Nothing a little tape can’t fix.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Luke seems to really enjoy things that spin. We first noticed this a couple of weeks ago as he stared at the ceiling fan in the cottage. There was a little spinning rotating thing that came with his pack and play, but you had to move it by hand, and it was pretty lame. So a couple of days ago I ordered him a new one off Amazon. It arrived today and I started messing with it this evening. Although it was very highly rated, it had a couple of shortcomings. First, it didn’t include anything to dangle from it. To remedy that I took a couple of little bits from the old device. Second, it wouldn’t mount to his pack and play. For that I just used some shipping tape to attach it to the old post. He has been laying down and watching it for the last little while. It seems to make him pretty happy.

Siding day two.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I was a little late getting to the farm this morning. It was about 6:30. While it wasn’t hot yet it was plenty humid and we were quickly soaking wet. My dad had the idea to set up a fan outside and that provided some relief. Unfortunately my power strip wasn’t working, probably due to getting wet last night, so we lost a lot of time plugging and unplugging various tools. The rain also made a muddy mess of things. We focused our energy on the back of the house as it was fairly easy to reach. That went pretty well. The new nail gun was a huge hit. My dad left around noon and I went to lunch at a burger joint I had never been to before. The burger was great, the fries were mediocre, and the milkshake below average. I ate outside because I was pretty dirty and also didn’t want to get spoiled by the air conditioning. After returning to the house and tidying things up a little I went to the lumberyard to buy materials for the front porch. Since delivery was only fifteen dollars I chose that. Everything should come tomorrow. The electrician came by to drop off some supplies just as I was walking out to build some scaffolding. He said that I could borrow a couple of extension ladders and a platform instead. That will be great. Then we talked for about an hour and a half. He is a very nice guy and that was enjoyable. Plus it was super hot and I didn’t feel too much like working. After he left I moved some siding into position for tomorrow and built a cutting rack that should save a lot of time. Lastly I loaded a bunch of trash into the car and hauled it back to the dumpster at the condo.

Starting siding.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I arrived at the farm a few minutes before six. My dad came not too soon after. Fortunately he was pretty motivated for us to get working on the siding, because I was not. We started under the porch as it was in the shade. The pieces cut easily and were mostly easy to deal with but for their length and flexibility. I went out to Lowe’s so get some cheap paint to cover the cut edges with, but was fussed at because the premixed (and discounted) red was too strong. So we didn’t paint and just caulked. The plumber and electrician didn’t show up today. Not really a big deal though, since they aren’t holding us up. My new siding nail gun wasn’t due to arrive at the condo until today, so we nailed everything by hand. Tomorrow should be much more efficient. We drove to Home Depot in Spring Hill to get nails for the gun plus some lunch. On the way there I got a text saying that the scaffolding I had ordered online had arrived. That was a nice bonus. Lunch was at Sonic, a decision I regretted almost as soon as I finished eating. We spent the remainder of the afternoon putting up more siding. It started to rain a little after five. I hung around until 6:20 or so then hit the road. My dad was spending the night in order to save himself a couple hours of driving. The rain really cooled things down and freshened the air, so it should feel great tonight. Back at the Condo Liz and Luke are doing well, and my nail gun was waiting. It even has a nice plastic case. Not much else is going on. I held the little man for a while and also chopped up vegetables for some stew.

Father’s Day.

Posted on by David Maxwell

It obviously takes on a new meaning this year. It has felt like a busy stretch of “special days” since Luke was born – Liz’s birthday, then mine, Mother’s Day and now Father’s Day. That’s a lot crammed into two and a half months.

We went up to East Nashville this morning to look at some doors at a friend’s house. He is wanting to get rid of them and they could be a good fit for the farmhouse. I didn’t get a great look at them, but saw enough to know that I want to return with my trailer and pick a few up. They are classic solid wood doors. Luke did a good job of pretty much sleeping the whole trip.

The rest of the morning and afternoon were pretty relaxed other than a little bit of fussiness. He isn’t liking his new formula so I ordered another kind online. I also ordered a little spinning thing to go above his pack and play. We did a little tummy time which he seemed to enjoy.

It rained late afternoon and thankfully cooled things off a bit. We met my parents and Lauren for a picnic dinner at the AG center. That was very nice, as was the little walk we went on afterwards. Luke was pretty well behaved the whole time.

I dropped Liz and Luke off at the condo and went to Target to pick up the formula I ordered. We are just a few minutes away from seeing if he likes it or not!

Simple Saturday.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I didn’t arrive at the farm until about 6:30 this morning. My first task was installing the remainder of the deck boars on the platform. Now I just need to cut them off. The plumber and electrician arrived early and continued their work. I took a few bags of trash to the dump and had breakfast at the nasty buffet.

Back at the farm I Added more concrete blocks to the garage area and smashed them up. That was hot and sweaty work, but the electrician told me that gravel is currently running close to $500 a truckload, so I felt better about it. I also took out some of the barbed wire fence along the driveway in order to get better access to the remaining block. I still need to remove the metal posts though. The electrician and I talked for quite a while. He has seven kids and thirteen grandkids. They are spread all over the country. After that I hit the road. Rather than returning directly to the condo I stopped at a fireplace store in Franklin. They didn’t have the stove that Liz wants in stock, but he did give me a quote on materials and installation. He also quoted me on a garage door. That was a little higher than hoped for, but the stove was a bit cheaper. I’m not sure if I’ll go with these guys though, since they have some rather negative reviews online. Most of those were related to their installation, so I might at least buy the stove from them.

Back at the Condo Liz and Luke were both pretty relaxed. Luke nursed and napped, and Liz and I napped a little as well. She took him for a little walk around the complex once it cooled down some. I stayed inside, having had my fill of the great outdoors for the day. Also my expertise was needed to chop vegetables.