A few weeks ago I rationalized not doing *three* folding patio doors on the western elevation due to being in Climate Zone 6 and a shit-ton of giant 🦟🦟🦟.

After getting feedback from my hair stylist that we *should* do three folding patio doors — Nikki: "Bring the outside fully in!" — we pivoted and submitted our window and door package to Lincoln last week.

Now I have a new rationalization for not doing three folding patio doors on the western elevation: price.

Each one of these 10' x 7' folding patio doors is $14,332.70 (including the screen). In haircut math, that's ~286 of them (including tip). That's roughly 24 years of my wife butchering my hair in the den with a Conair w/#5 attachment, Covid-style. For one folding patio door with a screen. Nikki, I'll see you on Saturday at 1.

The rest of the pricing is in the table below, and it's all pretty reasonable. I've researched a bunch of window and door options and landed on Lincoln for the following reasons:

• It's based in Merrill, WI. Merrill is on the way to the MVC. We can pick this order up on a trailer.
• It's based in Merrill, WI. It's important to me to support either the MN or WI economy.
• Good value. If price was no object, we'd probably go with H out of Ashland (WI), but Lincoln beats H on value.
• Good vibes. I toured the facility about 18 months ago and the place and people were classic Wisconsin laid back.
• Good recommendation. An architectural power couple — that's *way* out of our price range — lives 6 doors down and they're using Lincoln on a couple of projects. That alone is good enough for me.
• They have what we want. We love the folding patio doors, the casement windows, the cladding and paint options, the grill profiles, and the hardware.

NB: This total includes zero glass on the western elevation. We're still deciding on what to do now, and of course will post the grand total here soon.

As you might imagine, clearing a wooded lot has generated mountains of brush. In my case, three 8'-9' tall stacks, along with several dozen 3"-6" "trunks" of underbrush and small trees. On Saturday I rented the Bandit 75XP and fed everything into it.

On its face it seems pretty low-effort: grab some pre-stacked brush, stick it in the chipper, and repeat a few hundred times. But at the end of the day it was the most wiped I'd been all week. It's also extremely loud, even with good ear protection. I'd be fine not ever doing this again.

My new neighbor John stopped by to help for a couple of hours, and his wife Gretchen even sent along some homemade cookies. They are setting the High Bluff Road neighbor expectations bar, way, way too high. (John and Gretchen, I hope you read this.)

Here's a video of my kind of chipping: insert a long piece into the chipper. Stand around for a few seconds and have time to shoot a video.