I finished designing the flatbed, stake-sided wagon I'm going to build, and ventured up to the Logan Home Depot to pick up the lumber, paint, and hardware for it. The carriage bolts I need turned out to be problematic – every source in town added together didn't have enough of them! So I ordered them on Amazon instead; they'll be trickling in over the next week. That project is delayed.
On the way up to Home Depot, I stopped at King Hair in Logan and got my hair cut. Walking into that place feels like you're walking into someone's house – someone whose mom just happens to have a well-equipped barber and beauty shop. Each time I've gone, a different barber has taken care of me. They always strike up the kind of conversation you might have with a new neighbor – friendly, curious, and comfortable. My whole life haircuts have been something I avoided, as I always have something else I'd rather be doing, I don't really care much about how I look, and the experience generally involves lots of waiting (which I hate!). I've never waited more than 60 seconds here, literally. Only twice have I ever even sat down on one of their chairs for people waiting. The people there are so nice that I actually look forward to seeing them. They're starting to change my mind about haircuts. Maybe I'll start getting them more than 3 times a year...
On the way home I stopped in at the Artistic Metal Works shop in Millville. They're making a fireplace door for us, and they had some questions about what we wanted. The beginnings of the door were laying out on a work table. They're making the front of it out of a single piece of 1/4" thick steel – that piece along weighs about 75 pounds. The door frames are made from welded steel bars, about 1/4" x 2" in cross-section. We didn't specify this sort of King Kong resistant construction; it's what they proposed. We're going to need a crane to bring it into the house :)
While I was at Home Depot, I also picked up a couple small black walnut boards (Home Depot has some hardwoods; not much to choose from, but of decent quality and at good prices). Debbie needs a little bowl holder for the cats, and her attempt to purchase one didn't work out so well. I did the first sawing and gluing step on it yesterday afternoon. I'll post a photo when it's finished.
My neighbor Tim D. came over to work on a better way to connect his irrigation pipes to our east-most riser. He's long had some trouble getting his hand line close enough to the eastern edge of his field, and when we had some fence removed last week, we opened up a new opportunity for him. He had a short section of 3" aluminum pipe that he will use as a “stretcher” to allow him to get about 15' closer to the eastern edge. That will be especially useful on days when the irrigation pressure is low (because so many people are irrigating). To do this, he needed to remove the sprinkler from this pipe section, and then clean up the end with the hook. I spotted him out there trying to do this by himself, and having some challenges. He's got arthritis in his hands, and his grip isn't all that strong. Further, some of what he was trying to do needed about six hands. So I went out to help, and between the two of us we managed to get it all done. Removing that old sprinkler took every bit of strength the two of us had together. We had an unreasonable sense of accomplishment when we finally got the sprinkler riser to unscrew!
We're expecting intermittent rain over the next few day, which the farmers here are very happy to see. There are several thousand acres of freshly planted hay within just a couple of miles of our house, including all the fields adjacent to us...
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