Zoo day.

Posted on by David Maxwell

This morning we went to the farmers market for our weekly fruits, vegetables, and bread. Luke and I stayed in the car while Liz shopped, due to time constraints. After dropping our purchases off at home we drove up to the Nashville Zoo. My parents had bought us a season pass and they met us there. We spent a couple of hours walking around and seeing the animals. It was pretty hot, but not miserable. Luke seemed to have a great time. We went to my parents’ house for lunch, and Lauren and McGarrett came over.

After lunch Liz made the disastrous decision for us to drive downtown. That ended up being 45 minutes of frustration in bumper to bumper traffic. We finally got back on track and Luke fell asleep for the drive home. This afternoon we played inside since it was so hot. After dinner I watched an episode of Magnum PI while Liz did bath and much of the bed time routine. I went in for the last bit, and unfortunately he got super worked up and then threw up all over the place. After we cleaned everything up he went right to bed.

Slightly productive, depending on your definition.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I stayed up pretty late reading last night and so slept until nearly seven. I went to the green house and put down some grass seed and straw around where we had excavated. Dillon came with a load of gravel a little later and we talked for a while. I spread some of it at the green house and then talked with Jerah a bit. It was nearly noon by the time I was done with all that. Back at the cottage I cleaned up and hit the road. My first stop was the window place in Winchester where I ordered replacement sashes. Next I stopped at Sonic in Tullahoma for a gross lunch. I went to Lowe’s for a cement mixer, then finally the cabinet place in Shelbyville to pay for my cabinets. I got home about 3:30 and played with Luke until dinner. He ate a good dinner and did well at bath and bed time.

Still not productive.

Posted on by David Maxwell

This morning I took Luke to High Hopes before going to the Mountain. I took a little nap at the cottage, then went to the Goat Market and the lumberyard. I scanned a bunch of receipts, then met the plumber/electrician for dinner at Hardee’s. I am about to start an interesting looking novel by David Baldacci.

Another challenging day.

Posted on by David Maxwell

This morning I woke up super early because I wasn’t sure what time Dan was going to get to the job site. He was actually coming to help me replace the culvert at the green house. So I got over there and 6:15, and did some organizing until he texted at 7;15 saying that he would be over at nine. Then I worked on moving the temporary porch roof supports on the first house so that later I can dig footings. That was slow going. Dan came a little early and we got to work. Things were going very well until we hit bedrock where we had to trench for the new culvert. So we rented a jackhammer and took turns with it. That was tough work, coupled with some pretty hot temperatures. We hammered through the rock though, and were able to get the culverts set and mostly covered with gravel. I will have some more gravel brought in though. Towards the end of our work we took a lunch break at the Goat Market. After finishing around 2:30 I went to the cottage for a shower, returned the jackhammer at the lumberyard, then hit the road. I arrived home to see Liz and Luke shucking corn on the back porch. We had a nice dinner and Luke ate a ton. Three pieces of corn, two pieces of almond butter toast, a whole peach, and probably more that I am forgetting. He is taking a bath now and afterwards I will do bed time with him.

A total disaster of a day.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I played with Luke for a bit this morning before driving to Cedar Direct in Chapel Hill. There I picked up some of my lumber for the walls, about a quarter of it. I drove the back roads through Lynchburg and things were fine, albeit slow until I was almost to Sewanee. A trailer tire blew out as I was coming up the last stretch of the Mountain.

So I left the trailer and went to the cottage for a spare and jack, and to the storage unit for my impact wrench and sockets. My dad came with me to change the tire. Unfortunately we could not jack the trailer high enough to put on the spare. A neighbor from Laurel Lake stopped and loaned us a jack, but it wasn’t strong enough to lift things. So my mother came and took me to O’Reilly in Winchester where I bought a six ton bottle jack. That lifted the trailer and we put on the spare. Unfortunately after driving a few hundred yards it blew out as well. So I again left the trailer and went for my army trailer. My dad and I loaded up half the lumber and took it to the cottage. The trailer was all over the road and I couldn’t go over 3o miles per hour without it fishtailing like crazy. We loaded the other half and I hauled it as well. I just unhooked the trailer then returned for the empty flatbed. After taking off the messed up wheel we drove it to the cottage.

I drank a couple of cans of water then went to the job site to clean up a bit. I didn’t really do that last week after the siding. Next I went to the storage unit and organized my car a bit. My last stop was Piggly Wiggly for some food. Back at the cottage I ordered five new tires for my trailer and have been working on some lists and other stuff on the computer. I am pretty drained now and will try to get to bed early.