to Gretchen's library. (There are two doors because Gretchen's library is comprised of two rooms that were merged by the removal of the wall between them over six years ago.) Today I cut another rectangular hole in that ceiling just outside the boiler room, followed by a hole in the boiler room ceiling above where the new library-heating hydronic circuit will have to attach to the boiler. Interestingly, I found that the bays between the ceiling joists above the boiler room were filled with fiberglass insulation, probably as an attempt at sound deadening. The ceiling of the boiler room also happened to be three inches lower than the ceiling in other parts of the basement, and I was dismayed by the shoddiness of the placement of two by fours used to provide ceiling joists at that lower level.
Covered with drywall dust, and suffering from specks of gypsum in my eyes, I decided to take a bath. Exactly a week had passed since my last bath, the last time I'd cleaned myself. Had I not found myself distracted by the smell some of the less-savory parts of myself, I might have gone another day without bathing. I've been trying to bathe as little as possible during the oil-burning season to conserve heating oil.
In the winter season, I find myself cataloging my achievements since my last bath, much as one catalog's ones achievements since one's last birthday. This past week has been an unusually productive one; I successfully hand-dug a well through bedrock to fossil water and became reasonably-capable at writing code for iPhones. That's a good week.
This evening Jed, one of Gretchen's colleagues in the prison-educational complex, came over for a vegan dinner of biscuits and tempeh gravy (as well as salad and asparagus). Jed wasn't here long before he complimented me on my copper chandelier. This inevitably led to a tour of the house, giving Gretchen opportunities to present my numerous copper-pipe creations. Jed has a similar, though more professional, interest in turning generic plumbing hardware into furniture; outside academia he has fashioned a secondary career of making high-end tables from steel pipe and wooden planks, selling them to enthusiastic buyers on Craig's List. It's the sort of thing an academic is forced to do when living in a place like Stone Ridge. Jed seemed like a fun interesting guy despite the fact that he drinks Heineken Lite and doesn't seem to enjoy playing the game "Whom would you gay marry?"
The latest greenhouse video tour. Check out the well.
The usual photo of the greenhouse from the south.
The greenhouse well.
Clarence in the greenhouse. He loves to drink the well water.
The greenhouse east wall.
Base of the greenhouse west wall.
A view of the greenhouse from some distance to the east.
Our house as viewed from the road. There is still a glacier in one of the roof valleys where ice dams had been a problem.
