John,  You are too clever by half.  Ruth




At 9:53 AM -0400 8/5/08, John Leeke wrote:
>Down under one corner of the house, look up under the box sill, you'll
>find a little flap of rubber hanging down. Pull on it a little and
>you'll see it's tied into a knot. Hold above the knot with your thumb
>and index finger, then untie the knot, but keep holding above, real
>tight. Now, here's the easy part, with your other thumb and finger
>stretch the rubber sideways and a little air will escape, making a
>little squeaking sound. Stretch looser and the squeak is more like a low
>squawk, stretch tighter and you get a nice high pitched squeaky squeak.
>Now, here's the tricky part, experiment with the pitch and you'll soon
>notice that the nails in the joists vibrate a little, you don't want
>that. A little lower pitch is good, then the nuts on the tie bolts that
>fasten the sill plate to the foundation will vibrate. Then get a little
>harmonic going, squeaky berrrr-berrr-zeeeeeky, and the nuts will loosen
>and twirl right up and off the bolts. Now, here's the dangerous part,
>let go of the flap of rubber and get out of there as fast as you can.
>Don't worry about the "flabby, flabby" sound, that's just all the air
>rushing out the flap of rubber. Get yourself outside quick, on the other
>side of the house from where you want it to be, then just lean on the
>wall of the house. The flabby air acts like a little jet that slightly
>lifts the building and you just ease it over to where you want it,
>little at a time, but you have to pay attention and not wander all about
>the neighborhood with it, just go straight to the new location for the
>house, because there only a limited supply of air in a house with
>balloon-framing.
>
>John (the building innovation switch has no off position) Leeke
-- 
Ruth Barton
[log in to unmask]
Dummerston, VT

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>