Luke got up super early this morning, and so the rest of us did as well. It was of course raining. After breakfast we went to the farmers market and chatted with folks for a bit, in addition to buying fruits and vegetables. We dropped those off at home then went to a peach orchard to buy a bag of fresh peaches. Back home we had lunch and Luke took a nap. It was a little sunny when he woke up so we went to the playground then Lowe’s in Spring Hill. Dinner was a white bean chili that I made in the slow cooker. Now it is storming again.
Muddy, abbreviated work day.
For some reason I woke up feeling very sluggish this morning. Kind of odd since I was excited for the work day. Anyways, I got to the job site at about 8:45 and started installing more joists. That was slow due to the mud, but I was making good progress. A little before noon Liz called to say that Madeline had lost her sense of taste and was going to get tested for the virus. So I started packing up and preparing to head home. After showering and having lunch I did just that. The drive was quick and I arrived about 3:40. About halfway home Liz called to say that Madeline had tested negative and instead had an ear infection. Luke was upset because it was too hot to go outside, but after snack he calmed down and we played with Legos for a while. We had an early dinner and bed time. He was asleep around seven. Liz has gone to the grocery store now and I hope to go to bed before too long.
Limited work but maximum productivity.
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.
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.
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.
