Sunday June 9, 2013

Yesterday, Saturday was a busy one.  David and I had several projects that we had planned to finish that day.  But there were delays because we first used a tall ladder and peeked into the attic of the Baldwin House.  You never know what you will find when you look in storage areas and out-of-the-way places on this site.  The other day I showed David the Baldwin boat house which is almost hidden in the bushes just to the east of the museum.  Inside the small structure, along with an intricate spider web lattice, was a rowboat, a small wooden runabout, and six outboard motors of various ages. That is what we hoped to find in the attic.  What we found was........ an attic; empty and unexciting.
   We put the ladder away and began our day.  The great thing about working here at Tallac is the variety of jobs that you get to do .  I have replaced a toilet, raked pine needles, repaired a section of concrete curbing, rebuilt a section of fence, helped cut down several trees, played the part of James, the head butler of the Pope House, along with other tasks.
   Yesterday, it was rebuilding a section of decking on what is called the Breeze Way at the Pope House. The breezeway is a curved, covered walkway that connects the main house with the kitchen.  It was not uncommon in days past to have the kitchen building separate from the house to lessen the fire danger of the wood stove.  Several of the deck boards were showing signs of wear and rot and needed to be replaced.  So the day was spent pulling the bad ones up and putting new ones down. 
   Sounds simple right?  Remember I said a "curved and covered walkway".  So each board had to be measured and cut individually to fit into the open space created by the removal of it's predesessor.  This involved much measuring and numerous trips back to the shop where the table saw is located.  We also had to work around the Pope House tour schedule and allow our visitors passage through the breezeway for the two afternoon tours. 
   Eleven deck boards were removed, replaced, and primed before the end of the day.  A good day.  Today, another volunteer will paint the entire breezeway with the cover coat of grey paint and another restoration project will be completed.