Easter Siding

Easter is being celebrated at Maple Leaf Gardens. Tulips, bunnies and felted eggs abound. We had a wonderful church service this morning; a bit of a work day as Troy was on sound and I had to do the PowerPoint but it's hard not to have a good time with full organ, a good orchestra and "Alleluia"s all over the place.

But with no other obligations and good weather beaming down on us, Troy and I decided to tackle the siding again this afternoon.

Last time I mentioned the siding we had stopped just short of finishing the south wall. We picked it back up again on the 18th, the week that Isaac was here and Troy took a couple days off. So on my day off, Troy and I did some siding as Isaac was splitting more wood.

We did put up the last piece of the south wall:
Doesn't it look so impressive now that it is done?!

We moved onto the north wall then because there were more 12-foot sheets on top of the pile. We figured we'd at least put them up and then go from there. (In case you haven't figured this out, we don't exactly work off a strict plan.)

Of course, the north side is not nearly as accessible. Troy had already backfilled it with dirt and leveled it out, but we really didn't think we were going to be able to get the scaffolding back there. Giving it another look, we realized there was enough room, if we could just get it back there.

So Troy gave me a break while he got the tractor out and knocked out a few hillocks that were blocking us on the northwest corner. This did the trick. We got the scaffolding back there with no more trouble.

Meanwhile, I was not just sitting on the couch...I decided to see if there were any issues with starting the north wall using the half piece of siding we cut off when finishing the south wall. The only thing I had to take into account was the one window on the north wall. After some figuring and having Troy double check things, we figured out that using that partial sheet would make the window fall in the very middle of a piece of siding. Well, that won't work! So we put the half sheet aside and started with a full sheet.

After only a couple sheets, I got too hungry to continue and we all packed it in and headed to the burger bar down the road. (mmm)

The north wall has been waiting for us ever since. Today Troy and I were roaring along until we ran out of 12-foot sheets. So the north wall is done this far:

We started to evaluate what was next in the pile: short ones for the east wall. We set out to measure for the first piece, but Troy noticed the flashing wasn't done yet! Ok, so we'll do the west wall. We put aside the short pieces and get to the really long ones.

West wall and Isaac & Troy's great landscaping

Troy gets the ladder out, climbs up and actually measures for the first one. As we're gathering equipment to cut the sheet to shape, the ladder is blown down. We stop and consider. The wind is pretty strong and gusty. The sheets are up to 18 feet long. Troy makes the call: no more siding today. (And as I am now writing this, raindrops are making splash marks on the window as big as my fist!)

So we are waiting for a calmer day. The first thing to do will be to lay out all the siding we have left and sort it by size. This is a case where it would be good to have a plan.

In other news, Troy has started wiring the shop. He had to flip the breaker box over to make the wiring simpler and more elegant and has supplied the biodiesel station with some outlets. It's definitely a start!

Happy Easter to you all. Hope you are rejoicing in the new life Christ bought for you!