An unproductive, but necessary day.

Posted on by David Maxwell

This morning I drove Liz and Luke to High Hopes. We met his preschool teacher and saw her classroom. He liked it but started crying when his therapist came for him. Liz and I chatted with his teacher a little more then went to Publix for a few things. Luke was in a good mood when he was done with speech, especially once we gave him some animal crackers. Back at the house I said goodbye to everybody and hit the road. I drove to Manchester and stopped at the bank to update my address and get a new debit card. Their printer was broken so they will mail the card to me. Next I went to Walmart but they didn’t have the printer I was looking for. My final stop before the Mountain was the market in Pelham where I got some lunch. In Monteagle I went to the lumberyard to pay my bill before going to the cottage. I did some paperwork and computer work and then went to the Goat Market for a while. I chatted with Eric and a few other people and then decided to go on a hike. I drove out Jumpoff Road to the state forest, and a couple of miles down a gravel road later I was at the trailhead. It was a nice 2.8 mile loop with a couple of pretty overlooks. Upon returning to the cottage I have just been messing around on my phone.

More of the same.

Posted on by David Maxwell

This morning my dad and I returned to the job site. He caulked while I dug porch footings for the second house. I returned to the cottage and cut more boards for the interior before hauling them to the house. That took three trips. I didn’t get them all because I want to tape the smaller ones together. My dad finished up the caulking and trim painting right about the same time I got all the boards unloaded. It looks great. We said goodbye and I returned to the cottage for my bags, then drove home. Luke was waiting for me on the back deck and we played some. Liz prepared a delicious dinner and we cleaned up after. Liz and Luke are doing bath now.

Mild weather, good progress.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I couldn’t fall asleep until after one this morning, so I was kind of dragging when I got up. My dad and I went to the job site. He did more caulking and I dug footings for the porch posts. That was pretty tiring. I also added a door opening in one of the bedrooms, where the framers forgot to. After helping my dad move some ladders I returned to the cottage to cut more interior boards. I had hoped to finish today, but didn’t. I have nearly used all of my lumber though, and should finish tomorrow. I quit a little after six this evening, when the mosquitoes became worse than I could handle. Before showering I went to Piggly Wiggly for some food. I am just trying to relax a bit this evening. I am pretty sore and want to get to bed fairly early.

Assembly line work.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I got to the cottage about midnight last night, and although I woke up early I lingered in bed for a little while. When my dad texted me that he was on his way from Nashville I went to the storage unit to get his caulking supplies as well as the tools to swap out trailer tires. That task was pretty simple and it felt good to complete it. I also started setting up to cut the interior lumber that I brought to the cottage last week. Once my dad arrived he went to the job site and I did as well after printing a sheet at the library. At the job site I mapped all of the dimensions for the boards I needed to cut, and returned to the cottage to do some calculations and finalize my cut list. I cooked rice to go with some lentils that I brought from home, then took some water to my dad before getting down to business and cutting lots of boards. That was simple but quite boring and I did it until about six. Hopefully I can finish tomorrow. My dad came home shortly thereafter and we went down to the market in Pelham for dinner. Unfortunately they were closing up, but we were able to get some Combos, Bugles, and ice cream. We ate it out front. We stopped at CVS on the way back to the cottage for chips and trail mix. I went back out to Piggly Wiggly for some water and stuck it in the refrigerator. Now I am showered and relaxing.

A lazy day with some activity, or an active day with some laziness.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Luke got us all up pretty early this morning. After breakfast we went to Tractor Supply to pick up some tires, then Kroger for groceries. After unloading everything we drove up to the playground in Spring Hill for a bit. We went home for lunch and then everybody took a nice long nap. For me it was great and should allow me to make the drive up to the Mountain tonight without being too sleepy. After nap we went to the nature park and brought Luke’s tricycle for the first time. He loved riding it and collecting red, orange, and yellow leaves. We had a late dinner and now Liz and Luke are playing before starting the bath. After Luke goes to bed I’ll drive to Monteagle.