My shop time has been very limited in May and it looks like more of the same for the next couple of months at least. I got two custom necks completed and mounted on the customers’ pots, and made a few armrests.

Up in Piercefield the house is coming along. The replacement windows are all installed, and I added an attic window so there will be some light and air up there and so I could pass some joists and sheet goods up through the hole to strengthen and cover the attic floor.

I also have made progress toward rebuilding the collapsed stone foundation wall. The woodshed is now built except for the siding and doors, and one load of firewood that came before the lumber was ready is now stacked in the yard. Another load is coming soon and both will have to be moved into the shed.

My sister kindly came up for a day and helped dig up a vegetable garden on the hill below the workshop before she left for Georgia. I dug up and replaced the pipe that brings water from the town main into the house and the town turned the water on, so now I can water things when needed and can mix mortar. The rest of the plumbing in the house is still pending.

My shop goal for June is to complete a custom resonator banjo that I recently began. At the house I need to finish rebuilding the stone basement wall, run the new wiring through the house and get everything else ready in time for when the spray foam insulation person comes (if all goes well) in early July. The septic system should also be being installed this month, so that will be sort of exciting.

I got up at 4:15 one morning last week and bicycled a couple of miles to the Mount Arab trail, and got to the fire tower at about 5:20, somewhat after the sunrise but while it was still a little dim. It was nice to take the time to do something recreational, and I’m looking forward to the day when I can start to do more of that and more shop work, once the house is livable and we’ve moved.