Back to Aursøyan

On the day we went to the travel agent it was cold and rainy.

It was so cold (the high that day was 52 F) we lit the woodstove. 

We looked at the forecast for Aursøyan (the Aursoey Islands).  It looked like it was going to be overcast and cold with temps in the high 50s.  But at least no rain to speak of.  We had some projects to do out there, so we decided to go ahead and make the trek.

Later, after the trip, when Tove described our week on the island to Unn,  Unn replied, "Momma, that wasn't vacation, that was Labor Camp."

Our work included (I should write "Tove's work".  I was hampered by my shoulder injury.):

1.  The bedroom project.  One of the bedrooms (the largest) had become a storage closet over the years.  Mattresses, beds, lamps, tables, old sea charts, magazines, pulp fiction from the 50s, you name it.  We decided to clear it out and turn it into a usable bedroom.  The wallpaper was 60 yrs old or so.  The wallboard behind the wallpaper had detached itself in places from the studs.  The ceiling was in desperate need of paint.  By the end of the week we had stripped the walls, primed them (the wallboard SUCKED the primer in like a sponge), reattached the loose boards to the studs, and put 2 or 3 (I forget) coats of paint on the ceiling (I painted 20%, Tove 80%).  I also built and installed a wood-panel cover over the plastered portion of the interior wall that at one time was behind a woodstove used to heat the upstairs.  It was ugly and it had a 12" hole near the ceiling that held the exhaust pipe that connected to the chimney.

We warmed ourselves the first night with homemade chili.

 2.  I finished and painted the built-in closet in the master bedroom.  I'm really proud of this job that took years to finish.  I used hand tools only.  I've never done any carpentry in my life, except for building the deck in my backyard.  I'll take a picture next time we go to the island.

3.  Tove put 2 (3?) coats of paint on a kitchen wall that had been replaced several years ago, but never painted.  Bare wood requires lots of paint.

4.  Tove refinished the front door with a new coat of marine varnish.  She did this on one of the 2 good days of weather we had that week.

Still and warm.  We had breakfast on the terrace.  Note the fog offshore.  Several hours later we were enveloped in fog, but we enjoyed a lovely warm day in the sun.

Warm enough to break out the Hawaiiana.

Fog's a' comin' but not 'til late afternoon.

5.  We cut a lot of grass on the lot.  I wish we could borrow sheep or goats to eat the grass during the summer.  It grows to about 18 - 24 inches and it is impossible to cut with a regular lawnmower.  We used a weed-eather, which took forever.

6.  One of the windows on the second story that faces seaward, bearing the brunt of the prevailing winter storms developed a leak around the mullion.  You didn't know what a mullion was, either.

Mullion

The central vertical members that may frame a window 

                                         
Source:  http://prointeriordesigner.com/construction/windows/

It's a piece of wood molding in our case and it had rotted.  We didn't have the exact same kind of trim or molding among a plethora of different sorts left over from other carpentry jobs over the years.  I found one piece that would be close enough.  I found an old miter box and a hacksaw, but it didn't support the angles I needed.  Luckily, I was able to pry the rotted piece free without breaking the window and while keeping the ends intact so that I could trace them and custom cut the molding.  The first time, I screwed up on the measurements so the piece was too short.  Damn.  The second time, though, the piece fit perfectly.  We painted it and nailed it into the window frame (without breaking the glass!).  We did the work by straddling one leg through the window opening and hanging out the window.  We were pleased with the result.  The seaward side of the house really takes a beating.

We took some time to visit cousins and have coffee with them, but otherwise we worked all day, every day.  Exhausted after over a week of "Labor Camp" we went back home to Trondheim and delightfully warm weather in the high 70s.  I grilled fresh salmon on the barbecue as we celebrated the return of warm weather to Trondheim

Grilled salmon, fresh corn on the cob, grilled zucchini, tomatoes and bell peppers, fresh red onion in red wine vinegar.  Brown rice.  Ice cold beer.