Terra cotta kamikaze tractor updates
Rather than apologize for the long interval between postings, I’ll just load up a handful of pics with the latest…
I finally arrived at a paint color for the very tall stairwell: sort of a terra cotta, to mimic the ubiquitous clay outside.
(thanks again to Randy & Laura for the extension ladder. It’s a beast to maneuver but does have the reach I needed for this task. When do you want it back?)
From the Department of Serendipity:
Sandra & I drove with our friend Joyce down to Red Wing to see some art at the Andersen Center, and when we were done there we visited the Red Wing Pottery history & merch place. They had tables and tables full of original RW pieces that I believe were bequeathed to the Pottery Place by an heir to someone who collected like a fiend. Alas, the bell tolled for the collector; the heir doesn’t care; so the pottery museum got the whole lot to sell.
This is the weirdest form I’ve ever seen in a vase, but the color was just too spot-on to pass up.
The stairs continue to be the most finicky part of the whole project, i.e. dependent on building codes & inspection. But I’ve got the railings about 90% fitted and am now addressing that space in the open risers. For some reason, the new building codes assume that everyone with a stairway also has kamikaze infants who can’t resist the urge to squeeze themselves between treads, and thus plunge to their death. So, something needs to be attached or inserted so that a sphere of 4 inches cannot pass.
(a 4” head — I wouldn’t have imagined that a baby that small has much impulse for anything but food and sleep.)
Anyhoo, my solution is to run a 5/8” dowel through the stringers, burying the ends so it’s all nice and tight and air & light will still be able to pass from the landing to the lower level.
Found this handsome little workhorse on craigslist. It might need a little wrench-love before winter from my neighbor Lenny, but it’s already mowed the main part of the yard twice. There’s something very satisfying about cruising around estate on my own li’l tractor.
What is there to mow, you ask? Last summer the front yard was a lunar landscape except when it rained, at which times it turned into the greasy clay pits of — I dunno, somewhere miserable. But this season it’s all coming back nicely. This pic was taken back in April; it’s much greener now. I’ll replace the photo after my next trip up.
