Weeds and Woodwork

    I've really neglected my garden this summer.  Simply have to make progress inside the house.  But when I took Llewellyn out I was confronted with the horrible state of the garden beds, especially how the crab grass was taking over the Brussels sprouts.  So since it was nice outside, I spent the morning weeding and mulching instead.

    I'd planned to mulch up old bagged leaves and spread them around the Brussels sprouts plants, but gave that up after the first bag took nearly an hour to do.  They're so wet they weren't going through the leaf vac grinder and into to catcher bag, they were being turned into dirt and clogging up the grinder wheel chamber.  I was constantly having to take the machine apart to clean it out.  So most of the bed is now covered with whole, if wet and decaying, maple leaves.  Not ideal, but I couldn't afford six or seven more hours at it.  Tired, and the sun was getting hot.

    Nice to have that much done, though.  Makes it look a little like I have a real garden this year.

    Progress continues on the south wall of the living room.  Got the last two coats of  shellac onto the cornice moulding.


    That was four coats and that's enough.  I'd contemplated going on today and priming the south wall and the adjacent west corner.  But I don't like the way I got primer on the lower edge of the cornice on the east wall when I tackled it in April-- it'd be a good idea to tape that surface to prevent it happening on this side.  So I'm giving the shellac overnight to harden up before I apply the tape.

    So instead I went downstairs and wielded my new Dremel and my new 7/16" Forstner bit on the broken and stuck pegs in the salvaged screen door.  Shocking how most of them just flew into powder-- no wonder the door fell apart.  The strange thing is that as they were being drilled out those pegs smelled like sweet corn!

    The old pegs were 1/2" diam., but I started drilling with the smaller bit in case I didn't hit the hole on center first time.  First knocked down any that protruded with the Dremel multipurpose cutting bit.  Probed around with the dental picks trying to work the loose pieces out, then finished it off with a 1/2" Forstner.

    Ironically, the last peg I tackled looked like it might come out with a little wiggling.  But I couldn't get a grip on it and had to drill it out anyway.  But because the wood was in better shape, it held together and my battery-operated drill wasn't making much headway.  Thankfully, my old corded drill is still working, and gave me better results.

    Tested the cleared holes with a 1/2" dowel I have sitting around.  I guess I'll cut it up to make the new pegs.

    Around 10 o'clock I thought I was almost done with all the drilling out I needed to do, just two more to go at the top of the hinge-side stile.  But the attachment of the bottom panel to that stile is a little wobbly, and considering how easily the other joints fell apart, maybe I should take my rubber mallet and separate those pieces and replace those pegs, too.

    Which would have given me up to eight more holes to clear, depending on how many pegs I could keep intact.  Nope, I've had enough for the night.