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These informal reports, filed every couple weeks by Sensei (and e-mailed to interested members), are meant to provide snapshots of what's happening at Chapin Mill, plus the who, how, when, and where of it.
For the latest photos of Chapin Mill, just click here.
By the time you receive this, the full length of the driveway, from Seven Springs Road to the new building, will be paved with asphalt. Next year it will be topped with a stone that will give it a more rustic appearance, but first it needs to endure the trials of a western New York winter and spring.
Another marked refinement to the Retreat Center was the recent placement of the bluestone wall cap atop the retaining walls and the walls flanking the main steps at the front entrance. (By the way, the stucco application on all these and the basement walls is about to begin.) It adds a finishing touch and offers a tantalizing hint of the final look, when the patio, steps, and reception area below the steps will all be bluestone.
Special thanks to Alan Temple, who contracted for and closely supervised both the driveway paving and the bluestone detail. Ever since groundbreaking (and before), no one has seen more front-line action on a wider variety of major theaters of the project than he. This week he prevailed in an appeal to county officials regarding the layout of the newly paved driveway at the point where it meets Seven Springs Road. They had ordered a whopping 3-lane beginning/end to the driveway, with a double yellow line and turn arrows in two of the lanes, but then yielded (pun intended) to his appeal to reason.
Other progress: The oak flooring is spreading over the dining room more widely every day, after a period of delays due to malfunctioning flooring nailers. John Pulleyn is pressing hard on the kitchen drywall finishing whenever he can get away from his hospital work (and major renovations to his own home). Other drywall specialists are Lou, when he's not juggling myriad other demands as the project foreman, and Mudding Queen, Helen Fuller, when she's not juggling myriad other demands as a housewife and mother of two school-age children.
Residents Mike Hurd and Frank Villone continue to plug away at trim work and deck flooring, respectively. Excellent turnouts at the last two Sangha workdays have helped advance other ongoing work: door hanging, door finishing, drywall hanging, shingling, and beam-hardware painting.
South of the Creek - Late-summer yield from the gardens: fat leeks ready for the soup pot; a bumper crop of daikon radishes, zinnias, and violets; and preserves from the pear trees. Our woodchucks are enormous, having tunneled right through to the compost heap, and made it their very own Wegman's supermarket. Kadi is building a cold frame around the fall lettuce in hopes of still having some after the first frost.
We have been getting to know local organic farmers, with Cook Marķa Elena zestfully using their produce (and sometimes their honey, goat milk, and eggs) in the meals. One of them, Dale Jacobs, has volunteered to teach us how to prune our long-neglected orchard. He also plans to come to the next introductory workshop at the Center.
September attack: in early September honey bees invaded the farmhouse. Lou managed to contain them, and if they keep to themselves through the winter a local beekeeper will remove them from the wall in the spring.
Retired caretaker Laimons Klava continues to volunteer his help, which has been especially valuable lately with the malfunctioning Rube Goldberg gravity-based garden watering system, installed in 1811.
Bulletin: House for sale on property that adjoins our land along Route 5 (not secluded). Built 1830, 2,700 sq. ft., asking $200,000. For details, contact the ZC receptionist.
Thanks to Lou and Kadi for their hefty writing assistance on this report.
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