Deer in the headlights.
The Little Man was pretty relaxed this evening. We played a little and I watched him nurse.
Back at the farm.
Today felt a bit like the first day of school after a long summer break. Kind of awkward and a little confusing. I arrived at about ten after six and my dad came not much later. The back field was lovely. In fact the whole drive down was pretty, and it felt surprisingly cool outside. Unfortunately I was out of caulk, so we first headed to Lowe’s, where I bought about a hundred dollars worth. Ouch. Next we went to a building supply store to inquire about siding. They didn’t have what I needed in stock but he said he would look into ordering it and call me. Shockingly enough he hasn’t called yet.
My dad got to caulking and I took a load of siding scraps to the dump. I wanted to clean up the site as much as possible. I also wanted to mow the grass around the house, but the mower is in Nashville. I should have it on Wednesday though. I spent some time cleaning up the inside of the house and bringing in all of my tools. We went back out to check on some doors my dad had ordered and stopped by Harbor Freight for some caster wheels. I spent time clearing the footings in preparation for sealing them. That was a bit of a chore but I made good progress. I used the pressure washer to start really cleaning them, but it was having some issues. We went back to Lowe’s where I bought the sealing materials and a fan along with oil for the pressure washer. Next we picked up the doors. My dad dropped me back at the farm and I got the pressure washing running again, barely, before it maybe died. It has lots of issues, and I might buy a new one tomorrow. I almost finished, there is just one section left (last picture), but it is really nasty and will have to wait until Wednesday when I get the Shop-Vac to help clear it out. The pipes also make it rather difficult to access.
I left about 5:30 and took the scenic route back to the condo. It was nice to take the country roads and not deal with traffic. Tomorrow will be a busy day and hopefully I will get a lot done. It is supposed to be hot. Today was 92, but it never felt too bad. They didn’t have any ice at Dollar General though, so we were drinking warm drinks all day. I’ll try again in the morning.
Houses, cars, walks, and technology.
Here at headquarters we are in the midst of many changes and preparing for even more. Tomorrow the big push towards finishing the house will begin. Unfortunately it will be quite hot this week. I have been packing up lots of things to take to the farm in order to free up space in the condo. We are preparing to take pictures and list it for sale online. Hopefully I can photograph next weekend. My camping equipment is loaded up now and will get hauled tomorrow. Next will be all of the stuff that we got from Liz’s company’s old office – monitors, TVs, and other computer related items. I did set up one monitor for Liz in her closet office, so it will stick around for a little while longer. It will be a little inconvenient to have all of this stuff down in the farmhouse, but I think that I’ll rig up some carts to be able to move everything around quickly and easily.
Liz wants/needs a new vehicle as the Fusion has a number of issues, chief of which is the fact that it’s a Ford. Just kidding, she actually likes that. But all these little things are adding up and it is definitely time to upgrade. Fortunately she has come around and is excited about getting the vehicle that I think is best for her – a Lexus RX350. She is complicating matters slightly by wanting all wheel drive, which narrows the field considerably, but it will be helpful when we drive up to Michigan in the winter.
We went on a walk at the AG Center again this morning. It was pretty hot in the sun, but the little man had his hat on. He has been in a great mood today. Even a long bout of the hiccups couldn’t get him down. He did at great job during tummy time too. Late this afternoon we went to our friends Tim and Emilie’s house, and spent some quality time with them and their kids. Their youngest is our godson and he was the only one who had met Luke. Luke was a little bit of a terror when we returned to the condo, for reasons unknown. He eventually calmed down though and started nursing. He will get a bath just before bed time.
Low altitude Saturday.
Well, we decided not to go up to the mountain this weekend. There was just too much stuff that we needed to do here. This morning we went on a walk at the AG Center. It sure warms up quickly these days, but it didn’t get too miserable. After that we went to Publix. Liz shopped while Luke and I chilled in the car. The rest of the day has involved naps, organizing/packing, and lots of discussions about the house. We went on a walk around the complex this evening.
Things didn’t go according to plan, so more time with the Little Man.
Last night I told myself that I would be okay with sleeping in a little, doing some work around the condo, and then heading to Columbia for a few hours. So this morning I stayed in bed until about 7:15 and then watched Liz nurse Luke. After that we took him on a little walk around the complex. It was nice and overcast, but very humid. While we were out Liz learned that the day’s child care plans had fallen through. She had a morning and an afternoon meeting, so I volunteered to cover those. In between them I had time for a haircut and trip to the grocery store.
This afternoon didn’t go quite as smoothly. He napped okay and took a bottle, but when my parents came over to see him he just went nuts. He started wailing and kind of disrupted Liz’s meeting. He sort of calmed down until Liz could come nurse him. This evening we went on a great walk at the AG Center. It wasn’t too hot and the light was lovely.
Free at last.
I got another late start and arrived at the job site around 6:30. I cleaned up a little and finished packing my tools. I also spent some time talking with the Mexicans who were working on the balconies. I finally hooked up my trailer and headed to Columbia just as it started raining. Fortunately the rain didn’t follow me and the drive was pretty relaxed. As soon as I unhooked my trailer it started pouring though. I probably should have run some errands in town, but will do so tomorrow instead. I decided to drive back to the condo and see Luke. My schedule is about to get crazy again, so I wanted to spend some more time with him before that happens.
I didn’t take any pictures today, but the four units look pretty good. Outside they did some grading and poured footers for the steps today. The guys also continued work on the balconies. The inside is just about ready to begin painting. Overall it was a good four weeks, but I’m glad to be done. The farmhouse needs my attention!
Laughing Little Man.
Luke and I spent a lot of time together this afternoon and I found a new way to make him laugh – by touching his nose. Below is a video. Hopefully it plays properly. It was also bath night.
A continuation of yesterday.
I arrived at the job site this morning and discovered that our Gatorade had been stolen. Not the cooler, or other bottles of water, just the four bottles of Gatorade. And it seems like a fan was stolen as well. Which was a shame, as I really liked that fan. It was very powerful. Fortunately they did not take any tools, as there were lots of nice ones not far away. So that’s how the day started. I did some cleaning and organizing, and started to prepare to load my trailer, but the excavator left his Bobcat in the way, so I couldn’t pull into position to load. That ended up being a blessing in disguise as it started thunderstorming around ten. The ground quickly turned into a muddy mess, and by the time we got everything in from the weather we were soaked and decided to call it a day. There just wasn’t any more that we could do. I sure hope that tomorrow I’ll be able to get everything moved down to the farm. I really need to get to work down there.
Things fall apart, but the Little Man abides.
Today was a bit of a disaster. The plan was basically just to clean up a little bit, pack my tools and some leftover materials, then head to the farm. I arrived to the project at 6:30 and the countertop guys were getting there as well. I helped them bring in the granite, and we discovered the first problem of the day – the granite slab and the cabinets did not align. Long story short, I had to take up a lot of flooring and then we spent considerable time adjusting the cabinets. This was just in unit one. In unit two we took up the cabinets and cut them so they will move more freely and we can hopefully adjust them without taking up any more flooring.
Other issues included the footings guy hitting electrical conduit, the porch guys leaving without doing any work, and a general sense of chaos as deliveries were being made all at the same time. On the bright side, I got all of the flooring put back down and the bathroom vanities look great. But I worked until 5:15 and there is more yet to do tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to get down to the farm early afternoon.
Luke had just finished nursing when I returned to the condo and so we played together and did tummy time.
