The primary elections are just around the corner but my platform has nothing to do with politics. My platform is a 46″ x 40″ surface 12″ above the floor in the northeast corner of the garage, or will be once I build it. This platform will be the base for the new HVAC unit for the library and I need to have it built before the equipment gets here and Darryll shows up to install it. Once the unit is installed I need to enclose it to isolate it from the garage to prevent explosive vapors or noxious fumes from entering the combustion chamber or fresh air circulation. That will require the construction of two walls one of which will have an exterior grade door.
John’s chop saw, which I borrowed the other night, allows me to make more accurate cuts (clean and square) than I can with my circular saw. In the meantime I have some work to do removing/installing a few studs in the north wall of the garage and running some new electrical wire. I need to run 120V 15A circuits for the furnace portion of the library unit and for the ceiling mounted garage furnace and a 240V 20A circuit for the library air-conditioner. Eventually I will have a 240V 30A outlet for our radial arm saw, which would be great for the woodworking aspects of this project, but that’s a project for another day.
Three landscapers showed up a little before 8 AM (Tommy, Matt, and Spencer). Tommy was on the phone with Steve getting their instructions for the day and then they got to work building an additional section of the west retaining wall with medium size boulders and preparing the area under the east end of the deck for a layer of egg rock. They took off around 9:45 AM for some unknown reason, but the sound of their truck reminded us to put the trash out at the street for pickup. They were back in a little while, worked until noon, and took their lunch break. By 3:30 PM they had the boulder wall built, the egg rock placed, a strip of edging set into a small trench, and small boulders placed on the eastern slope below the large boulders. That certainly looked like progress.
Linda worked at her desk until mid-afternoon and then started working on dinner. Although simple in presentation at the table, she put a lot of time into our meal. She made a potato and lentil curry that was very good with deep, complex flavors, and garlic naan bread. Both were as good as anything I have ever had at an Indian restaurant and the naan was vegan, made with unsweetened soy milk in place of dairy milk and olive oil in place of dairy butter.
I spent most of the day taking the measurements I needed to turn my mental concept for the utility closet into a set of design drawings from which I could produce a material list. By supper time I had a good set of drawings to guide the carpentry work but was still puzzling over some electrical issues. By the time Linda had dinner ready I was ready to set thus project aside for the night.
It was after 7 PM by the time we finished eating and cleaned up, but that left us plenty of time to sit on the deck and enjoy a cool northwest breeze and the muted light of scattered clouds. It eventually got too cool to stay outside so I worked at my computer until bedtime.