1) A Bench At the Point
We had intended something much grander and more organic, but ran out of time (and clear weather) to make it. So Andrew threw together a nice little bench -- somewhat unusual with its angled sides. It's just two 2x6s, sawed into 4 foot lengths at the lumber yard. Two planks form the seat, with a 2x4 between them to vary the look. Another plank is the back, and the remaining 2x4 is angled from top of back to seat, cut into pieces with a Japanese pull-saw. The legs are made of wood we found behind the new boathouse, and from the old boathouse (rescued from the bonfire pile).
We set it down just behind the tree on the Point (off the photo to the right). On the first try, the bench was entirely stable, so we left it there, facing west. It's a nice place to watch the sunset.
We intend to carry out the grander plans next summer (using rock and mortar and special positioning, possibly with a mosaic on the back).2) Remove the Grot from the Kitchen Table
Arden asked us to clean the grot off the table (you remember how it is, I'm sure, a slight grey scum over the whole surface, which you wipe ineffectually with a sponge and try to ignore). I started with a scrub-sponge, moved on to steel wool, and finally Andrew stepped in (thank goodness!) and did real sanding.
On the left, you see the table when we were done with the steel wool. The sanding took it all much farther down, although it was never entirely smooth nor original-varnish free. The varnish, after 40+ years of months of humidity alternating with frigid dryness, would roll into gelled pills rather than turn to dust, gumming up the sand paper after only a few passes across the table. Again, the weather played a role -- we ran out of sand paper, but didn't want to fight the waves nor take the time to run into town for more, so we made do.
Andrew then painted on three layers of varnish with light maple stain -- and the table looks marvelous. Well, we know where the bugs landed on it in the night as it dried and he couldn't quite get the marks smooth again. And it is pretty clear where he did a touch-up job in the near dark -- but it still looks so much better than it did.I forgot to take an After photo focussed on the table, but you can see it glistening in this view of the Cabin as we left it (I cleaned all day). This may be another project we return to in 2008, next time with CitruStrip.
3) The Bird
Andrew is starting a new tradition. Every year he is at the Island, he will cut a bird out of tin and nail it to a tree, sometimes in the open, sometimes hidden in the woods. As the years go by, people will happen across these old birds (and chain saws beware when the tree falls and is turned into logs for the fire!). We are hoping they will corrode nicely.
This year's entry is on the beach, facing out towards the water. Molly drew the bird on the tin and Andrew cut it out (couldn't cut the feathers on the wings because he didn't have the right tools). Molly insisted the bird be resting on a branch, so Andrew nailed a stick under the bird's feet.
4) Moving the Biffy.
This is the first biffy move required since we built the new biffy in 2005. That had a huge hole, because Andrew and David moved a whole boulder out of the earth. I dug most of this new hole (the easy part, says Andrew, leaving the difficult smoothing and shaping to Rob, Tom and Andrew).
On the left, Tom demonstrates (in 2005) how very deep the hole is, the christening hole for the New Biffy. Behind them all is the Old Biffy, long since burnt in a bonfire by the Grangers.
On the right is the new hole, nestled between the front legs of the new biffy. It's not as large as the last hole, but it is deeper than many we dug in the 1980's and later. We have, over the years, dramatically, subtly changed the ecology of that passageway of dirt, removing the larger rocks here and there, and providing nice rich compost for the worms to turn into soil.About plastic. In the new biffy hole, dug at a position probably last used about 10-15 years ago (so 1992-1997, estimating that we move the biffy about two yards a year) I found several pieces of plastic -- the outer wrapper of Charmin toilet paper and several of the sleeves one finds around sanitary napkins. These were not only not decomposed, but not even very dirty. Nothing else survived, except a spot of what I think is spilled lime (the white stuff in the photo of the new hole).
Similarly, the bottom of the old burn barrel had about 10 inches of mostly unburnable grot -- almost all of it, yes, plastic. The lid to a Rubbermaid container, several half-melted bags, toys (and a few glass liquor bottles that apparently fell into the wrong garbage bin).
And, due to forgetting to reuse them, at the end of our stay we had about 45 plastic bags stuffed behind the buffet in the cabin.
Plastic survives. These transient, light-weight things, intended for only one use, will continue to exist for a long long time, longer than I can imagine. This isn't news to anyone reading this blog, but it really struck home with me. The amount of plastic we use in our society is not good.
Tomorrow: Artsy Fartsy at the Island
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