Carpenter Meryl

We didn't get quite as much done this past weekend as we would have liked. But, we also went to the Cal game on Saturday which cut our day by about 2-3 hours, so at least there was a somewhat good reason. There was a REALLY scary moment in the game when Cal running back Jahvid Best went flying over 5 ft. in the air and landed on the back of his neck. He lay motionless for a while and the game was stopped for nearly 15 minutes. I was really afraid he was paralyzed, but luckily it was only a serious concussion. That's not good news either, but I was glad to know it wasn't the worst. Here is the SportsCenter footage of it. I don't think I've ever heard a stadium so quiet.

On our agenda this weekend was working on the hole in the back of the house and building a compost shelving system for our food waste. Chris assigned me the task of building the compost shelf, which I found quite exciting. I like building things and working with wood (hello senior thesis)

Chris showed me the basic idea he had and then I drew up a plan and made measurements, etc. I had never used the table saw before and was a little apprehensive, so Chris showed me first

Once I felt comfortable, I hoped on

I used the table saw to cut out a portion of each 2x4 at the end to make half lap joints at each corner to make the construction of each shelf stronger

After I built three shelves

I cut some of our leftover ballusters down to size that will lay across the shelves, preventing water from sitting on each shelf and rotting the wood

Then I started putting it all together, measuring the proper sizing and spacing

Chris came over to test it

And voila, I was done!

Chris likes this picture better

Meryl, always the director.

We still need to paint it white, but that will have to wait until next week when Chris' friend Luke comes by and lets us borrow his paint sprayer. Once we spray it I'll attach the ballusters.

The top bin of the compost shelf is for us to toss the food waste in, the second is for the food waste that is starting to break down, and the third is for the waste that has already broken down into soil. I drilled holes in the sides and bottom of all the containers for air ventilation and for the water to drain out.

While I worked on my super magnificent compost shelf, Chris made some great progress on the hole in the wall. He worked on installing the proper supports from the roof line to the ground, putting up sheathing, installing the window, putting in an electrical outlet, and prepping the other side for the same work later this week

We got a window in! We also however discovered MORE rot

So we'll have to rip out a bit more stucco and siding and replace it. But I'm hoping that by the end of next weekend it will be done and ready for stucco.