another example of... oh, never mind

Last week's shoot involved some Time Travel. Much thanks to Ralph Williams for helping to construct the Machine, and Sallah Baloch for consulting on the design. See the Vimeo page for complete credits.

cast into the wilderness

The official Deck Before & After are still languishing somewhere in the archives. In the meantime, here's the immediate aftermath of 80 mph winds blowing through the area. This would be the new after.

beer:30

Carpentry time, once again. It's something I know how to do. But inevitably there's going to be some maintenance involved. It's no longer a piano - or the box it came in - but might be approaching a boat.

It was a tough day Friday: went to exchange some 5/4 mahogany for lengths that will work much better for the top of the handrail, which required yet another drive to Zion Crossroads. But at least Cody worked out an $8.92 refund.

2 important tools for any construction job

My layout drawing for the convex curve made me fairly confident that I could get the four required pieces out of the expected 1'-1" x 15'-1" board. This did not take into account the inevitable cracks and gouges created by careless lift truck drivers spearing the material with their forks as they move it around the yard. And as inevitable as these defects are, it goes without saying that they always appear at the center of the piece of material, usually in a location that cannot be cut out. In this case I had two curved pieces laid out along the length of the board, so naturally one of the apexes of the curves had to hit on the defect. Nor had I expected that one end of the material would be 13 inches wide and the other would be only 12-1/2. All of this to explain that three of the four pieces were indeed cut to the required size. But the fourth falls off the edge of the board and so may be something like six inches short of the desired length. Oh well, there are only so many things one can take into account, without making an offering to Murphy. I've got enough material to make the complete curve, but the joints may not fall where I wanted them, on support posts.

a little time - a whole lotta diggin'

Some time later...

The "jack it up" methodology was ill informed. But we got 'er dun.

When's it going to start sinking again?

stage 4

corner

More to  come, 180º from this spot.

still stalkin'

click 'er for bigger - moon setting

Once again, no luck this month with the rising moon. Tuesday evening was my chance, and while it was a gorgeous sunset and dusk, the clouds obscured the rising. I made a couple of exposures, but not quite what I have imagined I'd like to see. Upon further consideration that perhaps this same location would be an interesting one for a night time photo, I was prepared (in concept) to make an expedition during the middle of the night. But after driving past earlier in the evening, I could see the intended location is directly adjacent to a sodium vapor street light. The light pollution would be considerable, and anyway, it dipped into the low 30's last night. Not sure I am prepared to sit around for an hour during one exposure freezing my bipee off. Maybe this morning?

For some other great construction crane pictures, check these from Mauro in Italy.

"it's only a shed"

So we were told. I can hardly wait until the painter gets done with this baby!

click 'er for bigger

For those who care about the process: there are approximately 30 cuts per section of two square panels. Two of us spent at least a day to get all the way around this thing with all the x-es. (It looked better without them.)

The other notable condition about this structure is the material(s) that comprises the outer layer: Hardi-Plank siding in 4 x 10 sheets, and Azek polyvinyl chloride trim in various sizes. Both materials are intended to last forever. This intent appears to have been achieved. The problem is the waste. Azek is fairly obnoxious stuff to work with - we didn't become carpenters in order to be plumbers, which is what it feels like now that we're building with PVC - and the sawdust will eventually get into the ground and the water system to everyone's detriment. PVC is made from guess what? Imported petroleum, of course. Wikipedia says worldwide production is expected to reach 40 million tons by 2016. The off cuts go to the landfill, and will eventually decay, breaking into small particles that will leach into the water system. One hundred years from now, they're not going to appreciate our desire for "convenient longevity."

But it appears to fit right in with the "Post Modern Condition" of the original structure, which I originally wrote about here, when we started this project.

click 'er for bigger