{"id":3614,"date":"2021-12-02T16:53:40","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T16:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chrisrivard.com\/?p=3614"},"modified":"2021-12-02T16:53:40","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T16:53:40","slug":"waiting-for-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisrivard.com\/blog\/waiting-for-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting for snow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m beginning to feel the pull of snowy mountains and sunshine. In the meantime, I’ve been staying busy. Someday I’ll write about what it’s like being at a seed stage tech startup. It’s not for everyone, but I really like it – maybe it’s the controlled chaos. Kind of an oxymoron – but it describes the experience well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone on the internet wrote yesterday, “I’ve been getting ready to go on a run… for 4 days.” Haha. That’s how I feel about writing. I have a few minutes between meetings and thought I’d drop some recent projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My last post was about the stone wall… so here are some pictures of the wall completed. This is going to be a multi-season project. Next in the queue for this project is to anchor the opposite posts into the newly poured concrete wall, and then begin to build the portico. I’m imagining the interior roof of the portico in tongue and groove cedar, with a blown glass light at the apex. I’ll need to do some electrical work to make that happen. I also want the entryway to have a steel gate – I haven’t designed this yet, but picked up a small welder a few months ago and will weld + powder coat the gate from mild steel. The front of the gate will consist of simple Bauhaus inspired geometric shapes… I might need to borrow a plasma cutter to build what I have in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The two posts are supported by the concrete piers set below the frost line. I think in hindsight I would have set a few courses and then poured footers for the posts. The wall will outlive me and maybe the next owner of the house will pick a few favorite stones as I have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the shop I needed to build a few pieces of furniture. A built-in cabinet for … Lego storage. Surprisingly I was able to match the 1930’s moulding. The base moulding needed to be built-up from multiple pieces to match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Few books, primary Lego storage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And a kitchen island. I like how this project turned out. It’s not yet finished (paint), but the construction is finished. Baltic birch panels with poplar face frame. The interior shelves are torsion boxes to support the weight of canned goods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The countertop is 2 inch butcher block maple reclaimed from a restaurant that I found on Craigslist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A pot rack or floating shelves – not sure which, will be installed above the island. I have some nice pieces of cherry remaining from a bench project that I may use for floating shelves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s a quick summary of the past few months… Oh almost forgot. I also had a rack fabricated for my truck. It’s the same style of popular racks right now… for a fraction of the price. I found CAD plans online, made some tweaks and then had it laser cut from 1\/4″ aluminum. The 2 sides are laser cut, the rails (across the roof) are 8020 extruded aluminum. The rack feet are 2×3 tubular steel that I cut with the angle grinder and then drilled for fittings on the drill press. I had a minor snafu with hardware as I initially used standard metric hardware, but after a few rains realized it was rusting and changed everything out to stainless steel. It turned out better than I anticipated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back from the laser cutter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Painted in flat black and mounted to the shell. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My to-do list never ends, here are some upcoming projects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Finish the portico<\/li>
  • build out a lightweight, removable climbing dirtbag setup in the back of the truck so I can sleep at the trailhead for alpine starts. Not sure if I should try to get sophisticated with 8020 extruded aluminum or just use birch plywood (most likely)<\/li>
  • stone retaining wall in the yard. I want to use bigger stones, so I may need to find a way to get a mechanical advantage to move 2-man stones – maybe a winch\/comealong or hi-lift jack contraption. <\/li>
  • more landscaping<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    **Caveat: if we have a good winter, all projects are on hold for climbing + skiing \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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