Ottertail Country

Yes, it's me again.... late as usual.

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:59:00 +0000

Hmmmm.... only a month behind! Last time I showed the completion of the face brick on the heater. Here we see Paul and Ivan spreading the mud for the stone caps.

The first on goes on. These items were quite heavy but with care we were able to get them set into place.

Mud's on, next piece ready to be hoisted up.

Easy does it...

.... and that's the last piece of masonry on the stack!

Next morning, Paul and I started installing the doors, ash dump and clean out doors.

After the doors and such, we spread some mud for the stone slab on the bench area. The piece of blue stone is in the photo, perched on top of some bricks just ahead of where Paul is working.

I loaded some excess brick and vermiculite into the wheelbarrow. Next morning the tire was flat. Drat.

Ah, yes, the end of the masonry. Not quite the weather for it anymore.

When we finished the masonry work, everything that was in the house was promptly chucked out the door. Most of the next day was spent cleaning up and putting things away (or at least out of sight).

I guess this just about sums up the end of the project. Working outdoors in the winter is O.K. for some things, just not masonry.....

I gotta go, Carlo
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Nearly there.

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:35:00 +0000

It's that holiday time of year again. Hope all of you are having good times with family and friends.

Back to the heater.... I'm really lucky to have a good friend that also happens to be a mason. The last time I posted, the heater core was almost complete and the face brick was up about 7 feet.

Ivan spent quite a few hours running the face brick up as far as we could go before having to install the shelf on the south face. This would carry the face brick above it, so we stopped at that point until Paul cut and set the shelf.

Ivan is always upbeat and appears to enjoy the masonry arts.

As you can see, he had to work under that piece of plywood that was sticking out quite far on two sides. It was there to hold the four plumb lines that ran all the way to the bottom of the heater. All the face brick was aligned with these lines to keep it all plumb as they went up.

Paul did a little creative work near the top on the north and south sides. These courses held six bricks standing on end and turned at 45°.

They looked pretty cool when they were done.

Here you can see the top cap that closed off the entire stack. We screwed an anchor plate to this that would hold the insulated stainless chimney pipe.

All the face brick is on now and the boys were cleaning up, then the stone caps would be set.

I'll give you some views next time......

So that's it for now. Have a good Christmas season!

I gotta go, Carlo

A foam adventure.....

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:43:00 +0000

I finally got the foam guy to come and spray some foam onto a hidden roof area. This occurred on the Friday before hunting season when the weather was still pretty nice.

A spaceman emerged from the foam van, a full suit and a big spray hose.

The roof area I'm talking about is the original roof that covered the kitchen and bathroom areas, about 24 feet wide and running from the eave you can see above the kitchen all the way to the peak of the main roof.

Up on that lighter red area is a trapdoor that you can just fit through. He had a hard time getting through there in his space suit......

Here he is getting a start at the north end of the 'attic'. Uncle Russ built this second roof when he was in his early 80's, so I've been told.

Jon was able to reach all the way to the peak from this position.

The foam stuff came out of the gun looking like deep aqua paint, and in a few seconds it had foamed up to 5-6 inches thick. This should help keep the snow on the second roof from melting and making ice dam problems at the eaves. I feel warmer already.

Tomorrow is the traditional feast day, I'm thinking Peg and I will be home alone, baking a chicken and making mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. I have all the prep work done for the next masonry session. I got all the brick carried into the house and the scaffold set and ready for plank. There is a good chance that Paul can make it up here this weekend, I'm hoping we can finish the brick work. Then it's a chimney pipe and installing the fire door, bake oven door, ash door and the clean out doors. It's almost done.... kinda.

Well, that's it for now, have a good Thanksgiving!

I gotta go, Carlo

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Observations....

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:52:00 +0000

I have noticed that double clicking a photo now brings up all the photos from the current post. Try that if you haven't already. It gives you a bigger view.

I've also noticed an increase in email subscribers. If you haven't already signed up, consider doing so. The post you get will not be the official site, but will contain the essentials. One cannot comment from the email version either. You need to go to the official site to do that.

http://www.ottertailcountry.blogspot.com/

I gotta go, Carlo

We're making progress on the heater.

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:41:00 +0000

Hey, we're getting a start on the face brick. We are using reclaims, they have that nice, warm, old time look about them.

This is where I spent most of my time, mixing mud, toting bricks and making all the cuts necessary to get around doors and stuff.

We spent some time figuring out how we wanted the fire door jack arch to look. We layed it out full scale, adjusted for mortar joints and angles, then I cut out each little section to be used on the brick. We traced the outline of each piece on various bricks so we could saw them to shape.

And this is my good friend, Mr. Bricksaw..... I got pretty good at cutting as there were many 'opportunities' at hand.

A look at the job from atop the stairway. Note the plastic walls that we had put up all around the project.

It's starting to look like something now.

View from the north.

And a view from the living room. This is the side that the upper half of the stairway will cross. Note the little black thingie near the top left. That's a bracket that will eventually hold the stair railing. We'll put another farther up on the right when we get up that high. I hope they end up in the right place.......

So this is how it's looking from the kitchen. Hey, Dr. Bill, sorry I didn't respond to your comments on an earlier post. As far as the outside combustion air goes, there seems to be a few differing opinions on this. I must not have explained it well enough when you were here, as there will be air tight doors on the firebox and the bakeoven. I questioned my mason on this before we started the project, and he and the designer of the heater felt that it was not necessary in this application. Some builders even feel it could be a hazard in some cases in the event of a back draft. Anyway, I appreciate your input.

The designer of this project is Alex Chernov, an accomplished heater builder/designer. You can see his work and others here and here (Alex's site).

That's it for now, will post again when the masonry is complete.

I gotta go, Carlo

Let the heater begin.......

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:34:00 +0000

Ye-haa!! The first bricks go in..... Paul headed up here about two weeks ago and spent Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday getting a start on the heater. ghhd

A good, level base is esstential, and we had some elevation issues to deal with. We had to take the bricks from concrete slab on one side, over the pebble floor section and back to the concrete. I got my first taste of brick sawing to make some thin bricks (hamburgers) to go over the pebbles.

Once all the first course of pavers were in place, Paul layed a second flat course of firebrick. The official base was in.

We started on the next courses, paying close attention to the plans. There are numerous channels and chambers in the heater, as well as the under support for the firebox.

Planning and checking the dimensions for the first layer of the firebox floor. You can see the start of notched bricks, angled cuts and such. I was getting better on the saw.......

O.K., the firebox floor is done and the grates cut and fit. It's starting to look like something.

Most of the firebox walls are in and we started the jack arch over the fire door opening. I think Paul is waiting here for me to get some more bricks sawed.

There he is, my nephew Paul and current hero. The firebox is capped off with a precast slab and the floor of the bake oven will be layed on this cap.

Bake oven in process, there's a wooden form that I whipped up to hold the bricks in place. That's another jack arch forming the top of the bake oven door opening. Ivan came down to have a look at the project, and being a mason himself, he was quite interested. I'm thinking he may be in on the face brick part of the project. We didn't get much farther than that the first weekend, but it was a very incouraging start!

Midweek of the following week, Paul and his crew had a rain day in the West Bend area. He dragged his co-worker, Doug, with him up here. They got in about noon and worked until 9:00 PM

First we had to rig up some schaffolding, as Paul had worked up as high as he could last time he was here.

Doug is another fancier of masonry heaters, so he was glad to get the chance to work on another one. He has built a bake oven in his backyard, and attended some workshops on heaters, so he knows his way around.

Still lots of channels and pathways being formed as they went up. The main flu is right in front of Paul in this photo.

Paul and Doug worked until they were out of fireclay, and about as high as they could reach without changing the schaffold. Fireclay, or refractory cement, is an odd thing. It comes in buckets premixed, it's kind of gooey and sticks like grim death to anything it comes in contact with.

Anyway, after cleaning up, having a few, uh, refreshments and shooting the bull, we looked at the clock and it was midnight. Everyone headed for bed, but only Paul and Doug set their alarms for 4:00 AM..... they had to work the next day in West Bend. Oh well, they're young, they'll get over it.

Well, that's it for now, I have another weekend adventure to tell about but it will have to wait.... until then.

I gotta go, Carlo

One big catch-up post......

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:12:00 +0000

I guess we need to reach way back to the end of September to get this right. Peg and I both had birthdays in September, and here is one of the 'birthday apple pie's, complete with its own candle.

We had a visit that day from Dawn, Donna and Russ B. A little spaghetti, a little accordion playing, etc.

Here's a view from the top of the stairs, looking at the area that used to be occupied by the metal fireplace. This pic was from a while ago, the new heater core now stands there, about 95% complete.

We cleaned and painted the wall that used to be behind the metal chimney. See the little scorched spot on the beam near the end of the railing?

We went through the fall busy but taking enough time to enjoy our surroundings a little. This day was in early October, bright sun, frost on the grass.

One of those days you could just sit out there with a cup of coffee and listen to the drops of water hitting the ground as the frost melted off the trees. Every now and then you could hear the 'knick-knock-thud' of another black walnut bouncing off a couple of limbs on its descent to the ground. Lots of walnuts ended on the ground. It's odd, but I didn't think there were many on there. I guess they blend in really well with the leaves when all is green.

A rather appealing path to the north field.

A good combo, the scarlet maples in front of the pines with that monster elm as a backdrop to it all.

Besides preparing for the masonry heater install, I have been designing and building a new stairway for the house. With the new heater needing a larger bit of space than the old fireplace, we explored ways to get the heater in and still leave room to get around the 'kitchen-dining area-stairway' area.

So I am building a stairway that will start near the west door, go up to the south to a landing, turn left and head up to the bridge at it's south end. The quarter turn iron stairway will be taken out, but we definitely are thinking of where and how we can re-use it..

Lots of parts and pieces and sawing and gluing and sanding..... one can not be too impatient when doing a project of this nature. If you look close, you can see the motorcycles in the background. We did not get to use them much this year..... next summer will be less hectic, I promise!!

Here are a couple of views of the landing. I'm putting one angled tread on that landing to save a little horizontal distance on the main stair. I copied this idea from my brother Tim's stairway.

Nephew Paul has been up twice to work on the heater. A couple of weeks ago he was here for a long weekend, last week a rainy day down south allowed a day trip. That day the core was nearly completed, only a couple of courses of fire bricks left to do up there. Today Paul is heading up with face brick and we are going to get a start on the exterior. We are expecting Ivan to show up on Saturday to assist with the bricklaying. He used to do masonry work for a living.

Here is a little preview of the heater project. Having access to Solidworks (3-D design and drafting program) has been indispensable on this job. The heater in the picture looks shorter than real life, due to the angle of sight. It will actually be a few feet higher than the bridge to the left.

So there you go, more later...............

I gotta go, Carlo

The Upper Chimney Caper

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:04:00 +0000

Here we will show you how to take a chimney off your roof. Well, assuming you have a fabricated steel chimney that is suspended from the top of an A-frame house....

I know, it looks innocent enough from here....

On an A-frame, all work is done from a ladder laying on the roof. It's quite stable that way unless there is an entryway or something in line with what you're working on.

So you just loop a rope around something on the roof, tie it to the ladder top and tie the other end to the four wheeler. That way you can slope the ladder way to the side without it slipping.....

Looks like fun, hey???

Joe Chizek brought his rear-mount loader truck to the house. We got it as close as we could to the chimney.

Looks like it's going to be close. Not much boom left here.

Up I go to attach the chains to the loader bucket.

Getting the bucket tied to the chimney with as little slack in the chain as possible.

Starting to lift.......

When it released from the roof, it popped up like apiece of toast out of the toaster!

Clear of the roof.

Off to the west it goes.......

And down towards the truck.

We had inspectors on hand. Dave and LaVonne happened to stop in just as the chimney was being lowered to the truck.

There it goes.

Here's the hole that was left, right up by the fan.

A couple of shots from the outside.....

Just after getting the plywood fit to cover the hole.

I know, seems like I'm overdoing it with this post, but I'll tell you, it took alot longer to do it than to tell about it. I began the project in the fore-noon, and climbed back down off the ladder for the last time at 7:30 in the evening, just as the drizzling rain was starting. Seems like a long time ago now.....

That's all for now...

I gotta go, Carlo

Tardy again.... really much.

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:49:00 +0000

Wow, these items are from late August thru early September!! I guess this is as far behind as I have ever been..... I'll try to correct that.

While at a friend's house, I noticed that the email version of the blog is pretty slimmed down compared to what you get here, the actual site. I noticed no opportunity to comment from there, so just go to the main page to enter your words of wisdom....

Anyway, I found this deluxe 1972 Arctic Cat 340 Panther at a friend's place. I bought it and gave it to Peggy for her birthday. Must be reverting to old interests. I think the last time I owned a snowmobile was probably the same year this one was made....

Hey, Tim was here for a visit (stacking firewood, altering the heating system pipes, cleaning sheds, etc.). He had borrowed my bike for a while and he came over to help me do some maintenance.

We jacked it up, pulled the handle bars and top fork clamp. That allowed us access to the top steering column nut so we could adjust the bearing tightness. I had noticed a clunk now and then when hitting a bump and thought the bearings may be loose. We got it fixed and now no noise!

The old Ottertail Lodge is looking a little different these days. Pretty spiffy compared to the old look.

I had to kid Dawn about the curtains.... the old ones were camouflage patterns and I told her the new ones looked like boxer shorts. O.K., I'm not always as suave as I could be.

I told Tim that it looks 'real cute'.

These two certainly seemed happy to be together for the week.

Not sure what Tim is doing here. Might be the champagne.

And just because I'm old does not mean I'm necessarily mature.

We had a visit from Hailee, and she and Peggy had fun trying out some 're-encting' duds. She seems to be game for just about any adventure.

Getting ready for the chimney extracting job. It was pretty cool watching it come out, I'll give you some pix later.

Started in cleaning out the sheds at the south side of the north field. Lots of interesting stuff, old lumber, whatever. I saved whatever looked sound and usable, the rest went on the burn pile or to the metal recyclers.

I have three of the four bays cleaned out. I got a five yard load of gravel dumped by the sheds and now have two of the three cleaned units graveled. Makes a good floor, lots of shoveling and raking.

That's about it for now, I'll try to get current with this stuff and I've got lots of photos to post.

Please comment if you have a spare minute or two, it would be good to hear from readers.

I gotta to, Carlo

More August fun & games......

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:55:00 +0000

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Hey, don't forget to put your email address in the box in the right column. You'll get a notice of new posts. And if you have about a minute extra, please think about leaving a comment. Just click on "comments" at the bottom of the post.

We took out the fireplace. Here is the aftermath of the lowering a removal of the parts. Those are some really handy miniature chain hoists that I was able to borrow from work. They made the task fairly easy.

Fortunately, there were some little steel rings welded to the chimney and we just tied the hoists to those rings.

This is the welded steel base that sat on top of the stonework. It held the glass fireplace doors and glass panels, and the hood was sitting atop this structure.

This is the heat exchanger that was built into the hood. It was heavy and we had some difficulty getting it out of the hood.

So here is the base after the removal of all the upper parts. Quite a nice bit of rock work, we were hesitant about taking it out. But the install of the masonry heater, and the even heat it will provide has overshadowed the doubts. No more chances of chimney fires, either.

Before we started the demolition of the base, I hung some plastic sheeting in the shape of a small room surrounding the base.

From the living room.

And from above. Yes, it had a plastic ceiling....

All this sheeting followed out the front entry way, where a box fan stood blowing out the front door. This worked really well, as 99% (I'm guessing) went out the door.

The end of the first rough clean-up.

There's that nifty trailer again. I'm guessing we hauled out about three loads of stone, mortar, iron and tools and supplies. It works much nicer than a wheelbarrow.

Here's what it looks like right now. We're hoping to be able to fill in around the new heater in such a way as to be able to preserve all the small, epoxied stone on the floor.

Paul, Candice and kids were up a while back, before we tore out the fireplace. We settled on the size and shape of the new heater, and what we wanted the outside of it to look like. I didn't take many photos while there were here, but I got a few.

Peggy got a custom braiding job, and I must say it turned out quite nice.

Henry climbing on the stairs? Who would have thought....

We had a great visit and we hope to see them again soon.

Well, that's about it for now, I have more stuff to post, but it will have to wait for a few day.

I gotta go, Carlo......

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O.K., now it's mid-August.......

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 02:12:00 +0000

Here is the weather vane on the garage cupula, bright sun behind it. It looked better early that morning, or maybe I just wasn't fully awake yet.....

We started taking out the fireplace, in anticipation of the building of the masonry heater. Here we were trying to get the heat exchanger out of the hood before we tryed lowering the hood.

Heat exchanger out, I put up some flashing around the chimney to try to contain the sparks from the plasma cutter that I borrowed from work. It works on the same principle as a welder, creating an electric arc that heats and melts the metal, but this thing also has compressed air at the tip. That blast of air blows the molten metal away, leaving a nice clean cut through the steel.

I cut out a strip all the way around the chimney so that we could lower it down at some point.

Somewhere in the last month, we had a visit from Hailee, always an interesting and enjoyable experience. She certainly is growing up fast!!

The counter top folks came to install the tops. The Corian type stuff gets epoxied together so there are no joints in the finished product. These gizmos are vacuum clamps that hold the joint tight together while the epoxy sets up.

I was a little nervous when the guy started grinding the ridge of epoxy along the joint, but when he was done, you could not tell where the bonded joint was.

This was the most interesting spot. On the far side of that beam, the counter top ended right up tight to the beam. The piece leaning against the counter had been notched to slide in around the angled beam.

Then they made sure it all fit together and applied the epoxy and clamps.

Out came the grinder and they ground and buffed the joint until it was all smooth.

Again, you cannot see the joint when they get done. It looks like that beam was set down in through a square hole in the top!!

A view of the north, taken from the stairway.

And a view of the south end, again from the stairway. So, the tops are in and secure. I have a lot of finishing work to do, but a few larger projects are getting priority right now. Actually, the fireplace stuff at the top of this post started immediately after the tops were finished.

So that's it for now, maybe I can get caught up with this blog in the near future. Any of you Mattson types that may be reading this, I'll see you this weekend at the 'chicken shindig' in Phillips.

Laters, Carlo

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July happenings.

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:19:00 +0000

This is getting ridiculous!! Last post was early July, for crying out loud..... I'll give a brief update on the past weeks, then I hope to get back on track and be a little more frequent with this blogging stuff.

On the weekend of the 4th, we got a visit from cousin Sue and Gary. It was good to catch up and they got a grand tour of the mess, projects, plans and such. Visitors are always welcome and prior notice is not necessary.

Later that day, we were joined by Dawn, Russ and Peggy's mom, Donna. I grilled some steaks and Peggy made a bunch of other goodies for dinner. The first official dinner guests in the new kitchen!

It was a good test of counter space (just plywood at the time), sink and stove areas, etc. It was a busy time and a good dinner.

Peg and Donna seemed to enjoy the day, and Russ and I provided a little music on button accordian and guitar.

The day after those guests, Bryn stopped in for a brief visit on her way back to Milwaukee. What would a Bryn visit be without tree climbing???

Or maybe visiting the peak of the A-frame roof? It was good to see her and the visits are always too short to suite Peg and I.

The next week we got a visitor from McDermott Top Shop, a provider of Corian countertop. He had an interesting set-up for measuring the kitchen. A laser device on a tri-pod that fed information to his computer. That in turn generated a cad drawing that would be used to manufacture the necessary pieces.

This device works really well, as will be evidenced by the photos of the new counter tops that they eventually installed. Photos to follow......

I've also busied myself with a few other projects, including Peg's wheeler. I got new tires and put them on, fixed all the breaks so they're working well, and rebuilt the carburator. Also put in a new battery so the starter actually works now.

We worked on getting a garage sale set up and that went O.K. (meaning not much cash). The remainder of the items went to St. Vinny's. I'm sure that there will be a couple more sales in the future.

Between customers, Peg and Donna had the time to get in a couple of games of Scrabble.

Rose and AJ also stopped in one weekend, but I don't have any photos! I'm slipping, I guess. They showed up Saturday and went home Sunday afternoon. We got in a little wheeler riding, AJ's first time, and the grin never left his face......

Well, that's all I have time for tonight, more later.

I gotta go, Carlo

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Nearly the 4th of July already!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 03:54:00 +0000

Lots going on, I'll give a brief synopsis.....

After looking through my pix, I realize that I did not take a photo of the pulp pile before it was sawed into firewood lengths. Oh well, here we are after splitting one 32' long pile.

This trailer that I've talked about is really a handy item. We decided that where the first pile is located, the wind and sun will have a somewhat limited effect. So we decided to stack it in a more open location. So we split until the trailer was heaped full, then transported it to the north side of the property.

I fired up the mower and gave the old field a butch cut. We piled all the remaining wood out here in the open.

I'm a lucky guy.... part way through the process my dear Peggy delivered a plate of soft boiled eggs on toast for lunch. That hit the spot!

At last we finished up the splitting process. We have a good supply, probably way more than we will need next winter. But I'm not complaining, mind you.

Anyway, I'm still battling the bats. After plugging up all the holes on the east wall of the garage, we discovered evidence of continued habitation. Last weekend I cut brush and mowed all the way around the garage, then started in with screening, caulk, great stuff foam, etc, and started filling in any hole that looked like a bat might fit through. Next evening we left the overhead door open at dusk and watched a bunch of bats fly out. We closed the door and hoped for the best. Next night we watched a bunch fly out of a gap that I had not noticed on the south front corner. Tonight I filled that hole and a few other spots that looked unlikely, but I'm not taking any chances. Then I watched them fly out the big door again, and after about 20 minutes of no more exits, I closed the door. We'll see.......

And here's hoping that we'll have a new masonry heater in the house this fall! This is one of my favorites, but probably not quite what we will end up with.

In my spare time I'm finishing the kitchen items. Tonight I got the rest of the temporary counter tops fit and put in place. We ordered the new tops through Home Depot, and decided to go with the Corian tops. These use less square footage because of the joining method, and there are no seams in the finished top. The parts are put together with an epoxy that makes the joints into one piece! Next week a guy is coming to do the final measure up, then they make the parts and some guys come and install the stuff. I was not to keen on this until we found out that it would not be too much extra cost, and (most importantly) I won't have to deal with the install job. That can be a real pain........ These guys will install it complete, including cutting the hole for the sink.

Well, that's it for now.....

I gotta go, Carlo

Updates......

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:10:00 +0000

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I'm so far behind on this blog that I'm not even going to pretend I will be able to catch up.... so on with what we are doing at the moment.

Back to the bats. One evening last week I constructed a 'bat house'. I researched a little on-line and then set out to invent my version. There are five little vertical compartments, quite narrow, scored to provide traction for the little beggars.

O.K., it's all together, now for the finishing touches. I built the whole thing out of various recycled items that remained from tearing the kitchen out of the house.

I covered the outside with left-over water & ice dam stuff that was used on the Chalet roof. It's really sticky on one side and kind of grainy on the other. Added a few staples in strategic spots, and a bit of wire mesh at the bottom opening so the little creeps can get a grip on it when they land.

Here you have the exclusion device. An open ended garbage bag that is stapled to the wall and roof, making the only escape dropping out the bottom and into flight. The key is that the doorknobs can't figure out how to get back in!!

Here you see the Carlson Custom Suites nailed to the back wall of the garage, about eight feet from the now closed main entrance. After a week, I don't seem to have any tenants in the new place, but there are still some bats that are now exiting the building right at the very top of the wall at the roof line. The first nice day we get will be spent adding more exclusion devices, namely some loosely draped window screening along this wall/roof area. The same idea, they will be able to get down and out from behind the screen, but not back in. The garage is noticeably less bat infested now, and I'm hoping with the next treatment they will be gone from the building.

Peg and I were on a big cleaning and organizing spree in the big garage. Trying get things onto shelves or into the garage sale pile. We were pleasantly surprised by a motorcycle driving into the yard and having cousin Bob greeting us!!

Jan was away for the weekend and he decided to make a run up north. Here he is getting set to take off again.

And thanks again for the house warming gift. As you said, that wine is really good!

I had done the last drywall finishing on Saturday afternoon and evening, and Sunday afternoon Peg and I tackled the painting tasks. Lots of edges and angles to paint around.

I'm not much on painting, but this seemed do-able, not too much area and I could always quit whenever I wanted. Peg doesn't mind painting, so that's a good thing. But I hung in there until we had it done.

Monday evening Peg had a boy scout meeting, so I hurried home and started on the upper cabinets. I managed to get the north wall units hung, cleaned out and the doors put on. I used an old sheet to simulate a finished look on the lowers. We're thinking a burgundy or dark red counter top.... wutcha think?

Tonight Peg and I got the south wall units hung, cleaned out and the doors on. It's starting to look like a kitchen! Still lots to do..... counter tops, an upper cabinet over the fridge, finishing the ends of upper cabs, finishing the ends and back of the island cabs, etc, etc, etc.................

Any readers, cousins, Mattson kin please feel free to stop in. You're always welcome.

I gotta go, Carlo

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It's mid-June!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:47:00 +0000

A couple of notes:
Thanks for the card, Beth, and congratulations on your little one.

Melissa, thanks for the note you left on our door. Sorry we missed you, please stop anytime you're going through.

New photo at the top of the blog. Some of you probably recognize the walnut tree and the red-leafed maple. If not, this is a view to the west of our house.

One of the wonderful things that happened in the middle of our kitchen building and moving projects was a clogged drain at the Carlson homestead...... Dawn was due to arrive in a week, so I needed to get this solved.

I found a local plumbing outfit, The A-Team, that had a power drain auger. Brent showed up with his rig and we set to work. This thing has an electric motor that feeds a heavy duty snake up the drain. On the end is a cutter tool and we ended up cutting through a bunch of roots. Above is one of the spools of snake ready to go.

Once the entire 75' of snake was in the drain, Brent spliced on the second spool. The empty one is in the background. There is a little gizmo on the tool that engages the spinning snake and actually threads the snake into the drain. He was on the job about 1.25 hours and the drain was working well again. I always wondered how those rigs work, now I know......

Just before we officially moved in, we got Josh and Dave to re-shingle the Chalet. This view is of the original roof from the northeast. The shingles were about 35 years old as far as we can figure out. A friend of mine, Swede Johnson helped Nort shingle it when the building was new.

This view from the northwest shows how the shingles had deteriorated. The worst area was on the southeast corner.

We went with forest green shingles and I think they look pretty good on that building.

And the last corner view. The roof is complete now and one item checked off the list.

We've had some visitors around the house lately. Peggy actually got to see the second of a pair of fawns moments after it was born. Still wet with the mother attending to it. The ones above were about 15 feet from the house when I walked out the door, and they stayed around long enough for me to fetch the camera and get a picture.

When Tim was up the week before Memorial Day, he and I spent a couple of days splitting and stacking his firewood for next year. I didn't get any proof shots of him working, but I remembered the camera when Russ and I finished up the last little bit of wood on Memorial Day. Russ looks like he is ready to bust the splitter in half.

Yes, that was the piece we were looking for.... the last one. We had some really warm, humid weather that week, but we pushed ahead and got it done.

A good sight! A full trailer, no wood left on the ground.

So I got the tractor out of the shed, put the back blade on it and cleaned up the wood yard. Every little task brought me closer to being finished with that blasted wood.

Looks nice when it's all done though. And firewood season gives me the chance to give Ivan a couple of shots about wood length. He has volunarily sawed our wood the last couple of years, and I always complain about the length he sawed it..... I hope he knows I'm kidding. His work on the pulp pile has made my life lots easier these last few years. Thanks, buddy!

I just got back into the house after spending an hour and a half on bat patrol. As soon as the weather warmed up, we discovered that we have a bat colony living somewhere up in the top of the garage. Not a good thing. I have been investigating how to get rid of them and the first task is to determine their entry/exit spot. Now I know where that is and we will start screening those areas so the bats can get out but can't get back in. We'll add a couple of bat houses nearby so they have somewhere to go besides one of the other buildings. Finally we'll seal up the places where they are getting in, and maybe we will be done with that aggravation.....

I gotta go, Carlo

Ottertail Update.

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 03:38:00 +0000

Greetings loyal fans of Ottertail Country!! Busy, busy, busy we have been. As you know, our move was connected to Tim and Dawn's return to Wisconsin. What we did not anticipate was the time frame we were to face. Peg and I decided to re-do the kitchen in the a-frame before we moved in, so I started in tearing out the existing cupboards and related items. Soon after starting that, we discovered that we needed to be out of the homestead and into the a-frame in about four weeks....

One of the early tasks was the removal of the field stone planter in the living room, as it was against the kitchen half wall that was to be removed. After an hour or so with hammer and chisel, it was apparent that I would have to call in some heavier artillery.

I borrowed a heavy-duty hammer drill from work and started in. A couple of evenings later and the planter was in a heap on the garage approach. Man, those stones were solidly mortared in place!

Next came the removal of the built-in-place cupboards and counter tops. Notice the close proximity of the sink to the angled beam which ended up right behind your head when you were at the sink. We thought we needed to move the sink to the right for head clearance.

I tore into the north kitchen wall, pondered the wiring, beams, etc, and started mapping out where the new cabinets would be located.

Another look at the north end.

A look into the kitchen from the south, with only the studs of the half wall remaining. The ironwork piece on top of that wall was rather heavy and awkward to move, but I got it down and out the door without mishap.

Same view, only lower, showing the footprint of where the stone planter was.

O.K., all three walls are bare, ready for wiring, plumbing, and drywalling.

Wires, outlets, junction boxes, and a bunch of strategically placed 2x4's to nail the drywall onto.

There's the north wall mostly ready for taping and filling nail head holes. I only put the drywall on areas that would be exposed after the cabinets are in, so it looks a little weird at this point.

The living room was filled with cabinets waiting for a home. With the base cabinets all in place and a temporary counter top put in with a sink in it, we were ready to make a concerted effort to clear out the homestead house, shed, and garage and get the place cleaned up for the new occupants. The limited time we had ended up a little shorter than we thought, as we ran into a clogged drain issue at the homestead. I spent some extra hours there dealing with that, but that may be a different post......

I gotta go, Carlo

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:50:00 +0000

Since the weather insists on remaining in winter mode, I guess it's time to re-post this little story I put on an older blog called Otter Tales. Let me know what you thing if you are a first time reader of this story.

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And as always,

I gotta go, Carlo

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Syrup update!

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:48:00 +0000

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O.K., here is the update on the loaned out syrup junk, plus a couple of stock photos to start it out.....

Here's how it all starts. Those first drops of sap hold the promise of good things to come.

As the level in the buckets increases, the itch to start the boiler becomes almost unbearable!

The sight of the sugarbush never fails to get the adrenalin going a little, and the longing for fresh syrup takes over all the senses......

Here is one of those cool milk jug/tap set-ups. This is not on our own tree, but that of a friend's. Our friends had inquired about borrowing some equipment to see if they liked the process.

Here are Mike and Eric, the first steam is starting to rise from the evaporating pans. This is cause for much excitement at the first cook session of the year! Soon that steam will have a faint odor of syrup about it.....

Peg and I showed up a little later in the day, just before dark. It's nice to experience that transition from bright, sunny day to evening and then dark. Night time is the best for cooking IMHO, crisp air, hot stove, the smell of hot syrup, a brew or two..... it's the best.

Next morning it's not too hard to convince the kids to help with making more pancake batter, and Isabelle is whipping up a batch. And notice those jars of syrup on the counter!!!

Pancakes and syrup... it's what makes it worthwhile to get out of bed. Jonah and Molly are loading up on the goodies.

Spring is great!

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Syrup time in Wisconsin

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:59:00 +0000

February and March are generally known for our kids' birthdays. All three fall in a three week period, and most years we manage to get at least two of them here on the same weekend. That did not happen this year, but Rosie made it home from Milwaukee for a couple of days.

I think she was laughing because I was yelling about the smoke detector, a fire hose, whatever... you see, the candles we found (the only ones not packed up and moved) were some that were mostly melted together into clumps, hence the three giant flames.

Anyway, the supper and cake were good, the company great, and that's all that counts.

Well, it's that time of year again, the maple trees start leaking and folks scramble to collect that sap and boil it down into syrup.

Here's a trick I learned from an old timer near Prentice. You start with a standard, single spile (tap) that is made for use with sap tubing. A short piece of sap tubing is attached to the spile. Then you take the cap from a previously super-washed-out milk jug and drill a 3/8 hole in the center. Slide the cover on the tube, slide on a plated flat washer for better support and then skewer the tube near the bottom with a cut-off piece of a finishing nail.....

Here is the entire rig. You need to poke a pinhole into the jug near the very top to let air out as the sap drips in. You can see one of these rigs in action on the next edition of Ottertail Country.

Some friends had asked about borrowing some of my syrup cooking equipment. They had never done this process before, so were looking to try it out before springing for a bunch of equipment. Of course, that sounded good to me, and here is the grocery bag full of milk jug spiles that I sent over to their house.

Next, I dug out the first 'evaporator' that I built in the early 90's????
I managed to get the stove, pans, doors and stove pipe all on one load on the mighty Ford tractor.

Another view, by putting the heaviest end forward and using a couple of ratchet straps, I was able to cantilever the load out behind with little trouble. The stove was made from a 55gal drum with one side opened up, a framework added to hold the pans in place, an 8" smoke pipe outlet at one end and a set of fire doors at the other. It works pretty well with the right length of stove pipe and some quality firewood.

Here is the second evaporator that I built. It had two main pans with a pre-heater pan at the front. For the next season, I added some length, another large pan and an inset front pan. Rosie split nearly every piece of firewood that we used that year. We found and cut a dead red oak that was standing in the woods with no bark on it. A huge tree, we used the limbs for firewood and later had some boards sawn from the trunk. The limbs were dry enough that we used them for cooking with great results.

Rosie and Bryn 'minding the cooker'. This was the first year that I made syrup since moving back to the Ogema homestead, sometime in the mid-late 90's. There were some days that I hurried home from work to collect and cook and I found Herb and Lucy sitting in the doorway of the shed, keeping an eye on the cooking operation they had started earlier!! That was always a bonus to get a jump on the day's cooking......

The next summer I built this lean-to roof at the east end of the shed, made a hole in the roof for the smoke pipe, and the cooker was now out of the weather! First time we ever had a roof over the operation. I believe we have Kate and Lucy enjoying the sun on the south side of the shed, while Bryn is tending the fire in the cooker.

Here's how the cooker looks after the mentioned modifications. And as you can see, we had enough of that oak for about three years. The entire east wall of the cook area consisted of firewood stacked between the support posts.

And this, of course, is the goal. Some fresh griddle cakes with home-made maple syrup adorning the stack.......

Next installment will include some photos of the loaned-out equipment in action as well as the final result. Stay tuned.

I gotta go, Carlo

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Winter's grip loosens a little.....

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:30:00 +0000

Hey, I finally have a photo of the Ottertail Springs!! Or, rather, the impoundment created there by the earth berm that we are sitting on. Kate, Mag, Barb, Gene, Sue and Neil as we all looked
about 50 years ago.......

The Ottertail Springs also look quite different now, not many trees around it, the whole north side exposed by gravel diggings, etc.

And I knew I had an aerial photo stashed somewhere. This was taken a few years ago by me in my airplane. Little did I know......

We have gotten some things put away and the dining table put back together.

I borrowed a dining chair so I could look out the windows as I murdered a couple of tunes on the accordion. Luckily the photo has no sound file attached.

Starting to look a little like home! Peg and I camped out at the A-frame about a week ago, and we dragged the small grill over there.

The first cookout at the new house. The weather was pretty nice that day, so the grilling session was very pleasant.

And that steak turned out just right......

Back at the homestead we had a problem with vandals. Some yahoo(s) snuck in while we were gone and cut the woodpile into little pieces.... durn varmints.

And, coming soon, a personalized report on the American Birkebiener, 2011! Check back for this update....... and remember....

Well, that's about it for now.

I gotta go, Carlo

Winter events.

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 07:47:00 +0000

I was expecting a contribution covering the new snowshoe event, the Phillips Flurry. While I wait for that, I thought I would apply this stop-gap measure. Above is a photo of niece Angela doing the Phillips Flurry race! You can check out Snowshoe Magazine for all the details on the event.

Niece Kristi was the event coordinator for the Flurry. You may remember some of her guest posts on here about here mini-triathlon and USSSA snowshoe races. Her husband, Adam, was the official photographer. The above trophy is an interesting item. The stainless sheetmetal design was accomplished by none other than our friend Ivan! That, coupled with the birch wood prepared by Todd Zumach, made a choice remembrance of the race.

Another local winter event is the American Birkebeiner, held near Hayward, Wi. Anyone we know going to ski this event this year???????

Here is the place for Birkie info.

""Today, the historic event of the rescue of Haakon Haakonsson is honoured in Norway by three annual sporting events, a run, a mountain bike race and a cross-country ski race, Birkebeinerrennet. Common for the bike and ski events is the requirement of carrying a backpack weighing 3.5 kg as a remembrance of the child the Birkebeiners had to carry on their journey. The bike and ski events start in Rena and all three events finish at Lillehammer. There are also sister cross-country ski races held in Hayward, Wisconsin (USA), the American Birkebeiner, in Edmonton (Canada) and in Falls Creek (Australia). ""

Some history of the Birkebeiner can be found here.

Here is a section of wall in the a-frame. I love the treatment of the barn wood, and would a barn wood wall be complete without a little roof sticking out over it?

Peggy and Hailee did a little decorating during the holidays.

The only bad part of putting in a masonry heater is the fact that this unique fireplace will have to go. Not an easy choice, but I think that is what will happen......

I know, the woodpile looks about the same now as it did last fall. I tried a new approach this year and started using wood on the west side of the pile.

A closer look at the south end shows a definite gap in that pile.

The usual chain of events was as follows: use up one row of wood at a time, fight the covers that were always collapsing as I removed a row, repeat til spring arrives. This year I used wood off three rows at a time and propped up the cover as I went. The covers are old machinery flatbelts and they get quite stiff up there with ice and snow frozen to them. This allows them to be semi-self supporting. A couple of boards, some old boat oars and we have a roof!!

Soon I'll have to deal with that roof mess as I come to the end of that outer row.... looks like fun.

And speaking of winter events, did you catch the warblers that sang at the Super Bowl???? The first one could not hit any note, so she started a little higher on almost every one and then slipped down to the correct spot. And then, and then.... Christina did a job on the national anthem, outdone only by Maya Rudolph. I've posted this before, but it still kills me.....

That's it for now, I gotta go, Carlo

Plowing and heaters...

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 02:34:00 +0000

About a week ago I loaded the ATV on the trailer and headed for Ottertail South to plow the yard and drive. When I arrived I saw that Art Raleigh had delivered some pulp wood. Now I did not know exactly what I would do with the wood, but figured I would need it somehow. When we acquired the new place, I thought perhaps I would rig up an outdoor boiler and some sort or heat exchangers in the house. Then I got a call..... My niece and nephew, Paul and Jenny, are part of Dale Anderson Masonry, in Allenton, Wi., and very interested in masonry heaters. Paul suggested that we consider putting in one of these......

Here is a brief collection of a few masonry heaters. I chose these particular photos to show how diverse the designs can be. This is the Masonry Heater Association's website, an association devoted to the art of masonry heater construction.

I have spent hours looking at and reading about these heaters, and I'm nearly sold on the idea. Here you will find an extensive collection of heaters of all styles.

These things heat by radiating stored energy from a wood fire. Twice a day you burn an unrestricted fire, the gases travel through a labyrinth of passages and nearly all the fire's heat is captured in the masonry mass. This stored energy is then radiated slowly to the surrounding area, heating things instead of heating air.

This type of heater works best in an open floor plan house, making this a feasible choice for the a-frame.

As an added bonus, these things are beautiful to look at!! Anyway, Paul is looking for places to build these heaters, and would like to do more along these lines. We may take him up on the project.......

So those were some of the thoughts cruising through my head as I plowed and shoveled. Making plans, considering options. I'm sure that when we get moved and settled in this spring, we will be making some decisions about what projects to start first.... we have a list started!

Plowing is done, ATV loaded and ready to head back to Ottertail North.

The ATV does a pretty nice job on the driveway! And the sunset was pretty nice as well.

That's it for now.

I gotta go, Carlo

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Plowing and TV's

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 03:05:00 +0000

I guess it takes a bunch of tools and supplies to mount a snowplow on an ATV! I think it took longer to clean up the bench than to install the plow....

After getting the mount and the plow parts bolted in place, I had to then run cables, mount a contacter, mount a switch on the handle bars and get it all connected to the ATV's battery. This required removing the seat and the cover over the gas tank right in front of the seat.

I mounted the contacter in the little storage compartment under the seat. I never use that space anyway. As you can see, there is quite a birds nest of wires in the storage area. All the cables were really long and had ring terminals crimped to them. So the absence of any new terminals and the cold air around me, I decided to just cram it all in for now. I'll fix it in the spring.....

Here are a few shots of the end product.

As I was testing it in the yard at night, Peg snuck out and took a couple of photos. You have to use your imagination in the first one.

It was only about 5° that night but I had fun anyway....

If anyone wants this TV, now would be the time to speak up. It's the old rear projection set from the Ogema house. I found a label on the back that said it was made in 1992.... a 42" screen and it must weigh about 250#. It is too big to move to our new place, and the picture has really degraded over the years.

So, instead we now have a 37" Vizio flatscreen. It only weighs 35#, takes up very little space and will fit in nicely in the a-frame.

This year the tree was only in the house about a week and a half. Here it is, all undressed and ready to hit the snowbank out back.

That's about it for now.

I gotta go, Carlo

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Changes.... O.K.?

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 03:21:00 +0000

Greetings. I did a little facelift on the blog. I'm hoping it behaves properly, I had a little trouble getting it to look right on my monitor. Please let me know if things look goofy or good on your end. The right column should have all the things you were used to seeing, starting even with the top of the current post....

Let me know, Carlo

Family Christmas, part 2....

noreply@blogger.com (Carlo) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 05:01:00 +0000

Rose and Bryn missed the Christmas eve event at Donna's house, so Donna gave out their stockings at this event.

When asked if she had been good this year, Bryn replied, "I was good for 11 months...... and extra good for the other month."

Donna got a few gifts of her own.

Rose did the honors of passing out the gifts, with the attentive help of Hailee.

Chris wore the official "Reindeer Antlers".

Hailee presented me with a gift that she wrapped herself....... :-)

Peggy got a new Packer t-shirt, just what she was hoping for.

Bryn seems to approve of Peggy's new lounging pants.

Late afternoon and Donna is getting ready to head back to Phillips and Rosie is prepping for the big game, Packers vs. Falcons.

Looks like Peg is getting fired up for the game as well!!

All happy campers!

Chris was a little tired looking about this time.....

...and this about sums up how everyone felt by mid-evening.

We're in winter for sure now. This morning it was -30° when I left for work at 6:00. Didn't warm up much during the day, maybe a few degrees above zero. Not supposed to get too cold tonight and warming next week. We'll see.......

By the way, I checked on my blog feed and found that there are 17 subscriptions! Please comment when you visit.... if you want.

I gotta go, Carlo

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