3rd insulation panel on wall drying.

   My desk at work.  This is how it looks these days, with a sign that says I am working from home.  I went in because I need to help with some hardware testing as I had a piece of hardware that worked, and a new piece of hardware wasn't working.  Fine day out and I hope maybe I need to come back so I can bike in.

   My basement window usually is covered with aluminum foil.  That doesn't let any light in, which is why I used it.  However, I wanted to have some light but not allow a view into the basement.  So I found this translucent pattern, liked the way it look, and am trying that out.
   More insulation went up today finishing off the first layer on the north wall.  I'm now thinking about how I will do the second layer which will include some 2"x4" studs.  The studs are easy.  The trick is attaching them to the wall and ceiling.

   I was a dragon for Halloween.  The costume is leftover, but I still like it.

   I made this pen holder today.  I had tried using something I made of duct tape, but it wasn't doing a good job.  So a small piece of scrap wood, some left-over foam for a angle template, and my drill press, I came up with this.  Works pretty good so far.

   Sadly I was unable to do a haunted house in our garage this year.  Between house repairs and the pandemic I just didn't think it was a good idea.  Having lots of kids walk through an enclosed area just seemed like a bad idea, and I needed that space for using my large power tools.  So we set a bowl of candy out front with a sign apologizing. 
   In the evening we had a much smaller Halloween gathering than in years past.  Since it was pretty nice outside we started a fire and most people mingled out there.  Inside everyone needed a facemask (which we provided) and a temperature check.  It isn't full-proof, but better than nothing.  We haven't had a gathering outside of bon fires since March and Halloween is an important gathering.  So we'll see how we did in the following days.

   The first two pieces of foam insulation are now installed.  I don't have a good way to press them against the wall while the adhesive drys, so I use a rather strange wedge contraption.  It seems to work, but I can only install a single panel at a time.

   Another look at the attic's replace floor boards.  More work was done adding insulation along the rim joist in the basement, but I have no pictures.  I now have two layers of 2" insulation along the rim joist, and spray in foam to cover areas I could not get to with insulation.  This closes the cavity between the rim joist and the wall edge, so now I can add insulation to the wall from the floor all the way to the ceiling.  Do i need this much insulation?  Probably not, but I'd rather have no gaps for animals to travel behind the walls.

   In working on the attic I picked up a new tool: an oscillating multi tool.  Some of the boards in the attic that needed to be replaced were right on the edge.  This edge has a 2x4" nailed on top of it and makes the nails on the edge of the board inaccessible.  These boards would have to be removed in order to be replaced.  The oscillation tool with a duel-metal/wood saw blade was just what I needed.  I was able to cut off the old nails and pull the remains of the old boards out.  Then I could replace it all with the new floor boards I cut.  Some of the nails were a more stubborn than others but I was able to remove them all. 
   I was going to replace the missing cellulose insulation with more cellulose insulation, but the guy at the home improvement store said you really need a machine to blow that insulation in.  Instead he recommended using loss fill fibreglass.  The price is about the same, but you can break it and fluff it by hand.  So I picked up a bale of that and soon had all the rafters topped off.

   More work in the attic, but I'm not done yet.  I also installed this 1" piece of foam in the sunken section of the north wall.  This will allow the outer layer of insulation to sit flush.