Limited work but maximum productivity.

Posted on by David Maxwell

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.

Posted on by David Maxwell

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.

Posted on by David Maxwell

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.

Posted on by David Maxwell

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.

Mixed day.

Posted on by David Maxwell

First thing this morning I drove up to Walmart for a printer, some birdseed, and a few other things. Liz and Luke made pancakes while I was away. After eating we went into town and rode his tricycle at Riverside and played in the splash pad before going for a walk around the downtown square. Back at the house we had lunch and Luke and I attempted naps. I was more successful, but later in the afternoon he put himself down for a nap. I did a little organizing in the garage while he slept, then we played a bit until dinner. After dinner we cleaned up which took a while and he had a bath. I left afterwards and drove up to the Mountain. It was an uneventful drive and fortunately not very rainy.