Ottertail Country

Ottertail Country
Ottertail South

August 16, 2010

Monday roof update.

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Cool, clear weather at last! I got home from work on Monday to a hint of destruction around the back side of the house. Josh and the crew were on site and still making noise.




The plywood we put up at the corners seemed to work quite well. Most of the junk is contained in a large heap right at the corner. There was also a quantity of overflow on the deck.




Man, this looks like fun, hey? These guys are earning every penny of their wages, and I'm glad that they are available to do this job!




Josh and Dave were busy putting OSB on the southeast corner. I helped for a while by cutting some of the sheets to fit the angles and hoisted them up to Dave on the scaffold.




When they left at 7:15 this evening, they had this corner ready to shingle. Josh claims they will have the job done tomorrow and it will probably be late when they get done.




Northeast corner nearly cleaned off, a little OSB and some shingles and it will be buttoned up! I'm not looking forward to the cleanup, but it will get done if we keep after it. I'll give you some photos of the complete job in a few days......

I gotta go, Carlo





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August 12, 2010

Mattson Fish Boil

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Here is a flier that we received today from Bob and Jan. I'm guessing it's valid for all relatives of the Mattson/Carlson crew.....






Not much new up here. Due to cruddy weather the roofing project is on hold until next week. I do not blame them for delaying, 90° and super humid is no weather for roofing. Not to mention the daily deposits of 'inches at a time" of rain....

Rosie was in the area this week and spent Wednesday night with Peg and I. We had corn on the cob, potato sausage, charred brats. Also feasted on fresh cukes in salt and vinegar.

Price County fair this weekend!! Ya-hoo!

Other than that, things are uneventful.

I gotta go, Carlo





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August 8, 2010

Weekend update.

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By mid-afternoon on Saturday, we had all the old shingles and other scrap cleaned up from the front of the house. What a relief that was!




So the west half is done except for the section that Peggy and I are going to do.




The more I look at that new color, the more I realize that the old light brown was just too light. Not enough contrast between the white and roof. But I guess I never even thought about that before....




From way out in the field.




This photo and the next show a good comparison.






Today we set up some plywood at the corners on the east side of the house to help keep the shingles off the siding when they fall. Maybe keep some junk off the door and the air conditioner.


That's if for now, the crew is supposed to show up Monday to start on the east half. I suppose it will depend on the weather. Phillips area got another 5+ inches of rain on Saturday night, we got a bunch but not nearly as much as farther north.

I gotta go, Carlo


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August 5, 2010

Thursday update.

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No photos today, I just jumped into the cleanup at the southwest corner when I got home from work. I just got in the house at 9:00, but I did manage to get the first quarter of the cleanup done......

I'll give you some updated photos tomorrow or Saturday.

I gotta go, Carlo


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August 4, 2010

Roof update!

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When I got home from work on Tuesday, I was less than thrilled with the roof job. No one there, about 10feet by 10feet of bare roof boards showing. What I didn't know was that they were only here 3 hours, intense humidity, three layers of shingle (the last put on with 2 1/2" long nails), broken shingle shovel, etc.... Turns out that they are really smokin' through the job!






Here is the view when I got home on Wednesday. Shingles well up the southwest quarter.




Josh is a roofing maniac, and work is not something he shuns. Looks pretty much at ease on that 10/12 pitch roof.




A view of the northeast quarter where a good share of the shingles are also gone. You can see the red shingles under the brown (some of you will remember that look) and under the red are the original cedar shingles (not many will remember that look!).




Another view of the carnage at the northwest corner.....




A better view of the original roof boards with the spaces that require the addition of the 1/2" thick plywood (OSB).




This is one of two window bump-outs that Peggy and I will be re-shingling when the rest of the job is done.




We also get to do these two little fake roof areas, one by the front door, one over the deck in the back.




Meanwhile, we have quite the mess to deal with on the ground. By the time we're all done, about 40 squares of asphalt shingles and whatever quantity of cedar that was put on in 1907.




Getting near the top of quarter 1. How do you like the new look of the "forest green" shingles?




Today I officially turned old. I sat in a lawn chair and watched some young guys fix our roof. First time I have hired someone to do a building type job..... oh, well..... I just sat there with my camera and a vodka gimlet.




I'm liking it so far. I am going to gladly pay them what it costs to do this, it will be worth it.....

I gotta go, Carlo



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August 2, 2010

Greetings from the sticks....

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Everyone needs a good, reliable humidity gauge. This is ours.... and when you see the same glistening drops on the plant at 5:00P.M. as you saw at 5:00A.M., well, you know you might as well give up.




Kind of cute looking though....







O.K., so I'm a little behind in the news.... Tim visited in July, the 7th, 8th and 9th I guess. We did a few things, here are some of them.



One morning we got up early, well, O.K., 8:00, and got ready to head out. A motorcycle jaunt was near the top of the list of things to cram into a couple of days.




So, Russ, Tim and I headed out for points north and west. We managed a stop at Musky Tail Resort north of Winter for some shade and a beer. We headed up to clam lake, then to Lakewood Resort near Cable. We headed down to Hayward, then south to 70, down 27 to Ladysmith and then home on 8. We only got rained on a little bit.....




One day we spent a few hours burning up some gunpowder. 45 auto, 357mag, 38 spec, 45ACP revolver, etc. (above a view of lodge doorway).




We hung a blanket in the doorway and tried to catch the bulk of the brass inside the building. It worked pretty well, and it was easier to pick them up in there than in the grass.




Hey, here's a little heads-up on the house project. I got an old flat belt from work and laid it out where the old shingles will be cascading down the roof tomorrow!! I hope most of the stuff lands on the trailer, or at least on the belting. Josh is coming down in the morning to start on things. The materials from Menards will arrive tomorrow afternoon.




Josh figures he and his helper can complete each quarter section of the roof (about what you see here) in two days per section. I'll keep you up to date on the progress. I was going to try to do this myself, but after discovering that there are two layers of asphalt shingles, one layer of original cedar shingles and roof boards gapped for wood shingles, I decided to get some help. They will have to tear off all the old shingles and then put 1/2" thick plywood (OSB) on the entire roof, then tarpaper, ice & water dam and shingles. Worst case scenario possible, but what else is new?









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