8/15/19
(Above: The fortified Jacobhouse is now held in place by two chains per corner.)
Building Summary: Yesterday evening, I ordered a window air-conditioner for Jacobhouse*. Thus, this morning, instead of planning / building the frame for the kitchen counter (something that will be much easier without the portable AC in the way), I tended to other tasks. The first of these tasks included fastening Jacobhouse to its binblock foundation via tow-chain** – a process that entailed digging around the ‘nose’ of each block, hooking the bottom of the chain to the rebar (more in TIL section), extending the non-hook end up and through the container’s corner holes, and then tightening that non-hook end via bolt until the chain was taut. Throughout all this, I also had to split / cut off the excess towing chain with a pair of bolt cutters. This is how two 13-foot lengths of towing chain managed to fasten Jacobhouse to four different pylons.
After Jacobhouse was fully connected, I helped Padre and Wag connect Padre-studio and Madre-office in a similar fashion. To finish off the morning, I tidied up Jacobhouse and prepared it for A/C and counter activities.
TIL: Today I learned how to expand tow-chain hooks on purpose (usually this occurs out of misuse, but today we needed to expand the hooks so we could attach them to the rebar on our containers’ bin blocks). To do so, we first attempted to bend the hooks upon the teeth of our jaw-loader. This was a slow and inefficient process involving a 10-pound sledge hammer, so Padre decided to rev the loader up and use it to bend them. The task took some time to figure out, but we soon discovered that if we looped the hooks over the postern side of the lower jaw and then commenced to clamp that lower-jaw to the upper half of the bucket, it beny the hooks just the right amount to fit over a piece of rebar. This is a difficult process to describe to those who may not know what a jaw bucket is, so I have included a video:
Commentary: Jacobhouse may as well be a fortress against the weather. The container is now fastened with towing (grade 70) chain to 2’x2’x6′ bin blocks (lattermost is height) that are lodged into the soil 4+ feet deep. I don’t know how much force would be required to budge the dwelling, but what I do know is that if there is something that ever does, it will either be intentional – perhaps moving the container to another location after the chains have been removed – or it will be via a wind that will have already blown the entire farm away.
As for additional commentary, I cannot include much more, for now I am about to go out to eat. My brother is back from Colorado, so our family of four is gathering together and venturing to one of our favorite restaurants in Ocala. Mesa de Notte. There shall be high quality Italian and Latin-American food, and perhaps a couple glasses of wine. I’m looking forward to it! Twitter will have pictures later on.
Final Note: Tomorrow, the window air-conditioner will arrive sometime around noon. Thus, in the morning, I will probably continue neatening up Jacobhouse and tending to various small tasks. Perhaps I will seal in the space around the ovenhood. Then, in the afternoon, the portable A/C will be departing, and the window unit shall take its place.
** Chain of over double the gauge of that which was already present.