Nothing a little tape can’t fix.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Luke seems to really enjoy things that spin. We first noticed this a couple of weeks ago as he stared at the ceiling fan in the cottage. There was a little spinning rotating thing that came with his pack and play, but you had to move it by hand, and it was pretty lame. So a couple of days ago I ordered him a new one off Amazon. It arrived today and I started messing with it this evening. Although it was very highly rated, it had a couple of shortcomings. First, it didn’t include anything to dangle from it. To remedy that I took a couple of little bits from the old device. Second, it wouldn’t mount to his pack and play. For that I just used some shipping tape to attach it to the old post. He has been laying down and watching it for the last little while. It seems to make him pretty happy.

Father’s Day.

Posted on by David Maxwell

It obviously takes on a new meaning this year. It has felt like a busy stretch of “special days” since Luke was born – Liz’s birthday, then mine, Mother’s Day and now Father’s Day. That’s a lot crammed into two and a half months.

We went up to East Nashville this morning to look at some doors at a friend’s house. He is wanting to get rid of them and they could be a good fit for the farmhouse. I didn’t get a great look at them, but saw enough to know that I want to return with my trailer and pick a few up. They are classic solid wood doors. Luke did a good job of pretty much sleeping the whole trip.

The rest of the morning and afternoon were pretty relaxed other than a little bit of fussiness. He isn’t liking his new formula so I ordered another kind online. I also ordered a little spinning thing to go above his pack and play. We did a little tummy time which he seemed to enjoy.

It rained late afternoon and thankfully cooled things off a bit. We met my parents and Lauren for a picnic dinner at the AG center. That was very nice, as was the little walk we went on afterwards. Luke was pretty well behaved the whole time.

I dropped Liz and Luke off at the condo and went to Target to pick up the formula I ordered. We are just a few minutes away from seeing if he likes it or not!

Re-inspection, cleaning footings, and spraypainting.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I arrived at the farm right at six. It was still relatively cool, and I took advantage and started cleaning the concrete and dirt off the footings so that I can seal them up and backfill the foundation. Even with the slightly lower temperatures I was still drenched with sweat within minutes. I didn’t have gloves and using the breaker bar was pretty rough on my hands, but I powered through. Once it started to get really hot I went inside and started laying out all of the plumbing fixtures. This involved spraypainting the floor. It was helpful to see it all mapped out.

The building inspector came a little before noon. I passed this time, having made the corrections that his colleague required. We actually ended up talking for close to an hour. He has a fifteen month old son, so lots of conversational topics. A while after he left my dad came by to get his lawn mower, and we talked briefly. The next visitor was my neighbor down the street Ron. I had met him a few weeks ago when he stopped by, and he came today for a little tour. He was very complimentary about the house. We talked for quite a while. He is a teacher in town, and we actually know a couple of people in common.

After Ron left I worked on the footings a little more, built a small wall in one of the bathrooms (in order to accommodate the tub), and started forming up for the pads under the HVAC units. I hit the road a little before seven. Traffic had cleared and the drive was uneventful. Liz and Luke were doing well. He was pretty calm. Liz and I discussed the electrical plan for the house, as the electrician wants to discuss it tomorrow.

Georgia in the morning, Luke and Liz in the afternoon.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I drove down to Trenton, GA around seven this morning. I took the back roads just because. There was only one woman at the store and she couldn’t operate the forklift, so she called a guy from their other store. He didn’t do a great job of loading the siding, but it was probably the best he could do. I took the interstate to the first Monteagle exit, then took Highway 41 down the mountain. I took a new route to Tullahoma, then proceeded through Shelbyville and Chapel Hill to the farm. After quickly unhooking the trailer I drove up to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Nashville. I was looking for a tub since the guy in Boaz never responded to my email. They didn’t have any so I came on back to the condo.

Liz and Luke were there and almost immediately I had a dirty diaper to change. And about three more in the two hours since. He spent some time in the pack and play, and we just did a bit of tummy time. He has nursed and taken a bottle of formula too. Hopefully he will nap soon.

All good things come to an end.

Posted on by David Maxwell

We left the mountain about ten this morning and came back to reality. Fortunately it was a nice morning on the mountain before we left. The weather was glorious and we weren’t in a huge rush to get going. We had time for a two mile walk before leaving. The highlight of that was seeing a small fox on the greenway. We drove the interstate the whole way home, stopping only for gas in Manchester. I got out at the condo and Liz and Luke headed to East Nashville to hang out with some of her friends. I spent the afternoon catching up on paperwork related to the house.