Early start, early finish.

Posted on by David Maxwell

My dad and I got to the job site around seven again this morning. We finished the siding in about four hours, and put on some of the window pieces before he had to leave. I finished them myself. After loading up the tools and taking them to the storage unit I returned to the cottage to shower, clean, and wash clothes. While the clothes were drying I went next door to see Debbie and Charles for a few minutes. I hooked up my trailer and drove home around four, arriving a couple of hours later. Luke and I played with Legos until dinner. I did bath with him after and Liz put him to bed. She thinks he is coming down with something.

The heat has arrived.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I played with Luke a bit this morning and left home a little later than I would have liked, around 7:30. After stopping for gas I had an uneventful drive to the cottage, where I changed clothes and went to get no ethanol gas for the generator. My dad was waiting for me at the job site when I arrived. We first finished the siding on the front of the house, which was slow and difficult due to the height and numerous cutouts over the windows. Next we finished the far side. The heat and sunshine were pretty draining, and I had to run to CVS for some drinks in addition to the water I had on hand. We started just a little on the last of the back of the house, but I was pretty maxed out at that point, so we just put the trim pieces under the windows and called it a day. After showering we had dinner at the Mexican restaurant a few doors down. The food was mediocre and the service worse, as expected. Now I am just kind of a zombie on the couch. We should finish up the siding tomorrow morning.

More siding, more rain.

Posted on by David Maxwell

We got to the job site about seven again this morning and started off on the front porch – the most difficult and challenging element of the whole house. It was pretty high up and I did not enjoy being on the ladders. It took us about two hours and I was glad to be done. We also did more on one side of the house, and started up the back wall as well. That area was a muddy mess, but we still made good progress. I had to run out for nails, safety glasses, and water, otherwise we worked without stopping. It started sprinkling a little after two so we packed up and returned to the cottage. Glad we did because it really started pouring. I showered, took trash to the dump, then headed home. The drive was uneventful. Liz and Luke were outside when I arrived. I played Legos with Luke until dinner. We had pie for dessert and he was thrilled. He did better than usual at bed time.

Herculean day of siding.

Posted on by David Maxwell

It was a little drizzly when we got to the job site around seven this morning. After setting up I went to get us some siding. That lasted us until the remainder was delivered a little later. We started on the close end of the house and had it completed before noon. Then we moved to the front and got a lot before going to the far end. I was getting tired and didn’t want to do the big ladders. We will start on the remainder of the front tomorrow morning. We really got a lot more done than expected, and I think we can finish in two more days, even factoring in my trip home tomorrow. Our last task of the day was loading the last of the OSB onto the trailer. Once we did so one of the tires was really low, so I went to Ace for an inflator valve for the compressor since I couldn’t find mine. We took the OSB to the cottage and unloaded it, and are now relaxing. Tonight I will try to watch a couple more episodes of Magnum PI that I downloaded to my phone. I watched one last night and it was good.

Partial rain day.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I slept poorly last night and kind of tried to sleep in this morning. My dad declared it a rain day so I didn’t feel bad about it. After finally rising I went to the bank, a couple of tire places, Dollar General, and Piggly Wiggly. I was going to the library to use the internet but forgot my computer. I started preparing a dish in the slow cooker for dinner, but my dad decided the rain day was over, and we went to work. We put trim and siding on the areas above the porches. That went well, but slowly, due to the height and mud. After that we put little siding pieces under the windows and organized the site a bit. I went to get the trailer and we loaded up some OSB and hauled it to the cottage. After showering we went to Piggly Wiggly for some food which we cooked back at the cottage. All in all it was a good day. I’m hoping it doesn’t rain tomorrow and we can get a lot done.