Of Air Sealing and the War of Wrath!……Do You Want a Roll with Your Sandwich?

Are you frightened?……………….Yes………….Not nearly frightened enough, for I know what hunts you. (Aragorn on the Ringwraiths hunting the Ring Bearer Frodo Baggins.)

Ah yes, Free folk of Middle Earth, greetings from Hobbit Hollow. There is much to talk about…..and apparently much to be frightened about as well. I don’t know how many of you read the comments after last weeks blog post but apparently I’ve hit a nerve with the “Long Islander”.

Now before I continue I just want to preface this post with the fact that I’m one of those people who is constantly relating life to art. You know in a nerdy  Lord of the Rings/ Star Wars kind of way. This is my doom. It cannot be helped. If you want to skip to what we did over at the house just scroll down to the first photo. You’re not going to hurt my feelings…trust me.

Being that I have now officially incited the “Wrath of Long Island!” (Whoa lookout Jim!!!)  I was kind of thinking along the lines of a Mordor/Long Island analogy. You know, something like in the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Long Islander forged in secret another Ring. Something along those lines. I kind of liked that. It has a nice “Ring” to it if you  will. There really are so many references that I will surely not be able to do them all justice in a single blog post. So for the record I think we’re certainly going to incorporate the “Long Islander” into the blog on occasion . Sort of like my Mother in Law. (We’ll get to her later.) It wouldn’t be fair to have all these great ideas and not use them. Casey I hope you’re up for this. (It’s all in good fun…..Isn’t it??????)

So Jude went on a road trip this week, it being Spring break, to visit his girlfriend Casey (aka “The Long Islander”) out in the Land of Mordor, I mean Long Island. I slipped up there, sorry. So for those of you who are not from around these parts and are not learned in the realm of Long Island  let me briefly enlighten you. Long Island is crowded. Really crowded. Yes, Casey, I lived on Long Island for a time. In Levittown on Collector Avenue for the record. For I know of what I speak. The traffic on Long Island in renowned. They were going to build a nuclear power plant on Long Island way back when. Then when they went over the evacuation plan in case of a meltdown they realized nobody could get off the Island because there’s always a 2 and a half hour log jam on the Long Island Expressway.

Actually, the original evacuation plan involved giving everyone on Long Island a small hot air balloon. Lord knows there’s plenty of hot air out there. Anyway, the plan involved self-inflating these balloons and floating to safety. Unfortunately the prevailing winds blow north into Connecticut and when the people of Connecticut heard of this plan they put the ka-bash on it rather quickly. Apparently there is a thing going on between Connecticut and Long Island. (No surprise there.)

Ah, yes my friends, The War of Wrath. Ever get the feeling that a whole bunch of people have little puffs of steam coming out of their ears about now? Like I’ve incited an army of Long Islanders? I hope Gandalf is on the way. I think I’m going to need the help of a Wizard soon. The Riders of Rohan might help, too. I hear Long Islanders are afraid of horses. (And wide open spaces.) I don’t know how true this is. I’ll have Jude ask.

Okay, enough of that let’s get back into building a Hobbit House shall we?

I was kind of having a lot of fun with all that though. (The target being so easy and all.)

Well, it was a bit of a rough weekend here. Georgia had all four wisdom teeth taken out Friday and is now convalescing at home. She looks like a little chipmunk with two weeks of food in her cheeks. She’s being a real trooper though, as always. She’s got a lot going on with work. A long story but the good news is she got a full time job teaching 8th grade…..and there was much rejoicing.

So anyway I went over to the house late. It was another freezing cold day. Single digits at the start. I got there around 11 and it had warmed up a bit. Like to a balmy 21. Which to be honest wasn’t bad. I think everyone is getting used to the single digit temperatures somehow. When it hits 20 you feel like spring is in the air and or you’re getting a break from the winter cold. It’s as if Mother Nature is playing some sick Jedi mind trick on everyone.

Well, as I was saying I got over there and the tarps I put down last week really did the trick. We had  snow last Saturday then some warm days and then freezing cold again. So I had a pile of ice left on the tarp. All I had to do to clean up was just lift the tarp and dump the ice over the side of the knee wall. Hey, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Or as they say in Mordor….did the Dark Lord give you the okay to do that? Check out all the ice on the tarp. (I was going to make another Long Island reference but I think I’m digging a really deep hole for myself. Better lay low for a few paragraphs.)

Tarp keeps cleanup to a minimum.
Tarp keeps cleanup to a minimum.

So I cleaned up the styrofoam where we left off last week and got it ready to continue the air barrier detail. Just then brothers Jude and Terence showed up to give dear old Dad a hand. I knew we were not going to work very long because Jude was going back to school so I decided to do a small portion of the slab. We rolled out the 6 mil poly and I set the boys up sealing the stuff we just put down to what we laid out last week. Here they are using the 3M 8067 tape to seal it.

Jude and Terence connecting two air barrier pieces together.
Jude and Terence connecting two air barrier pieces together.

So at the pipes you kind of drape the poly over the top and cut an x over the pipe so the poly can lay flat on the styro.

Laying the poly over the pipes.
Laying the poly over the pipes.

The cut isn’t in the right spot though so you wind up making an oversize cut. When this happens all you do is seal any cut areas with the tape . So it really isn’t such a big deal. Around the pipes is a bit tedious though . You have to tape flat pieces as close as you can to the pipe and then add more pieces going from the poly  onto the pipe vertically. I wasn’t sure if Terence and Jude would be able to do this though. You kind of need nibble fingers so I rang Steve up and asked him to stop by to give us a lesson in nimbleness. Okay, the guy isn’t the easiest thing to look at but he’s good with the tape and his hands aren’t affected by the cold for some reason. He did the first pipe for us so we could get a good idea on how to do it.

 

 

Steve demonstrating proper pipe air sealing techniques.
Steve demonstrating proper pipe air sealing techniques.

Oh yeah, I forgot to show you how I insulated around the pipes. You just get a can of spray foam and fill the gaps. Once the stuff dries you just take out any stuff that oozes over the top and then you put the poly down. Check it out.

Insulating around the pipes.
Insulating around the pipes.

Anyway, the editor called and had a great idea about eating lunch together at home. We wrapped it up and I would say I think I’ve got about 1 full day of work as far as air sealing goes. The weather is a factor though. You really need to work without any gloves on when you’re using the tape. So it has to be kind of warm out.

We cleaned up a bit and I called in a lunch order to the local deli. Two Southwestern’s and an Italian combo. I had one last thing I wanted to get done before I left so I sent Jude and Terence to pick up lunch and said I would meet them back home. Question: If you were told to go pick up sandwiches for lunch would you pick up anything else the deli clerk offered you?

I get home and soon thereafter the boys pull in and we sit down for lunch with the Editor and Georgia. Georgia is on a liquid diet because of the dental work. So as Jude opens the bag with the sandwiches he says: Oh yeah, and she asked me if I wanted rolls with the sandwiches so I got those too. What?!?!?!? What are you talking about? Yeah she asked me if I wanted rolls with the sandwiches so I got them. Okay. Does that make sense to anybody out there in the civilized world? Why on God’s green earth would anybody eat a roll with a deli sandwich? Am I missing something here or what?

Hey! Would you like a roll with your sandwich?
Hey! Would you like a roll with your sandwich?

He spent a day out on Long Island. Could it be a Long Island thing????

Oh yeah, my Mother in Law stops by just after lunch. Just in time to upset my stomach. She then proceeds to go on a rant about the ravens returning to her home on the hill. Much like Gloin from the Hobbit. She looks out my back window and says: Look there’s one now! Turns out she saw a robin. Oh, boy.

You think it’s easy building a Hobbit house under these conditions!

Take care and stay warm!

Hobbit Hollow Jim

PS:Casey do you know what a Palantir is? Well I have one and I’m not afraid to use it. Although they are not all accounted for. The one I  have has served it’s  purpose well……Quite well I might add.

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “Of Air Sealing and the War of Wrath!……Do You Want a Roll with Your Sandwich?”

  1. Dear dad,

    Search your feelings father, you can’t do this, I feel the conflict within you, let go of your hate. It seems you’ve turned Casey against me, she’s told you about the cereal. Well you guys told me to stop eating omelettes everyday, so I’ve relapsed. Out of the frying pan…and into the fire as Gandalf says. Anyways, I love you guys, and I miss you up here. Good luck this weekend!

    Love,
    Jude

    Reply
    • It is too late for me son….The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force.

      He is your Master now………….

      You gotta limit the omelettes to once or twice a week. The mixing cereals thing. Well that’s going to have to be between you and your girlfriend. You can’t be grossing people out at breakfast…It makes things unpleasant. Pick up some whey protein at a supermarket.

      Good luck with your school work. We miss you.

      Love,
      Dad

      Reply
  2. Hello once again,
    Just wanted to give you an update. Judes back to his old habits….he mixed his cereal again.
    Have a blessed day!
    -Casey

    Reply
    • Much appreciated Casey. Keep up the good work. Jude has a number of bad habits we will get into over time. Oh yeah, and thanks for being my second Palantir!

      Thanks for keeping an eye on Big Foot!
      Take it easy,
      Mr. C

      Reply

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