Monday, June 29, 2009

Townes


I picked up Steve Earle's new album, "Townes", today and have been listening to it pretty much nonstop all day. As the title suggests, this is Steve Earle covering the songs of Townes Van Zandt. Most of the time cover songs have me wishing I was listening to the original, but this one is different. Earle is one of my favorite artists of all time, I've been listening to him since high school, when "Guitar Town" came out, and I own most of his albums. I am going to go so far as to say that "Townes" is one of his best albums, if not his best. It's right up there with "Transcendental Blues" in my book. Highlights include "Colorado Girl" and "Lungs" (with Tom Morello on guitar), the latter sounding like it could have been a bonus track on Earle's last album, "Washington Square Serenade". Somewhere Townes Van Zandt is smiling at his old friend.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Treehouse:: Day 1

After what seemed like 4 days of nonstop rain, I was finally able to get started on the treehouse yesterday. I had dug the holes for the posts the day before, so today I was able to get the framing up and all the holes filled with concrete. Working alone posed some interesting challenges, especially when it came to lifting 12 foot long 2x6's overhead and attaching them to the 4x4 posts, all at the same time trying to keep everything square and level. I used lots of clamps and bracing to keep everything level, and Suzie's dad stopped by and helped out for a few hours. For now everything is screwed together, but once the concrete sets up, I am going to use bolts to tie all the framing together.


As you can see, the treehouse is not actually supported by a tree, rather the tree will pass through the deck, so all you treehouse purists out there may not consider this a true treehouse, but lack of a big enough tree forced me to use posts to support the structure. Not to mention simpler to build. The main floor of the treehouse will be almost 8 feet off the ground. The four posts that stick up above the frame will later become a hand rail for a small deck. Next up is installing the floor joists and laying down the decking.

Listening to: Two Johns Cycling Podcast

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Felice Brothers- Frankie's Gun

Can't get enough of this song lately. Good stuff.



The Felice Bros. will be playing in Boston on August 5 with the Dave Rawlings Machine and Justin Townes Earle (Steve Earle's son).

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Summertime Plans

Haven't posted anything in awhile, been busy with the craziness that is the last few weeks of school. Only two more days, then 9 weeks of summer vacation. No big travel plans this year, hoping to get some shit done around the place and spend some quality time with the family. Being the list maker than I am though, this is what I have on tap for the summer.

1. Build a tree house. L & E have been asking for a tree house for months now, so that is first up. And yeah, it's going to have a 70 foot zip line.
2. Camping in Freeport, Maine over the July 4th weekend with some old friends and our collective 15 kids. For those of you without kids, spending 4 days and 3 nights with 15 kids may sound like hell, but it is actually pretty low key. This will be our third year at the same campground, cool spot right on Casco Bay. Lots of swimming, biking, campfires, and good old fashion fun.
3. I'm gutting our downstairs bathroom, and hopefully will finish remodeling it sometime in August.
4. Picked up a few hours at the local bike shop, only one morning a week, mostly doing inventory and minor repairs. I'm not really doing it for the money, more for the discount on bike stuff, plus it's a chill place to hang. Good people, music, and coffee.
5. Riding my bike as much as possible, still commuting to work, but am looking forward to some longer rides now that I'll have the time. Besides training for the PMC, I want to continue getting out on the mountain bike at least once a week as well.

Enjoy.