Another Monday

This Monday was much better than last Monday; I managed to get some things done, although it was like pulling teeth. 

Our trend towards crummy weather continues. In the morning, it was a bit drizzly, too much so to do anything outside, so I took the opportunity to take care of some inside tasks. At length, the drizzle lessened to a mist, whereupon I was able to do some hand-sanding. 

You can see from this picture that the proper profile is beginning to take shape, although rather more slowly than I had hoped; I'm having some trouble with this putty, and I suspect that it's older than I thought (I bought it locally, not direct from Abatron, but I won't do that again). 

Then I gave some thought as to how I'm going to restore the east window casing. I think I can do it without disassembling it, but I need to figure out how to resolve a few problems first. One of the scalloped skirts below the cap has a part missing, and I haven't decided whether to build it up with putty or graft on a cast from the analogous piece on the west window. In the process, I was able to determine that the casings were built by hand, and not pre-fabricated in a factory.

In this picture I have lined up the two pieces as closely as I can; the front piece is just a little low, but it's flush side-to-side. As you can see, the profiles do not line up, which indicates that they were made one at a time by hand. Also, you can see that the curves are not quite uniform nor smooth, and the notches in between where the coping saw started and finished its cuts (these details are more evident from the back of the piece). Not that this information aids the restoration particularly, but it does provide some insight into the Farm House's design and building processes, and any information we can get is another blessed piece in the puzzle.

In the meantime, the mist let up enough for me to lay down another batch of epoxy, and when I was done with that the mist had let up completely, allowing me to get out the power sander and work on the west casing. I discovered in the process several more issues I'll have to address; it's amazing what paint can hide.

Along the way, there was a lot of entering and exiting the house, and every time I exited I disturbed a squirrel at his business, causing him to scurry out of sight. At last, I went out and stood motionless on the landing; the squirrel ran to a safe distance, then stopped and just looked at me. I said, "You know, there's no need to run. I'm not gonna mess with you, as long as you don't dig in the plant pots." And so, for the rest of the day, he didn't run; he just went about his business. I wish my cats would listen to me so well!

Later, he brought a friend along, and they had a blast cavorting about, remarkably uninhibited by my presence.

All things considered, it was an uncommonly good Monday. Well, the Angels did lose a real stinker of a game to their division rivals; but after all, it was Monday.