We really are cranking along on this project and will get some updated pictures soon. One really great thing, but equally difficult thing has been working with my father on this project. Neglected for 10 years, and almost everyone giving up the house for destruction forever, being the house he literally was born in, and everyone in the family raised in over the years, it means a lot to him, so he helps on its renovation. It is nice having his help... But he has Alzheimer's, so it takes a lot of patience on my part too. It is early, so he can do a lot, but he struggles with some tasks. Like it took him 4 hours to wire a 3 way switch because he could not remember how to do the wiring. It is almost like role reversal because I know its good for him to think things through, and not step in too quick and make him feel bad about struggling with things. I make suggestions, but try not to push, almost as if I am dealing with my daughters as I let them make more and more decisions in their life. Other times though it can be frustrating when he cuts a board several inches short, but then I think, "it is just a board", and know what he is capable of doing this month, he will not be able to do next month. It is a disease that is incurable, no turning back, no getting better, so the fact he can still operate a skillsaw is a win. The fact that this will be our last major renovation project together probably is enough. Having been through this with my grandfather as well though, it is sad to think where it is leading, and the amount of capacity already lost. So yesterday when I was in the control panel and noticed the cellar lights were flickering when I pushed on a wire, I noted none of the terminal screws had been tightened. I just tightened them up, made a mental note to go back and always check his work, just like he used to do with my work when I was younger. I am getting older, the see-saw has tipped the other way, time to start taking care of my parents (and incidentally my (2) adult sisters who have down-syndrome and who are dependent and live with my parents).
It is tough to watch the decline and just as tough to know when you should let things be (he'll get it eventually), or to step in. Sounds like you are doing a good balancing act.
My parents built their retirement home on our farm about 15 years ago. Up until this summer it has been fun and enjoyable having them around in the summer (they go to Florida in the winter). This summer has been long, I am sure longer for them, dad has finally decided to get and use a mobility scooter. His knees are shot and will not get them replaced, he is 80. This has created a strain on mom and that is showing. Knew what we were in for when we invited them to build on the farm, it does take a lot of time, but less than if they were living 20 miles away one way and in their old house with steps. Keep up the good spirits LT and glad to hear he is working with you yet. Cherish those times.
You will be so glad that you had this time with him and his grandchildren will also remember Grandpa helping with their house. Alzheimer disease is one of the hardest to see a loved one go through.
We do family pictures each year, last year our youngest granddaughter (then 2) handed my dad the lead rope to her pony (the pony was 41 years old then), serious as a heart attack she tells my dad, "be careful Pappy, he's wild"!. Times like those are worth more than gold. With your home, daughters and dad, that home will hold precious memories for many more generations.
In the above post should have said the year before last he was 41. He is 43 this year, been a rough year for him. We are currently giving him 6cc's of penicillin every other day as he seems to be fighting a cold. Body condition is poorer, no riders last year and this. Just tied out in the yard and in a corral by himself. The next oldest pony in the group is 33 this year.
Just an update on this... I have not been on here much, or anywhere else online as I have been working pretty hard on our other house the last few weeks. It has taken me 5 weeks, but I have managed to completely rewire the house , insulated it, put new clapboards on the outside, fortified the second floor floor stringers, moved all the plumbing upstairs, rearranged the bathroom by expanding it, swapped the kitchen into the old living room, and redid all the drains. Wow...not bad for 5 weeks, not to mention milling the lumber off the sawmill on an as-needed basis. Now it is on to redoing the inside walls with shiplap walls and drywall. I'll be doing that this week, then getting all the other necessities for life. This Columbus Day Weekend is the big move, the family is going in. That will be a huge change for me as I have lived at (2) addresses my whole life; my parents, and then 26 years ago on my 18th birthday, to the house I am currently at. Next week it will be a 150 foot move East to my third, Tiny House.
Yeah but all that work has made me sawdust-stupid! I was going through a bandsaw blades, but was sawing big wood that had been dragged through the dirt so I thought the cheap blades were dulling quick. Then as I was doing a clapboard, I only made a few cuts and the saw kept bogging out, so I cut the log into a cant so the next sawblade would be in nothing but clean wood. I then made (2) cuts with a brand new bandsaw blade and it acted like it was dull again. No way! Something was amiss. So then I started watching things and the drive belt was loose. I went to tighten it, got it maxed out on the adjustment and it was still loose. Then I noted the bracket that holds the idler to tension the belt was bent. It is a cheap saw and so they use just a 3/16 thick plate to bolt on the idler that easily bends. I took a lining bar and bent it the opposite way, and now that saw really saws wood. Funny how a bandsaw blade can bore through wood when its drive belt is not slipping.
It sounds like you've got your energy back. Good thing, renovating a house with winter coming on is a tough deadline. I hope you have lots of hands to help with the move, good luck!
I had a similar problem with one of my machines -belt slipping- fixed by converting it to a chain drive - just have to keep an eye on the chain to relube it every so often. at 3600rpm lube gets flung off. Need to get some that goes on wet and then dries to see if that works better & longer lasting.
Try the local motorcycle shop...they should have several good choices...I used to like "Chain Wax"...not sure if its still around or not.
Just an update here: brenndatomu : I have been cutting a lot of white pine lately for trim around my windows and doors, and found that WD-40 with silicone has really worked wonders. I have sprayed down a lot of other areas of the mill with it, and found that the wax/silicone was really what it needed. It is not an oil so the sawdust and such does not stick to it, but makes things slippery.
Midwinter : I have been seeing a new primary physician, the wife actually of my neurologist. He recently took my daughter who has seizures as a patient, went back in her records, taking over an hour to find some brain images that Dr's at Dartmouth-Hitchcock missed and ultimately got her the help she needed as she was having mild seizures 4-5 a minute, and big ones a few times a year. Years ago he did the same thing for me when a host of Dr's were treating me for a different kind of seizure. He used a blank sheet a paper an listened to my symptoms can came out with a different conclusion...and medicine to treat it. His wife is just as open-minded, and got me on some new medicine. It is another medication to take...(8 pills per day now), but I am sleeping through the night, and getting more done because I am not taking 2-3 naps per day.
But we have been in our Tiny House now for a few weeks, and surprisingly we actually love it. Every one of the girls have expressed the same thing. I think just because everything is more intimate as a family. Katie is not in the bedroom, I am out in the kitchen, and the kids are out in the living room, all quite distant like we were before; we got nowhere to go now. Yes, sometimes there is a dance in the kitchen on a busy school morning getting ready for the bus, and we have to keep things picked up because you cannot let a Tiny House get messy at all lest life stops, but it has been nice overall. At some point Katie and I do have to add on, but only because we told the girls they could each have a bedroom in this four bedroom house. With four girls, the math does not work out...Katie and I keep our clothes in the laundry room, and sleep on the recliner/couch respectively, so we need a master bedroom. We can add on of course, but are actually thinking about making the basement into a master bedroom. I am not sure the cost would be cheaper, because it is a fieldstone foundation with dirt floor. Almost everything would be required that an eternal addition would require, with the exception of a roof. But we need to clean up the basement anyway, and it would be nice to put some unused space to work....gleaning every possible inch out of our Tiny Home that we could. A lot of that thought process is in regards to heat. As I type this, it is 72 degree on the first floor, 74 degrees on the second floor, yet my feet are freezing! If I could situate a boiler in the basement, then we could have 100% utilized space, a master suite, and warm floors.
