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Landis Slate Roof

June 8, 2009 by

We are getting close to wrapping up the Landis Slate Roof project in Rochester, Indiana. Slate installation is somewhat tedious, but the finished product leaves a lasting impression. Mr. Landis says that there has been a parade of walkers in the evening checking on the progress and he has received nothing but positive comments on the work. We’re always pleased to hear that!

Completed section showing random color and width of slate shingles

This project was challenging as the slate is random width and has a 70-30 color mix in a random pattern. That makes a lot to keep track of. We have used copper flashings over ice and water shield to keep all transitions water-tight. The original nails were galvanized cut nails. We are using a combination of copper nails and stainless steel nails. New aluminum gutters are being installed. Gutter straps are hidden and protected using slate bibs.

We are currently working on the spire as you can see in the pictures. We used a flashing with a crimped standing seam in the center of the hip. Unlike the rest of the roof where we used a slate cutter, we used a saw to cut the pieces so they could be installed with less waste at the hip transition.

The ridge details you see are galvanized metal pieces that were pop riveted together and nailed in place. They had deteriorated and rusted. Mr. Landis had a local body shop sand blast them, fill any holes and paint them with an auto quality paint. He commented, “I don’t want to have to have anyone on this roof again in my lifetime!” The silver color really shines in the sun and provides a wonderful highlight.

See previous entries on this project here and here.

Culver’s Wolf’s Dilemma

February 19, 2009 by

Can Culver survive Wolf’s Dilemma? For those of you that don’t know, there are various versions of Wolf’s Dilemma, but basically it goes as follows:

This is the Dilemma. A random sample of people are chosen to “play”.

You are each placed in a separate booth and cannot communicate with each other at all.
In each booth is a button and nothing else.
You are required to stay in the booth for 5 minutes during which time you can either press the button or not press it.
You do not find out if anyone else pressed the button until the 5 minutes are over.

The Payoff

If nobody presses the button during those 5 minutes, then each person gets $100,000.
If anyone at all presses the button, then:
- Each person who pressed the button gets $20,000.
- Each person who did not press the button gets nothing at all.

Except this is Culver. Everyone knows everyone else. Does that make it better or worse?

There seems to be a constant battle between the various factions in Culver. The Mary Means Study that was completed several years ago referred to these groups as tribes and labeled the main tribes as the Academies, Town, Lake and Ag. Unfortunately the chiefs and their allegances seem to change depending on what the issue is. Pardon me for not printing my list here, but I think we can all name an issue or squabble. If I name even one here I’ll be on one side or another of a group or individual with which I have to work! At times this goes all the way down to issues between individual board or committee members that are unable to work together.

My point is that we all should quit pushing the button! If we work together for the common good, we would all be better off. Occasionally we do come together for the common good. The original formation of the Second Century Committee is an example of this for civic groups. The Culver Union Township Public Library as well as the EMS and Fire that are under a Town and Township partnership are good examples in the public sector. We should do it more often.

Key West

December 29, 2008 by

As mentioned in a previous post, Becky and I took some time off after Thanksgiving to travel south. We didn’t find the best weather, but we still had a good time. We spent the weekend after Thankgiving in Atlanta and then drove down to Key West, FL on Monday. We basically had three days at Key West (Tues, Wed, Thurs) before driving back to Atlanta on Friday.

This is our second trip to Key West in two years. We went there last year at this time and enjoyed it as well. This year we had somewhat of a heads up on what we had seen and liked and knew a little more about where to go. Last year we visited the Key West Garden Club in the West Martello, Hemingway’s Home, Truman’s Little White House and Fort Zachery Taylor. This year we visited East Martello Fort Museum, the Butterfly Conservatory as well as returning to Fort Zachary Taylor and doing some additional neighborhood exploration. We enjoyed the live blues music at the Sunset Pier and enjoyed the <warning!> raunchy songs and humor by Pete & Wayne at Sloppy Joes.

Quote from Craig Ladwig

July 14, 2008 by

“A recent Rasmussen survey found that the approval rating of Congress — of all political bodies, is our guess — has fallen into single digits. The number of people who think Congress is doing a good job now can be explained by estimates of those wandering around drunk at any given time or, most plausibly, needing psychiatric care. ” – from The Virtues of Contrary Voting by Craig Ladwig in the Indiana Policy Review, July 16, 2008

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