For some reason I woke up feeling very sluggish this morning. Kind of odd since I was excited for the work day. Anyways, I got to the job site at about 8:45 and started installing more joists. That was slow due to the mud, but I was making good progress. A little before noon Liz called to say that Madeline had lost her sense of taste and was going to get tested for the virus. So I started packing up and preparing to head home. After showering and having lunch I did just that. The drive was quick and I arrived about 3:40. About halfway home Liz called to say that Madeline had tested negative and instead had an ear infection. Luke was upset because it was too hot to go outside, but after snack he calmed down and we played with Legos for a while. We had an early dinner and bed time. He was asleep around seven. Liz has gone to the grocery store now and I hope to go to bed before too long.
Limited work but maximum productivity.
This morning I left at the same time Liz and Luke were headed to preschool. I stopped at the bank in Manchester before coming up the Mountain. After going by my storage unit, the dump, and the lumberyard, I drove down to the new Food City in Winchester. There I bought several nice items that Piggly Wiggly doesn’t have. Back at the cottage I relaxed and did some computer work. Finally around 2:40 I decided that the rain was finished and headed to the job site. Boy was it a muddy mess. I worked for about four hours installing joists on the back decks. That went pretty well. Afterwards I drove to Lake Dimmick but decided not to hike due to new no parking signs at the gate. I talked with Liz a little earlier and she said Luke did well at school today. My parents are with him now so she can watch a concert online.
Decked out.
This morning I went to the lumberyard for a bundle of 2x12s and then started cutting them, along with some 2x8s at the job site. My dad came a little later and we started installing joists on one of the front porches. The mud slowed us down a bit but we still made good progress. My dad installed blocking between the joists while I cut more for the back porch. By the time he left we had all of the joists and blocking installed on the bigger of the two front porches. I left not long after and returned to the cottage for a shower. I drove home in the rain and arrived to play with Luke a bit before dinner. He was in a good mood and did well cleaning up after we ate.
Wet, but happy.
I got to the job site a couple of minutes before seven this morning and it was lightly raining. I started off digging six more footings for deck posts. That was tiring but went well, and I was mostly able to avoid the rain. Not the mud though. I went to the lumberyard and picked up some treated boards in order to start the bands around the porches. I was able to get all four done. Back at the lumberyard I got 20 sacks of concrete, most of which I poured into the bases of the new footers. I went to the cottage for a very late lunch, then returned to measure and mark for joists. Back at the cottage I ate dinner and worked in Sketchup to determine joist lengths, since there will be some variation. I will try to find a new book to read and go to bed early tonight.
Pretty productive again.
I slept in a little bit and wasn’t too motivated to get going due to the rain. I did an Insanity workout then ran some errands, mostly because I wasn’t excited about my main task at the houses, which was installing the final two porch posts on the second house. They were challenging but I was able to get them done in a couple of hours or so. Then I cleared everything away from the houses in anticipation of the evening’s earth moving. I returned to the cottage for lunch and to make a bean dish in the slow cooker for dinner. Next I went to the lumberyard for some cable and accessories to secure one of the access roads to the new property. That ended up taking a second trip plus a visit to Ace Hardware. Once that was complete I went to the cottage for my trailer that was loaded with lumber. Back at the job site I waited for Chase, who was going to do some dirt moving for me. He arrived a few minutes after five and worked for a little over three hours. He graded under the porches, unloaded my trailer, and helped me haul a huge stump away. We stopped work at dark. I came back to the cottage for a shower, dinner, and a phone call with Liz. I will hopefully sleep well tonight.
