Rescued from the rooftop of my parents home this weathervane proudly sails again!!!

Many years ago my dad was on a mission.  He wanted to create a Cupola for the roof of their home that made a statement about the people who lived there.  He set out to do what he did best and created an octagonal shaped whimsy that would fit over the roof ridge, was 6 feet in diameter, had louvered side panels and a marvelous octagon shaped copper roof.  Once he got it done sitting on the garage floor he looked at it with momentary misgivings because this thing was huge.  Had he made a mistake with the proportion?

Well it was done so in those days when he needed grunt labor he called the husband.  That would be my husband.  You know the one who always gets to do the nasty work.  The one who is on top of the pergola hammering boards into place on a 95 degree day.  The one who had to hop up on the roof to clean the gutters.  The one who helped him and 4 others carry a huge piece of antique marble back to the patio for a sideboard he’d built, in the days before outdoor kitchens.  The one who helped him lay a 12’x35′ piece of rubber back carpet in the basement for our wedding reception.  Then they had a bubble in the middle of the carpet and he had to crawl under it to pull it out.  Yup, that husband.

The husband looks at the thing and shakes his head and says how are we going to get that up there.  In true dad fashion he said hoist, wench and you’re going to pull it up the ladder.  Dad would never consider getting on the roof!  The husband being the man he is, said a few nasties and got to work.  To this day he still doesn’t remember how he managed to get it up there.

You can just barely see the Cupola on the right hand side of the house.

So what good is a Cupola without a weathervane.  For his whimsy he created a clipper ship complete with copper sails and rigging, and in true weathervane fashion made it so it would follow the wind.  On the night of December 27th of 2007 at dads memorial that we had at their home, I stepped outside to get some air.  I just happened to glance up at the cupola and the weathervane was a perfect silhouette against the moon.  His way of saying everything would be okay.

We had the cupola restored sometime during the subsequent years and we took the ship off the cupola.  We were afraid it was deteriorating and it sat in my moms basement on an antique telescope tripod until her death in 2019.  

When I brought the ship home I was in the throws of cleaning out their home and it just kind of got set on the deck until the husband had a brilliant idea and we put it on the patio table thru the umbrella pole hole.  And, there it sat all thru that summer, winter, into last summer, thru bathroom renovations and another winter.  This summer we were determined to find a place in my garden for my dads ship.  

Another thing I rescued from his garage, was an old porch post that he had picked up somewhere along the way. I knew it would be the perfect anchor for the ship. 

 The post was in pretty rough shape.  It had been lopped off at the bottom because I’m sure it had rotted.  There were big nail holes in it and of course some of the wood had chipped away.  But if you’ve been reading me for awhile you know the scruffier it is the better I like it.  I just sanded the pole with my orbital sander a bit just to get off the rough edges and splinters, then I started filling the big chips and holes with wood putty.  I sanded it again and then very loosely painted it with Amy Howard Chalk Paint.  I love this stuff.  I didn’t even worry about full coverage because I wanted it to have some age, and look like the scruffy post that it is.

I realized that unfortunately we were going to have to cut the post down even more because I wanted it juxtaposed in front of my 6′ fence.  The ship is 24″ tall.

I didn’t want to lose the sails in the neighbors trees so we cut it down to 4′ and set about putting it in the ground.  We used a mailbox stake that was 36″ tall.  

The post bracket is in the ground to the right.

The husband had a respiratory infection the day he decided to hammer this thing home.  It was no easy task, but with many blisters later and lots of coughing the job was done.  Unfortunately that’s as far as we got for the next 10 days while he was recovering.

The post had a hole in it already which was helpful, but unfortunately it was off center.  Well, we just had to go with it.  We added a piece of barn siding to the top of the post to create a bit of a base and spacer between the ship and the post.

This week it was time to cut off the post and marry the ship to the post and the post to the bracket.  I’m happy to say The Ship Sails again.  I noticed tonight that she is also catching the wind.

I didn’t realize until we got her mounted that the board supporting the ship is a wave.  Dad had the forethought to carve a wave for her to rest in.  It’s nice to know that even 14 years after his death he can still surprise me.  No stone left unturned!

And this was my view as I was finishing up this post!  I know dad was smiling down on me.

Thanks for stopping

Shelley