Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

One more time, read my lips......It's NOT purple. That was a viscous rumor started by some interloper in an attempt to get the peoples of our great nation to pick sides and become divided. The threat is everywhere, don't let it suck you in. ;D

[beenthere]

It just looks purple.  8)

[Old Greenhorn]

I think you guys all need new monitors. :D

[gspren]

" No Trespass Purple" should keep people out of your box, is that why no lock?  ;D 

[21incher]

I just analyzed it and the color is Puce  ;D. That's on a 32 inch 4k calibrated monitor.

[Old Greenhorn]

It's official, I give up. Y'all are hopeless.

[btulloh]

Toolbox Puce is only one row above and three columns to the left of Loginator Brown on the Pantone chart.

[Old Greenhorn]

I do find it telling that so many folks made time to comment on the color paint I use, but nobody seemed to give a hang about the fact that I could have lost my whole shop to a chimney fire. I guess I focus on the wrong things and I really should think more about how important aesthetics are and more importantly what names we attach to particular attributes.

[Old Greenhorn]

I find myself having a hard time getting out of that 'rainy weather funk'. It subsided a bit yesterday but rained again overnight and we had some heavy downpours up until about 1pm today.
 I went down to Bill's late morning thinking I would work more on chipper blades, having what I needed to fit those smaller blades in the grinder. I stopped at the house and we had coffee, then the rain got really heavy, so we had more coffee, talked through some upcoming plans, and I eventually got into the shop at about 11. The plates I had cut will work fine, but I didn't have clamps that would hold them in place and I needed some think shims and clamps with deeper throats. I looked around his shop but couldn't find anything that would work. So I grabbed all the parts we had gotten from WM to bring down to the mill. Bill had warned me that the water got 'kind of' high down there in the rain yesterday and the water jugs I had left floated all over. He didn't tell me logs had also floated around. ;D I got through the high water from the swamp that covered the road and found two logs blocking my easy entry point to the mill. I thought he had dropped them there in his haste to get something done (he does that sometimes). Turns out those logs floated off the pile and dropped right across the access when the water dropped back down.
 So I went in the other way and hunted for the water jugs that floated away. I don't think I found them all, some were 60' away from where i set them. I dropped off another 10 jugs and the parts and surveyed the mess. He did mill some quick lumber up since I was milling last week and I need to clean up his slabs and bark. I shot a quick video on the way out.

It rained at the Mill. - YouTube

I wound up with no paying time for the day, but that's fine. Some days are like that, they can't all be winners and frankly I wasn't really in a working mood today, given the weather.
 Tomorrow is another day, lets see what that brings.

[aigheadish]

Now that you mention it, Tom, I'm happy your shop didn't burn down! That'd been rough! 

[Old Greenhorn]

Spring routine continues here as I try to get back into a working groove. On Monday I got a small mushroom log order from a returning client, so I cut those on Tuesday and she will pick them up next week. I am still 3 orders behind at the mill still. I hacked out some more 2x4's the other day for an order and am getting close on finishing up 2 orders. 



 

Yesterday I was between logs on the deck and we decided I should mill up some of the old 'nuggets' that have been in my way all along. It was time to find out if we had table slabs or BTU's in those chunks and move them out either way.

 So I started with the biggest one, a tight crotch and wangled it up on the mill using the manual back stops. I could reach out far enough to get a clamp on it. It was about 38" wide. Just about the time I was going to start cutting, around the bend come 3 utility trucks from the power company. Then Bill's guys came down with a mini-ex to loan them for the job. They had apparently decided today was the day to move all the wires from the old pole by the mill, to the new pole they set 6 weeks ago. Well, the foreman looked up at the brand new pole, and the brand new holes the local woodpecker had hammered all over it and decided they couldn't use that pole, they would need a new one. This required a lot of debate and discussion on their part. Then they all wanted to see the mill work, so we fired it up and tried to take a slice off, but we just couldn't quite get it through the guides. We backed out (without blowing off the blade!) and I sliced a couple inches off the side with a chainsaw. We opened the thing up and there was too much rot inside so it all went on the forks for the OWB as is.



 

 The power co. guys decided they couldn't get a new pole in that day and called it off. They all left and Bill's guys took the mini-ex back up the hill. I grabbed another nugget and tried again, this one was nearly as bad, more BTU's. Not a good day, but I cleared some more working room.
 Between the bark and all the rotten sapwood, these things make a mess, so I had a lot of cleaning up to do. I took 3 loads up to the OWB. As I was getting the cleaning wrapped up and ready to restart, here comes Bill's guy again with the mini-ex. They unloaded it and parked it. Turns out they got word the power guys were coming back with a pole and going to get it done anyway. I knew they would block me into the mill for the duration and the heavy rain was due in about an hour, so I finished and got out before they arrived. I dumped one more load at the OWB and as I was leaving I ran into the crew coming back in, so I had to back up 1/4 mile to let them pass. This time it was 4 trucks. On my way I passed two more trucks, one with an excavator on a trailer and the other with more crew. Glad I wasn't stuck down there, but I had to ask myself "how many guys does it take to swap a power pole?"

 With my wife's van still out of commission I am losing a lot of work time taking her where she needs to be most days. We got a donor van last week and Tuesday night we yanked the axle out of it, planning to get the other one out on Wednesday evening, but the mechanic turned up sick so we put it off for another day. But in the meantime we got a better look at the 'new axle' and released it too has some rot. It's not bent or damaged, but there is no point putting it in the way it is. Bill is gonna try welding some plates on it if he can find a good base to work from.
 I remain hopeful.

 Today is clear and cooler and I have no errands to take the wife on. So I am going to pack a lunch and head to the mill to see what I can get done.

 I am still waiting for my chimney parts. Glad it isn't February. I ordered on the 6th and they didn't ship until the 14th (yesterday). All parts were listed as "in stock". Not sure what their issue is, but I'm not happy. At this point it's all academic, but on rainy days it is nice to have a fire to dry out the air in the shop.

 We, it's another day, I best get to it.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well yesterday went mostly as planned. It stayed a bit cooler so I didn't get soaked with sweat, but a very nice day. I got to the mill and found the power co. guys had finished the pole replacement. They left the old pole (well, 3 months old) and that pecker hole was impressive:



 

It's about 7" deep and there is another one about 5' down from the top, the one above is about 16" from the top. We can use that pole for storm damage repair work or something because even cut off we should have over 30'. The new pole has no holes......yet. ;D

 So I got to work searching for the 'right' logs to maybe finish the flooring order and I found one I could trim to get good wood out of. It took a little monkeying around to get it on the mill and trimmed but I got nice boards out of it. Before I went for a second (hopefully final) log I went across the road to recount all the boards because I started this job in December and it's possible I lost a few or the count got messed up over time. As it turns out, I had 101 boards on a 100 board order, so it is DONE. I double checked my count and it stands.

 Moving on, I scouted logs for the next order to finish, some 1x12x10'+ for fencing. That job is starting either this week or next, so I gotta get it done. Ironically, I found some stuff stacked for the OWB that I believe I can get those 10 footers out of. I need the grapple to pick them out and stage them, and I had the forks on the tool cat. It was past lunchtime so I sat down and had a couple of hard boiled eggs, an orange, and a bottle of water. It was such a nice day, and I was so pleased that the flooring order I hated was finally complete, that I decided to blow off the afternoon. I cleaned the mill and headed home. I took a shower and brought the wife to town, she did some laundry while I got a much needed haircut next door. I've wanted that haircut for over a month, just didn't have time. We did a couple more errands and came home. I did some chores and that was pretty much the day.

 Looks like we have rain coming in today so I'm not certain what I am working on. I might cut up some Loginator parts or I might head down and at least pull logs to the deck. Either way, I got stuff to do and another day to do them.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well today wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. I ordered the brake parts for the wife's axle rebuild this morning and they were in stock. I did some phone business with LogRite to tweak the order I am picking up on Saturday and then I packed the wife in the truck and took her to her quilt group. That put me 2 towns over so I did the loop and stopped to look over a portable mill site (see other thread), then wanted to top off the gas tank before picking up the brake parts. I couldn't find a gas station with a price that didn't make me puke, so I passed on that, but got the parts the mechanic asked for. I got home and loaded water in the truck for the mill and put my lunch in a bag and headed to the mill. As I walked into the shop to drop off the parts, I realized they gave me (drum) brake shoes instead of (disc) brake Pads. I was ticked. The van has disc brakes an I told them that when I ordered the parts. I put the parts back in my truck, transferred the water and my tools to the toolcat and drove to the mill. All the while doping a slow steam about the wrong parts and another trip to town. >:(
 Upon arrival at the mill I found that 'somebody' had been there and pulled out some of the milled lumber. Where it went I have no idea, hopefully to the customer, but what was left, a pile of about 40 2x4x12's and 14's was in a tumbled heap. Worse, somebody had scarred up the ground around the operators area and killed the drainage. So now I have 6 inches of mud to slog through as I carry lumber from the mill to the stack. I confess, I was pretty ticked, in fact really ticked. So I spent a half hour re-stacking 2x4's (they are still heavy) and then I tried to regrade the mud so the water would drain out. I didn't have a bucket down there, so I did the best I could the back end of the forks on the tool cat and did the rest by hand. It was draining good when I left, but it will take a couple of days before it is anything but a soupy mess. All I know is, somebody has some 'splaining to do. ;D

 I turned to milling and got the first log, a small knarly 8'+ log queued up. With sweep there would be much left of it, but it's either lumber or BTU's, right? About that time the parade started. Down the steep bank from the house yard came a row of chickens. About 6 of them in single file and they headed right for the puddle to drink. A minute or so later, 4 or 5 more came down. I got chickens everywhere. After drinking they started milling about looking for 'stuff'. 


 

I dunno, maybe @Southside  can explain it. I figure it was some kind of omen or something.
 Anyway, I got more out of that log then I expected, and nice clear wood. (maybe the chickens?) I ate my lunch then I put up another log and got a bunch more. The sky got dark and the clouds rolled in and I could taste the rain. So I packed up the slabs on the forks, cleaned up my gear and headed up. I moved my tools back tot he truck, parked the toolcat in front of the OWB ready to dump the load in and headed home. Called the autoparts place and they explained they gave me the drum shoes for the E-brake and that axle has disc brakes for driving but a drum for the E-brake. OK yes, that's what I was supposed to get. But I had never seen this combo brake system on any cars I had fixed. Guess I am old. ;D SO I didn't have to run to town, I have the right parts.

 It's still snotty out and the rain, not a whole lot, did come. I re-started the woodstove in the house to get the chill out of my back. It's 77° at my desk now and I am just beginning to feel warmish.
 Tomorrow, depending on when I get moving, I might make up another pair of those lumber bunks before I head to the mill. They are turning out the be pretty handy. Bill scoffed and made fun of them, but now that he is picking lumber off them he likes them a lot. He doesn't mind me brining home the heavily waned 2x4's and coming back with a pair of those so much anymore. :D I only had 3 pair, and I need more. It helps me separate orders too.
 If I get going late, I'll just head to the mill and put in a full day and figure out where all these orders stand. Getting a little more organized is something we have to work on together. I think I am loosing track of milled work and need to get a handle on that. I also need to clean the truck out for the visit to LogRite on Saturday. I hope to leave at 7am so we don't miss much.
 Tomorrow is another day.

[Southside]

That's a regular event around here. Couple weeks ago a customer was pulling out with a trailer load of 2X lumber and on the back of the trailer was a hen, just perched and going for a ride!  :D

[thecfarm]

Now if I could could train my rocks to ride!!!!
I have been trying to rake here. Got a few of the wife's herb beds done, than the wind really started to blow. Between the too wet, too windy, working, too busy or too lazy, I am not getting much raking done. I only have two oak trees behind the house. Leave all that for the deer to paw for arcons.
Than the wife's herb beds and flowers beds too. 
I rake the ditch beside the driveway.
Did finally get to the peas.

[Old Greenhorn]

 Yeah, the stuff we wanna see leave never seems to does it? :D
 I dunno, maybe the chickens are good mojo or something. Yesterday I was a little bummed abut 'loosing' around 100 2x4's I know I cut for an order, but I shook it off and did some milling while forgetting about it for the moment. The chickens cheered me up.

 I thought about the missing lumber a lot last night trying to figure out how I screwed up my tally sheet or what else I did wrong. I KNOW I made that lumber, in fact I grumbled a little about having it all over and it was getting in my way. BINGO! It then dawned on me that I was complaining about the lack of room and the client was anxious to start his build and came and got what I had milled back in December. I cleared that up with Bill today and he conformed my recollection. All good, I just had to fall back on my tally sheet to know if I had the order done. 

Today I finished off that order and made a good dent in another one which I only need a few boards to finish up. We have a running fence order I am near done with for a build that Bill crew is doing and I am not sure where that stands, they aren't either. Seems they might need some longer boards and have me on hold until they see where they stand, then I will make what they need to dress it off. A couple other orders to check over and make sure they are still required but we are closing in on getting even. Then we have to get ready for that portable job.
 The chickens did come down this afternoon again and this time the rooster came and stationed himself right in the middle of the loading deck crowing regularly as I worked on my tally sheet. Man that sucker has got some impressive spurs! Glad he's not aggressive.
 
I headed home from the mill to clean the truck up for tomorrow's drive with the wife, a months worth of coffee cups and water bottles. I hosed the mud and bird doo off of it, but didn't wash it.
 Looking forward to tomorrow and seeing some 'like minded folks'. I'm due for a 'fun day' with no goal in mind besides enjoyment and a chance to spend a little money. ;D I texted with Jeff and Tammy a couple of times today, they were making great time....until they hit CT. ;D They should have been there by the time of this posting, I sure hope so.
 
Tomorrow is another day, and I think it will be a good one.
 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Looking forward to being in your blog!

[Old Greenhorn]

Catching up a little bit here. As planned we went to the LogRite Open house on Saturday, but it was a tough trip. Friday evening my vertigo reared it's ugly head in a very real way and Saturday morning was pretty bad. We planned on leaving at 7am and I was up at 5 trying to get my head clear. I did that 'maneuver that is supposed to give relief and let the crystals in the ear relocate, but all that did was cause some kind of vagal response that caused me to puke violently for about 10 minutes. Still I was determined that I wouldn't miss this event and a rare chance to meet up with the crew. I also had a large order sitting at LogRite for pickup, so I was going to have to drive out anyway and it might as well be during the open house I thought. 
 
It's a pretty easy 2.5 hour drive to the east for us on a Saturday morning along 84 but there is a reason I call CT "The Constipation State" and there is always some kind of traffic. For me, on Saturday, this was a drive from hell. The traffic was just normal moderate and we made good time with practically no slow downs. However the vertigo made it such that I had to concentrate on every inch of the road the whole way. You cannot rely on your senses in most normal ways and things appear differently, especially when dealing with motion. I could not turn my head to check traffic because snapping my head around put the whole world in a spin. SO my wife had to do double duty watching our sides and rear. Lane changes were a team effort. Still we arrived safely with zero issues.
 
None the less, just walking around I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb with my wide gait to keep my balance and the cane. I walked like a drunk trying to get to the restroom in time. So I was not very much on my game at all and missed many opportunities to get the most out of the day and forgot to talk to some folks about things on my mind or questions I had. I had wanted to talk to Shaina about whether they needed a Riteleg rep in NY and if that would be helpful to them because I note that they don't have one yet.
 
Still I did get a lot of learning just by standing in the right place with the right folks. I hung around with Dennis (TerrificTimbers) quite a bit and learned a lot just listening to him talk to the Woodmizer guys about mill issues. All stuff I can put to use within a week and will likely save me some pain. You can't buy knowledge like that at any price. We enjoyed just sitting down or walking around with FF friends and enjoying the beautiful weather that had been arranged for the day. They put on quite a show but I was definitely off my feed and not feeling well at all.
 
When it got to the point where I knew we should be getting on the road I knew I made a mistake driving over because the thought of driving home scared the heck out of me. My wife has not driven my truck hardly at all but I asked and she was willing, so she drove home. Surprisingly that was just as tough on me with the swaying of the truck and those 70mph curves around Hartford. But she got us home safe and sound. We had a great time and having made it OK, I am really glad we went. Sadly I took no photos, I could focus my eyes well enough and just getting around was all I could manage.
 
I think next year I will do the same and plan my large purchases around the open house and save the shipping. This time I came back with 2 pairs of picnic table legs (which filled the truck bed) and a hookeroon and a 48" peavy, plus some extra knowledge and a warm fuzzy feeling.

 Each day since then I feel just slightly better than the day before but there is no way I would feel safe running the mill let alone climbing into a skidsteer. Still using the cane for balance. We had a monthly chiro tune-up yesterday and my guy found a 'counter rotated C1' which he says probably contributed to the clogged Eustachian tube that started this back in February. He adjusted that and a bunch of other stuff. But today I am only mildly improved from yesterday.
I also had a client come pick up logs yesterday, a repeat client from last year. I had a hard time just helping her load a few logs. SO I am piddling in the shop making some more lumber bunks up to use at the mill and today I may paint and put together another Loginator to have for show. I have just one outstanding pre-order of logs due near the end of May for a workshop and am done cutting any others until late June and full leaf out.

 Lets see what I can get done today.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   Sorry to hear about you being on the puny list. I hope you get over that vertigo soon and shake the double vision, dizziness and problems discerning colors. :

    BTW - my new debarker blade seems to be working fine on my mill. I did trip the breaker a few times on my last sawing job but it was because of knots causing binding not just because the sharp blade was digging in too much. I did have to stop and tighten the nut on the bottom one time and will keep an eye on that. 
  

[Old Greenhorn]

Glad to hear your debarker is working well, That's important.
 I will get over this dis-orientation thing at some point, it just takes time. Fortunately there is no effect on my ability to discern colors such as you chronically suffer. I can still tell the difference between brown and purple even in my 'weakened state'. :D ;D

 Sunday would have been a great day to be milling, but I heard my friend Bill rototilling his Dad's garden across the road, so I drove the Mule over and joined his Pop on the deck watching his son turn up all that nice black dirt and dreaming of the summers big beefsteak tomatoes. Hard work fascinates me and I can sit and watch it for hours. :D Pretty soon we had a bunch of us sitting on the porch, Bill's Dad, me, then the fella that came to pick up the rototiller, then Bill's brother, then Bill's wife. We all enjoyed watching him work as we all sat in the pleasant sunshine. Bill Sr. grows a great garden, about 70' square and he puts some of his stuff out on a stand. Last year just didn't work and he planted 3 times before giving up. The weather (heavy rains mostly) kept wiping out his plantings and he got very low yields. In years past he was supplying local restaurants. I am hoping for a better year this year, as we all are, on many levels.

[Old Greenhorn]

Catching up on the totally boring slice of time that has been my life this week. I am still 'fuzzy in the head' but each day a little less so. Tuesday I made up more log bunks and in the late afternoon and went down to Bill's to play 'tool fetch boy' for the mechanic swapping the rear end on my wife's van. He gave me a parts list and I picked those up on Wednesday morning and after that that I pulled out all the pre-cut parts for 2 Loginators and painted them, which still takes too long as I can't spray them outside yet. Very windy here yet and too cold.
 
Wednesday evening back to Bill's with the mechanic and it was all done except to weld the sway bar anchor point on the 'new' axle. Bill wanted to do that, but he was still out working so we left it up on the jackstands. Besides, the tri-axle log truck is parked right behind it (getting a new exhaust system and filters/oil change) and we couldn't pull it out anyway.
 
Thursday I assembled one of the loginators halfway and remade a top board for the second one because I didn't like the wood condition. I also had forgotten to make the 45° angle backstops, so I made those and painted them. About that time Bill called and wondered if I would have that hemlock siding order done by the evening for him to deliver. SO it went from a 'it will get done when it gets done' job to a 'I need to deliver it tonight' job just like that. Yeah, we have to work on that. "No, I had not started it. but if you need it I can run down, finish off the small 2x order then make that if there is a log there. I am still wobbly so it will take some time, but I think I can get it done." So I headed to the mill around 2:30 and the wind is out of the north (not normal) and coming through the mill area like a wind tunnel at 20-30MPH. Safety glasses didn't even help much. I finished off the 2x order and put up this knarley hemlock log. One side live edge is new for me to do 'on purpose' so I had to figure it out while trying to keep all the boards between 10 and 12" wide per the order. When I got the whole deck sliced at 1" thick and went to flip for the final edge I realized that log had 18" of rot coming in from one end and nearly 2 feet from the other end. I wound up with 6' of usable board which did not fit the "8,10,or 12' long" in the order. SO pretty much a waste of my time. I wouldn't sell that to anyone anyway, but I stacked them so Bill could see what we had. Shame on me for not seeing it earlier.
 

I have another hemlock on the deck, but it was 5pm, my wife didn't know I would be gone so long, let alone into the evening, and the mechanic was due back at 5:30. So I blew off the job, shut the mill down and brought all the slabs up to the OWB. I used the shop landline to call the wife and bring her up to speed and delay dinner. I waited until 6pm and nobody had showed. I managed to get out a text or two and when I finally had given up and was driving out, I got an answer that the mechanic was on the way. So I figured I would meet him on the road coming in. The sway bar was still not yet welded so there was nothing more he could do anyway, but I wanted to pay him. SO I caught him on the road up by my house, paid him and explained the layout, at which point Bill pulled up. They all went down to the shop, I went in for dinner. It as about 7pm and I was tired and pretty fuzzy.

 Around 9:30 Bill is standing at my side door trying to freak out my cat who is growling at him. So he came in and had a beer and we talked for a bit. The he asks me to give him a ride home. I figured he had truck issues or something. He tells me he drove the van down and needs a ride back, all done.  SO back down the road we went one more time.

 Today I will try to get that hemlock done and figure out where I stand on all the other orders because I am nearly caught up...I think. Just some 20' 6x6's and a couple of other small orders. I am still having some small issues running the mill with this groggy head. My depth perception is way off and I have trouble seeing to the far end. Also my motor skills are off, so I have to work very deliberately and not trust my instincts so much. Last night I caught a knot on the log during a drag back and popped the blade off. I seem to get tired easily with all the focused work and thinking. So I'll just get that done, then spend the afternoon in my shop finishing up that one Loginator. The other one I will keep in pieces until I get an order for it or sell the first one. It takes up less space that way and I can assemble it in 15 minutes.

 It's another day, right?

[aigheadish]

Yay to getting the van back! Now get your head back too!

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, it's good to have that monkey off my back....for the moment. She has yet to take it for a test drive and I think I need to bleed those brakes a bit more, but pretty good to go. We really should replace it, but between the cost of vehicles these days and the lack of ready cash right now, we just can't see a way.... yet.

 Today was a pretty good day. I got to the mill before 10am. It's still cool, but the wind has dropped a bit and is only gusting at 25 now. I re-cut that live edge siding order out of a nice log and got it done. The other stuff I cut last night will go in the OWB. What a waste of my time. I also completed another order that was hanging on a single 2x6x10. I put up a nice clean 22" pine log and took that out of it and milled the rest into 1x12's, 2x4's, and two 4x4's. All of that came home with me. This is why I HATE 6' pickup beds, carrying 12' lumber is no fun. ;D I stacked all that in the shop. about 150BF. I am still a bit wobbly and dizzy if I swing my head from looking at the log back to the control panel trying to find the switch to move the debarker or blade guide quick and my depth perception is not what it should be either. When I bend over it's a bit of an adventure standing back up and if I am lifting slabs it is even more so. So I had to take my time to avoid mistakes. But it was a pretty nice day, so I enjoyed my breaks a bit more often. 

 I have to design and build an 3x5' outdoor work bench for my mushroom education client. it needs to be enclosed and secured underneath for storage. So I finished unloading and had lunch around 2 and then set in to designing this bench. I think I am going a bit overboard for a pine workbench sitting outside, but I figured I would use this as a test to see if I can get my mortised lap joints to fit better. It will be overkill, but will look slick if I do it right. I can't charge the client for all my time, but this will be a fun little project. I figure 4x4 legs with 2x4 stringers lap mortised into the legs. Then a 'floor' in the bottom cabinet made of 1x12's. The top will be 2 layers of 1x12's, the first layer lengthwise and the second one on a 45° bias. The sides and the doors will be B&B. I think I have the design pretty much worked out and tomorrow I hope to get a good start on the frame.
 Pat has a craft show on Sunday, so I don't know how much time I will have with helping her get setup.
 One day at a time, today was a fairly good one.

[Ljohnsaw]

The top will be 2 layers of 1x12's, the first layer lengthwise and the second one on a 45° bias.

Thinking of putting a layer of tar paper between them then rain won't get to the inside so easily.  Just a thought.

[Old Greenhorn]

It's a great thought and I considered that but I am wondering if it would foster rot? What do you think? Any water would work down in the cracks, then sit there and have no where to go. I'm conflicted. :D