Hitting the wall early.

Posted on by David Maxwell

It was the first time all week that I’ve hit the dreaded six hour wall of tiredness. We got started about six again this morning and made incredible progress. We did the kitchen and all of the vanities in unit four very quickly. Then after lunch we started assembling drawers, and progress slowed to a crawl. I took a very brief nap and then started preparation for the floors. That got old quickly so I installed the drawer sliders on all four units. It was after seven when that was done. I wrapped up the day by going up on the roof top terrace on one unit to check out the view.

Luke was relaxed this evening and seemed to enjoy his bath, despite what the pictures below might indicate.

Feeling ahead of schedule in Nashville.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Another thirteen hour plus day means that we have made a lot of progress. We completed a full kitchen, all of the baths in two units, and made several corrections to previous work. The rest of the flooring was delivered and placed around the units. I will probably start installing it on Friday. Thankfully there was no rain today, but the heat was pretty intense. Tomorrow we should finish the basics of the cabinets, and my dad will probably install the doors and drawers on Friday. The work has really been pretty enjoyable – certainly better than putting siding on the farm house. So far this week has been a nice diversion. No pictures today because I was a bit tired at the end of my shift.

Steps forward and backward.

Posted on by David Maxwell

We got another early start up in Nashville today. Our focus started out on the bathroom vanities. That went well until we realized that the schematics had changed when we switched vendors. So we headed to the kitchen in the second unit. At a later date we’ll need to correct the vanities that we did today. The kitchen went really well right up until we realized that the plans were wrong, and that we needed to swap some cabinets between the first and second units. That took a little time but was pretty easy. I got all of the kitchen cabinets sorted for the third and fourth units. The vanities are kind of organized too. About 40% of the laminate flooring was delivered and the guys did a good job of spreading it through the units. I think I might start putting it down tomorrow. Overall it feels like we are ahead of schedule. We are really assembling the cabinets quickly and can install them pretty fast as well. The new vanity layout actually involves less cabinets, so that should help speed things up. It has been hot but not miserable. We did get a brief downpour this afternoon which created even more mud. Should be hot and sunny tomorrow so hopefully it’ll dry out some. The twelve plus hour work days are going by pretty quickly. We’ll see if that is still the case by Saturday. The pictures below show two different kitchens, although they look the same.

Country mice in the city.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Today was the first day of our three week Nashville adventure. I arrived right at six and my dad shortly after. It was not a productive morning. We needed a broom but Dollar General was closed and Kroger didn’t have any. I went back out to Walmart later for one. I also went back to Kroger for ice and drinks, then went to visit my sister nearby while we were waiting on the cabinets to be delivered. The first load came right at noon. It was a lot, and about an hour later they brought the balance. We started assembling them immediately. They went together pretty easily, which is good, since I just calculated that we have a total of 92 units to assemble. I think they look nice. We will put the same cabinets in the farm house. Tomorrow the flooring is getting delivered and they are going to put the proper amount in each room, which will help speed things up. It was rather hot today but running the big fan helped keep things fairly comfortable. Having to load and unload my tools every day is going to be a bit of a pain, but that beats them getting stolen. I packed up and left a little before seven this evening. Hopefully tomorrow I will work from about six in the morning until eight in the evening. We really need to crank through this.

Fire(flies) on the mountain, lightning (bugs) in the air.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Last night I went to the Mountain Goat Trail near Pearl’s to photograph the fireflies. I set up two cameras and felt like the ‘flies might be a little lighter than usual as I observed. The finished product would seem to support this hypothesis. The first picture was taken at 55mm and the second at 135mm.

After the greenway I went to the farm on the back side of campus to photograph star trails. It would have been nice to stay longer but I was pretty tired. Also next time I’ll set up more than one camera.