Day 221 June 19, 2002

The mother of all TV stands. Bob Vila would love it.

I stained one wall (the back gable end) today. I could have done more, but I want to let it dry a day and make sure I like the shade. I used 1/4 of the Tamarack (a light honey color) color tint that I have. I mixed it into the 10 gallons of Woodguard preservative (messy!). Woodguard is a high quality oil based penetrating wood preservative designed for, well, log homes and the like. An insecticide also gets mixed in that kills bug dead. I only used 1/4 of the tint because I want the cabin to be a light color. As the wood naturally ages it will get darker, so I started out light. If next year it's too light I can always add more stain. The actual staining is a bit of a pain in the butt. Since I'm using my air sprayer and compressor, I have to wear a respirator and safety glasses which get covered with overspray on the outside and fog up from sweat on the inside. Then it's up the ladder, spray as evenly as possible as far as I can reach, down the ladder, move the ladder, up the ladder, blah, blah, blah. The sprayer gets heavy after a while, but it does a good job. Tomorrow I should be able to do at least 2 walls. I'm saving the back for last as it's hardest to reach.

8 hours, beautiful around 75.

Days until court: 7