Since we moved WP668 into our backyard on 12 May, we have been working on her between other family and job obligations. It will take at least the next year to get the biggest projects done. Our first efforts have been:
- Neatly trimming trees that were damaged during the crane lift
- Setting up a temporary power connection for the ceiling lights so we can work inside
- Sweeping and vacuuming the dust of ages
- Replacing missing and broken glass in windows, cleaning the windows that survived vandalism during storage
- Replacing the fence we took down to move WP668 in
- Buying and installing the car stops
A prior owner of WP668 cut through inside and outside walls to install a big window. He just made the hole – the window was never added. We have removed the cut 1″x6″ tongue and groove interior planks above and below the hole and are installing new 2″x6″ fir tongue and groove exterior boards to fill the hole. We will eventually replace the interior boards also.The caboose originally had 6 small sash windows that rose between the interior and exterior walls plus a 2 piece sliding window in each bay plus 2 sidelights in each bay. There are also glass windows in the doors at each end. We are retaining and restoring (or replacing) all of the windows except the one sash cut out by the prior owner since that wall will eventually feature floor-to-ceiling glass fronted bookcases. We are still working on filling the exterior wall hole. John and Paul primed the new fir tongue and grove boards last weekend with white paint. John is filling the irregular cavity spaces between the interior and exterior walls with cut-to-fit rigid foam insulation.
It was my job to remove the interior boards around the hole. I found that getting 91-year-old fitted and nailed boards out without splitting them is tricky. We saved the pieces in case we need original wood for repairs elsewhere. We are leaving all interior work until it starts to rain again next Autumn.
Someone asked why we have named WP668 “Kate Hall”. The name comes from Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew (Act II, Scene i), a play from about 1590 much-quoted to those of us named Katherine:
- PETRUCHIO: Good morrow, Kate; for that’s your name, I hear.
- KATHARINA: Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing: They call me Katharina that do talk of me.
- PETRUCHIO: You lie, in faith; for you are call’d plain Kate,
And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst;
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate,
For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,
Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.
- KATHARINA: Moved! in good time: let him that moved you hither
Remove you hence: I knew you at the first
You were a moveable.
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