Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Construction Update

I guess this is the last picture I gave you of our construction project. The kitchen was framed in, and there was a 2nd floor, but I didn't put an exterior photo of that, for some reason.


At any rate, we're moving along. Actually, at a slooooooow rate, we're moving along. We've had more of our share of rain this summer, and have had to knock off early or throw in the towel entirely on several days. We've also had to ride out a few horrendous storms, soaked to the skin as we hustled to get tarps thrown over wood, sweep rain of of the not-yet-finished floors, and get power tools out of the rain.

Here's where we are now. The kitchen/bedroom are all sheeted and roofed, and the frame for the garage went up last week.


Here's Homer & Junior (Tom & Ryan) helping sheet the garage roof yesterday:


And where we left off last night:


Again, when I say "we," I mean "they." I'm still doing what I can around the place, but during this phase of the construction, I've taken on mostly traditional female roles: bring the food, bring the water, hand the tools, tidy up the place. I'm Girlie Gopher Extraordinaire. I do what I can do when lifting trusses is something I can not do.

Oh, hey! I mow the yard, that's helpful! I'm really getting the hang that riding mower. Except I don't do the ditches because I'm afraid I'll tip over. And I worry about running over bunny nests, and I watch for crossing frogs. Also, I have a tendency to let the clutch out too often, which makes Clint grind his teeth, and makes me nervous because I know he's grinding his teeth. I'm working on that. FYI, vinyl tractor seats don't breath at all, so don't wear nylon shorts when you mow, or your butt will get wet. Vrooooooooooooooooom!

Clint, in the meantime, is spending every spare minute out there. Now that the rain seems to have passed (except it's raining today), he's duking out 98-degree heat indexes for 14 hours a day. I honestly don't know how he's still standing. I met him there yesterday after I got off work. He'd already had 9 hours in, and worked steadily away. I hauled wood-scraps around for about 45 minutes in that heat before my brain started pulsing against the inside of my skull, and I had to sit down for some water. 3:00 arrival, 3:45 time for a little rest. That's how I roll.

It's all good though, because I know my time is coming. 6 months from now, I'll be picking out colors, and taping and painting, and ordering HIM around: "Hand me that roller, will you? Where did I put my towel? What's a girl gotta do to get a martini on this ladder?"

We work, we dream.

We can hardly wait til it's done.

14 comments:

  1. And it will be done... with the help of several martinis.

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  2. It all looks wonderful. I think you're description of riding that mower is a riot. Thanks for the tip on the nylon shorts - lol.
    I'm guessing you bring a whole lot more than you realize to this project - you'd be surprised how much positive energy and good humor can do for a seemingly slow-moving job!
    What DOES a girl gotta do to get a martini on this ladder?!! Something very similar came out of my mouth just last night! :-)

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  3. Anonymous10:38 AM

    Now that looks like a lot of work!

    It's looking great though!!

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  4. I have finally reach a point in my life where I don't even attempt things that I know will turn out badly: yard work and carpentry to name a few. I make up for it in other areas though. Sort of. :)

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  5. I think it is a man thing. My hubby goes until he is done or dead. I tried to keep up when we first got together, then I quickly figured out I die before he is done.

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  6. I gotta agree with farmgirl - - the description of riding the mower was a riot!

    The garage looks great! Yayyyyyyyyyy! No more rain drops!

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  7. Yikes, any type of home improvement is always so stressful! I will send you calming thoughts. I haven't been here in a while and was sorry to read that you had an ass leaving rude comments. Do you know the troll? If so, I can put a curse on him. I'm good at that. Anyway good luck with everything and I'm glad you heard from your snips and snails and puppy dog tails.

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  8. 6 more months before you can get to the decorating stage! Hopefully you can have it all watertight long before that.

    Feel sure that it will all feel worthwhile when it is completed and you are sitting there enjoying a fine meal (after a few martinis as a starter).

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  9. I'd been looking forward to an update on the construction - thanks! Looks good!

    Janet

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Such lovely new spaces await. Reminds me of when you helped me wallpaper the second bedroom in my house on Park. And makes me think I could have used your help yesterday morning when I spent the entire day at the preschool painting my classroom when I really needed to spend that time preparing for the kids and their parents to come. Four of us share that space and one of us (not me) wants it painted. So four of us painted it but one of us (me) is about to explode with nervousness. It'll be OK.

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  12. Thanks for the update.

    It looks like it's coming along great. The colors and decorating is the fun part.

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  13. Hey that gopher position is an important one. I can work alone but with a helper, I can work much faster and longer.

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  14. So, something's been nagging me in the back of my mind and, sure enough, ah HA! My comment, 2nd one down from the top, has a grammatical error. Please, replace the "you're" (7th word in) with a "your".
    There. I feel so much better now.
    :-)

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