Category: Birthday

The last wall is secured and the sizing and cutting of the rafters have begun. The plans were a little unclear on some of the rafter cuts so I had to do some math and thinking. It’s been a pleasure having my geometry bone tickled. And I’ve regained an appreciation for my tools. The power of a square! (pun totally intended). I am short on a tool. For 16 cuts I really require a band saw so today I hope to impose on a friend for the use of his workshop. This is my favorite movie of the project so far:

I made my first cutting error. A sheet of T111 is 8 feet by 4 feet. I needed one to end up being 72 inches which leaves a 24 inch piece. I had two other pieces that were supposed to be 13 inches and 12½ inches totaling 12.5 inches. I cut those two pieces from the piece of T111 that was supposed to end up being 72 inches. That left me 1.5 inches short. Cost of a new sheet of T111 = $40! For 1½ inches! In the long run, I won’t have to route any of the siding to make it fit so this is probably $40 well spent.

This is the second weekend of Amy’s birthday present. Sarah’s birthday is this week. So after making a little progress on a programming project, I allowed myself a milestone break to get the upper half of the second wall in place. My weekend goal had been All walls complete and rafters begun. Once the second wall was in place, we whisked over to the inlaws to celebrate father’s day. Upon return I convinced myself that I should do a 3rd wall before returning to programming (you can program in the dark). The materials for my 4th wall are a full 1½ inches short. How that happened is beyond me. So after the 3rd wall, progress came to a grinding halt. Tomorrow I’ll pickup another sheet of T111 and that will give us enough material to finish the walls in short spurts during the week. Hopefully before the next rains come we can have the rafters in place to support a tarp or perhaps even the roof done.

I came home last night to settle into some programming and realized that the weekend was going to be wet. Wet is good for programming but bad for construction so I traded. Last night, was Day 4 of Amy’s birthday present/weekend project. Half the headers got done.

Amy had but one wish for her birthday…a clubhouse. And she received basically one present…a pile of lumber for a clubhouse. We are building The Little Miss by WoodManor.net. Below are the timelapse videos of the first two days of work. I cannot give you these 20 minutes of your life back. The audio at the beginning of the 2nd video corrects rather quickly. The best parts of each video are the last two minutes so skip to minute 6 on the first video and minute 10 on the second.

Yesterday of a 27 step plan, we completed steps 1, 2, 3, and 4.

You can see the beginnings of the front porch and the front door.

Amy has her mind set on a club house for her 8th birthday (tomorrow!).

The Fantasy

On Saturday morning, Ty Pennington and his crew from Extreme Makeover Home Edition show up with a bobcat and the materials to build The Queen Anne or the Spoiler. By Saturday evening, a portion of the yard has been contoured, landscaped and become home to Amy’s new playhouse in which we celebrate her birthday inside.

The Reality

Saturday I build the Little Miss by myself leaving landscaping for a different weekendlifetime. Sunday afternoon, we celebrate Amy’s birthday inside and around her clubhouse.

Cathy’s fear

The construction will be delayed and problematic and Amy will go without any semblance of a birthday present until the end of the summer or worse.

The Wishful Desire

Any volunteers want to grab hammers and shovels and help me put this together in one day on this coming Saturday? Does beer and pizza still work in exchange for labor?

And you can bet there will be a timelapse of the build.