Category: Blog

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

This was a new volunteer day for me with Habitat for Humanity. I’d performed other tasks, but today was deconstruction. This is relatively new for the Denver affiliate and involves taking apart a house, usually as part of a remodel, and taking the building materials as a donation to be sold in the ReStores. Since the ReStores fund all the administrative costs for the Denver affiliate, they are able to build more houses.

Today I drove out to a fancy neighborhood, just E of downtown Denver. Checking on Zillow, I found the houses in this neighborhood sell for $1mm+ and I wasn’t surprised. Too close together for me, but they were nice houses, with lots of mature trees.

I arrived and wasn’t sure what to do. I found a contractor’s assistant there, setting up some trash bags, so I assumed I was in the right place, but when I asked him about Habitat, he had no idea. Fortunately an older gentlemen walked up who was also volunteering and told me that the Habitat guy was late. When he arrived, it was in a large rental truck, and we shook hands and unloaded lots of tool bags.

This deconstruction was for a kitchen remodel. We were removing 18 cabinet sets, some upper, some lower, some in an island. We also had to remove the upper crown molding and the countertops. I wasn’t sure how to do this, so I carried things to start, but the rest of the crew (5 of us in total) showed me where to look and the ways in which cabinets are put into a house.

We worked straight through to 1:30, and managed to remove all the cabinets except the one around the kitchen sink in the island. It was buried with electrical and water lines we didn’t want to disconnect. We also took out 4 pieces of granite, including the two large pieces that made a 3x15ft island. It was quite a bit of work, between digging out nails, getting screws out from tight locations, lifting heavy pieces and getting things loaded in the truck.

One extra nice thing was a second thank you email. I usually get an automated one from Habitat around 4 the day I volunteer. However I got a second one around 5 from the supervisor that had coordinated the deconstruction, thanking us for working through lunch and getting it done.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

I had lots of plans for Monday. However things didn’t go my way. Some family matters delayed me getting started, and after Pilates, I was exhausted. Not from class, but I think from working in the sun all day Saturday and Sunday. I took a nap, and then couldn’t really concentrate, so I decided not to do much. I started to mark things, but gave up, covered the boards, and knocked off for the day.

I had some time with the kids, some family business, but mostly a relaxing day.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

Not a productive week on the sabbatical, at least in terms of what I wanted to accomplish. This coming week is semi-busy with volunteering on Wed and Thur as well as a holiday Fri, so I decided to catch up this weekend.

Saturday was mostly working in the garage, cleaning the shop, building some small drawers for pieces and parts, and organizing a touch more. It was windy outside, so I didn’t want to joint and plane wood.

Sunday was much better. It was calm, and with a cup of coffee, I set up the jointer to square two sides of my new 2x4s and then planed them to thickness.

With the wood ready, I put it on the jig and cut it down to size. Once I was done, I tried to flip the pieces over to see if I could trim them again to give me spares, but they were too small.

It was hot, and I was ready to break, but I decided to see how things look. I grabbed all 8 pieces and laid them out on the bench. The jig is on the left, the flagpole on the right. Looks pretty good.

As you can see, the top is four small pieces.

The bottom, as expected, is four larger sizes, with more space.

Overall, things look pretty good. The two things that have me slightly worried. The first is that the top board, the shorter of a 2×6, is slightly twisted. It doesn’t lay flat with the other boards. I can clamp it down, so it’s probably OK overall. I think I’ll try it and see.

The other worrisome thing is that two of the joints, one on a 2×4 and one on a 2×6 are only about 6” apart. The directions called for all joints to be at least a foot apart, but in this case they aren’t. Not sure if it’s a big deal yet. Stability is an issue, but once it’s glued to other pieces, I’m guessing it will bear up well.

Worst case in both situations is that I need to recut wood. I won’t take the jig down for now, and if I need to, I think I can build another one quicker.

Tomorrow I’ll cut biscuit slots (a few were marked today) and glue up the sides. I need to cut some stands to raise the pole up, but I think that should be fairly quick. If that goes well, I’ll buy a large router bit tomorrow night and work on rounding Tuesday.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

Today is another volunteer day with habitat. This time back at the ReStore. However I wasn’t feeling good. As I drove over there, I was fatigued, tired, and sipping coffee in the parking lot before they opened, I could have gone to sleep. However I got myself up and walked in.

I worried about trying to get through the day, letting them down, etc., but it went OK. I was the only volunteer, working with a guy in the back processing donations and putting things out on the floor. Also a touch of loading purchases for customers.

I took hinges off doors and wrestled with a sink for a long time, trying to remove the faucets and drains. I worked slow, chatted with employees, and managed to get through a long day. I left at 2 feeling drained and hungry.

I stopped for food and then at Harbor Freight where I bought 12 more clamps, with every intention of getting the flagpole glued next week. I felt slightly better, but I got home, lay down, and slept for two hours.

Not as much done as I’d planned, but fatigue does that. I’m sure some people think I’m doing this sabbatical thing wrong, but hard to tell. Every day this week I was up before 7, except Tues.

Andy Warren asked me if the time has been worth it and I don’t quite know how to answer that. Certainly it’s more relaxing and I get the chance to tackle things I wouldn’t have done before. I’ve gained some confidence with wood working and volunteered quite a bit more than I have in the past. I don’t know how things will feel when I get back to work, but I think I need to evaluate the end of this time and probably a few weeks later.