Your leaking thatched hut during the restoration of a pre-Enlightenment state.

 

Hello, my name is Judas Gutenberg and this is my blaag (pronounced as you would the vomit noise "hyroop-bleuach").



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   an end to all that
Sunday, November 11 2012
Up until today, installing the hardwood floors in the greenhouse upstairs has been slow going, mostly because it is such a dull, repetitive, though precise task. In this way it is similar to the way stacking the concrete blocks for the greenhouse downstairs had been. I could only do a little at a time before the dullness and necessary precision forced me to take a prolonged break. But, as it had with the concrete blocks, today I finally hit my stride and the job began to feel more satisfying. The evident progress itself was its own form of motivation and along the way I'd developed a number of subtle techniques to help with forcing the boards together (remember, I was working without any special tools such as a flooring nailer). One important insight today was to use larger 8D nails wherever the flooring boards crossed joists, ensuring, where possible, a very solid connection to the underlying structure (otherwise I used 6D nails). By the end of the day, over half the floor was done and I didn't have enough short boards to continue the flattened-triangle board-forcing technique I described in Friday's entry. What finally forced me to quit for the day was the complete exhaustion of the household supply of 6D finishing nails.

The weather has continued to be mild (at least in relation to the recent cold snap), with sunshine and daytime temperatures well into the 60s. This unusual warmth is particularly striking after sundown; oddly, the temperature doesn't immediately plummet. As always when weather is nice during this phase of the year, there's an oddness to it: the low angle of the sun and the absence of leaves seems out of place given what your skin is feeling. Then at night it seems warm enough for crickets and katydids but instead there is absolute silence. We've already had the hard frosts that bring an end to all that.


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