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kareinaI have been busy and haven’t made time to post in a while. Before I forget, here is a summary:
Last week Monday I spent two hours on a skype call with my thesis supervisor in Durham. We talked about what sorts of questions they are likely to ask in my interview next month, and how best to respond so that they are left with the feeling that I am perfect for the job. She really is amazing—all this help, and if it works she loses me as a student (but we are likely to be collaborators for the long term), unless we manage to use that cooperation agreement that Bergen and Durham have so that she can be an additional supervisor, but I have no idea if the folk at Bergen have any interest in that at all.
Tuesday I went to Storforsen with Viscountess Caitriona from Oertha. We hadn’t seen one another since my last visit to Oertha (for Kylson’s memorial party) around 15 years ago. She was in town for a wedding of one of her best friends from when she was at University in Fairbanks. There was a small group of Alaskans who had flown over for the wedding, so while she was in Luleå for a full week she was busy doing stuff with the group for almost all of it. It was only the very last day of her trip that I was able to steal her away and spend the afternoon with her. It was delightful to catch up with her, and, of course, Storforsen was as beautiful as it always is. The day was quite warm (high 20’s C), so that the side streams and swimming holes were full of people wading and swimming. We brought bathing suits, so we could have, but she gets cold easily, so decided not to, and I just didn’t feel for changing (and I also get cold easily, though I get hot even easier).
The rest of last week was quite heavily focused on reading from the archaeological literature in preparation for my interview.
Saturday, which was the hottest day of the year so far (temps in the low 30’s C) David and I were outside tearing boards off of the wall of the shed (we were smart enough to wait till the sun was on the far side of that building, so that we were in shade). That wall has been in very bad shape since we bought the house, so late last summer/early autumn he and his dad cut down some trees on his dad’s forest, and then cut them into boards at his dad’s home saw-mill. Then we drove them here and stacked them in the shed to dry all winter. The shed wall is six meters long, and the bottom support beam has been resting directly on the ground in some places (and sits on rocks in others), ever since the building was moved to its current location. Therefore that beam had gotten rather rotted and soft in places and needed replacing. David and his dad decided that it isn’t worth the hassle of transporting six meter long beams, so they cut them to four meter lengths and we would just have to splice them for replacing the long beam.
We were delighted to note while pulling the boards off the wall that they had originally been attached with hand-forged nails. Clearly this shed is considerably older than the house (which was built in 1966). That sort of nail and the construction technique points more to the 1800’s than the 1900’s. There were three different generations of nails in use on that wall—the old hand-made ones, which attached the centres of each of the upright boards to the beam crossing the length of the middle of the way, and some newer looking, but still old ones that were likely added when the house was moved—at the same time as they added the diagonal support beams that run from one base beam to the next, across a corner, which David says wouldn’t have been original, but was only done to support it when they picked it up and moved it some unknown distance. The back beam of the shed rests on a metal beam that runs the full length of the shed, and he says that would have been used to give the building stability when they moved it, but he doesn’t understand why no one ever took that and the cross-corner supports away once it was in place. (Perhaps for the same reason they never got around to getting it onto stones as a foundation, but just left it in contact with the ground in some places?)
My guess is that the shed was built very near where the trees had been felled, which is why it has beams that are six meters long, and then was used where it was built for decades. I guess that they moved it to where it currently sits in 1966, when they put in the house, and no one has done much upkeep with it sense. The owners right before us (who lived here only 1.5 years before her parents told them that if they moved out to the farm and took over running it the parents were give it to them) had re-done the front wall and painted it, but all of the other walls were unpainted and in bad shape.
We got the boards off on Saturday and cut a scarf joint in the two lengths of timber for the base beam. Sunday we lifted the shed enough to take out most of the bad base beam (but opted to leave a short length attached to the front corner of the building, since that end hadn’t rotted at all, and it was easier not to take apart the good corner and put in the spliced replacement beam.
Monday morning I woke up inspired to make myself a modern tunic-length shirt by cutting apart and re-assembling a blue collared t-shirt shirt (which was too small for David and so he never wore it) and a black sweater (that I used to wear before it went to the mending closet with holes in the armpits some years back and has languished there ever since). So while David did more progress on the shed wall on his own, I spent the day cutting and fitting and basting. When he went back to the apartment in the evening I was far enough along with the project to start the sewing itself. Since the fabric is knit I couldn’t sew it on the treadle sewing machine, which does only straight seams (which I know from experience will just break if one sews a stretchy fabric and then tries to actually stretch the fabric enough to put it on). I could have borrowed David’s sewing machine, which has lots of different stitch types, many of which are totally suitable for knits, but I hate electric sewing machine sewing, and I figured I could get a prettier result if I sewed it by hand and did the seams with red embroidery to hold them together. So far I have done about 14 hours worth of work on the project (about 10 of which is actually sewing), and I am happy with how it is coming together. If all goes well I might even wind up with something that looks nice enough that I can wear it to an interview.
Tuesday I helped with the shed again—painting tar on the beams before he fastened the boards to it, and then, once all of the boards were attached I painted the wall red. (Sadly, the “Falun Red” paint we have is not quite the same shade of red as the previous owners painted the front wall—the one they used has slightly bluer overtones (and thus is prettier to my eye), while the one we have has slightly orange overtones. However, the colour miss-match is WAY better than the previous, unpainted and not at all weather tight wall, so I am ok with it.) We still need to cut the narrow strips of boards that will be fastened over the seams between the boards (and thus make the wall more weather tight), and then, if there is time left this summer, we can do the same for the back wall (which has huge gaps between the boards wide enough for snow to come into the shed in the winter, and it does). The third wall can wait till next summer.
Today my beloved second apprentice came up from Skellefteå for a visit. We had a yummy lunch (a pie I made by mixing some frozen home made soup of roasted pumpkin and other assorted veg, some beet greens from the garden, some left over lentil (dhal) from yesterday, some yummy Finnish squeeky-cheese (leipajuustuo), canned artichoke, eggs, over which I sprinkled pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds), followed by a yummy strawberry crumble. Then she worked on her belt weaving (ridged heddle) while I worked on my “Frankenstein” tunic (we decided that is a good name for it, since it is assembled out of pieces of other clothing).
I have the rest of this week left of vacation time, and no plans yet, other than keep working on projects and reading.
On Thursday next week I will be taking a train to Norway with folk music friends for the Kalottspel folk music festival, and then I have one more week after that before my interview. So much to read, so much to finish up before then…
Last week Monday I spent two hours on a skype call with my thesis supervisor in Durham. We talked about what sorts of questions they are likely to ask in my interview next month, and how best to respond so that they are left with the feeling that I am perfect for the job. She really is amazing—all this help, and if it works she loses me as a student (but we are likely to be collaborators for the long term), unless we manage to use that cooperation agreement that Bergen and Durham have so that she can be an additional supervisor, but I have no idea if the folk at Bergen have any interest in that at all.
Tuesday I went to Storforsen with Viscountess Caitriona from Oertha. We hadn’t seen one another since my last visit to Oertha (for Kylson’s memorial party) around 15 years ago. She was in town for a wedding of one of her best friends from when she was at University in Fairbanks. There was a small group of Alaskans who had flown over for the wedding, so while she was in Luleå for a full week she was busy doing stuff with the group for almost all of it. It was only the very last day of her trip that I was able to steal her away and spend the afternoon with her. It was delightful to catch up with her, and, of course, Storforsen was as beautiful as it always is. The day was quite warm (high 20’s C), so that the side streams and swimming holes were full of people wading and swimming. We brought bathing suits, so we could have, but she gets cold easily, so decided not to, and I just didn’t feel for changing (and I also get cold easily, though I get hot even easier).
The rest of last week was quite heavily focused on reading from the archaeological literature in preparation for my interview.
Saturday, which was the hottest day of the year so far (temps in the low 30’s C) David and I were outside tearing boards off of the wall of the shed (we were smart enough to wait till the sun was on the far side of that building, so that we were in shade). That wall has been in very bad shape since we bought the house, so late last summer/early autumn he and his dad cut down some trees on his dad’s forest, and then cut them into boards at his dad’s home saw-mill. Then we drove them here and stacked them in the shed to dry all winter. The shed wall is six meters long, and the bottom support beam has been resting directly on the ground in some places (and sits on rocks in others), ever since the building was moved to its current location. Therefore that beam had gotten rather rotted and soft in places and needed replacing. David and his dad decided that it isn’t worth the hassle of transporting six meter long beams, so they cut them to four meter lengths and we would just have to splice them for replacing the long beam.
We were delighted to note while pulling the boards off the wall that they had originally been attached with hand-forged nails. Clearly this shed is considerably older than the house (which was built in 1966). That sort of nail and the construction technique points more to the 1800’s than the 1900’s. There were three different generations of nails in use on that wall—the old hand-made ones, which attached the centres of each of the upright boards to the beam crossing the length of the middle of the way, and some newer looking, but still old ones that were likely added when the house was moved—at the same time as they added the diagonal support beams that run from one base beam to the next, across a corner, which David says wouldn’t have been original, but was only done to support it when they picked it up and moved it some unknown distance. The back beam of the shed rests on a metal beam that runs the full length of the shed, and he says that would have been used to give the building stability when they moved it, but he doesn’t understand why no one ever took that and the cross-corner supports away once it was in place. (Perhaps for the same reason they never got around to getting it onto stones as a foundation, but just left it in contact with the ground in some places?)
My guess is that the shed was built very near where the trees had been felled, which is why it has beams that are six meters long, and then was used where it was built for decades. I guess that they moved it to where it currently sits in 1966, when they put in the house, and no one has done much upkeep with it sense. The owners right before us (who lived here only 1.5 years before her parents told them that if they moved out to the farm and took over running it the parents were give it to them) had re-done the front wall and painted it, but all of the other walls were unpainted and in bad shape.
We got the boards off on Saturday and cut a scarf joint in the two lengths of timber for the base beam. Sunday we lifted the shed enough to take out most of the bad base beam (but opted to leave a short length attached to the front corner of the building, since that end hadn’t rotted at all, and it was easier not to take apart the good corner and put in the spliced replacement beam.
Monday morning I woke up inspired to make myself a modern tunic-length shirt by cutting apart and re-assembling a blue collared t-shirt shirt (which was too small for David and so he never wore it) and a black sweater (that I used to wear before it went to the mending closet with holes in the armpits some years back and has languished there ever since). So while David did more progress on the shed wall on his own, I spent the day cutting and fitting and basting. When he went back to the apartment in the evening I was far enough along with the project to start the sewing itself. Since the fabric is knit I couldn’t sew it on the treadle sewing machine, which does only straight seams (which I know from experience will just break if one sews a stretchy fabric and then tries to actually stretch the fabric enough to put it on). I could have borrowed David’s sewing machine, which has lots of different stitch types, many of which are totally suitable for knits, but I hate electric sewing machine sewing, and I figured I could get a prettier result if I sewed it by hand and did the seams with red embroidery to hold them together. So far I have done about 14 hours worth of work on the project (about 10 of which is actually sewing), and I am happy with how it is coming together. If all goes well I might even wind up with something that looks nice enough that I can wear it to an interview.
Tuesday I helped with the shed again—painting tar on the beams before he fastened the boards to it, and then, once all of the boards were attached I painted the wall red. (Sadly, the “Falun Red” paint we have is not quite the same shade of red as the previous owners painted the front wall—the one they used has slightly bluer overtones (and thus is prettier to my eye), while the one we have has slightly orange overtones. However, the colour miss-match is WAY better than the previous, unpainted and not at all weather tight wall, so I am ok with it.) We still need to cut the narrow strips of boards that will be fastened over the seams between the boards (and thus make the wall more weather tight), and then, if there is time left this summer, we can do the same for the back wall (which has huge gaps between the boards wide enough for snow to come into the shed in the winter, and it does). The third wall can wait till next summer.
Today my beloved second apprentice came up from Skellefteå for a visit. We had a yummy lunch (a pie I made by mixing some frozen home made soup of roasted pumpkin and other assorted veg, some beet greens from the garden, some left over lentil (dhal) from yesterday, some yummy Finnish squeeky-cheese (leipajuustuo), canned artichoke, eggs, over which I sprinkled pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds), followed by a yummy strawberry crumble. Then she worked on her belt weaving (ridged heddle) while I worked on my “Frankenstein” tunic (we decided that is a good name for it, since it is assembled out of pieces of other clothing).
I have the rest of this week left of vacation time, and no plans yet, other than keep working on projects and reading.
On Thursday next week I will be taking a train to Norway with folk music friends for the Kalottspel folk music festival, and then I have one more week after that before my interview. So much to read, so much to finish up before then…