The reason that I woke up at 6:30 (deliberately) was the fact that Dad wanted to start work at 7 in order to get stuff done before the heat of the day. On a sidenote, the plumbers went to work while we were on vacation, we passed an inspection, and things are moving along like clockwork! Because of this, generally spirits are good in spite of the very hot weather we've been having. But I digress.
Today is a special day. This is because it is my mother's birthday. Therefore, today's workday began with something unusual. Dad and I went into the shop, and he dug around on some shelves until he found a couple old cans of spray paint. I was very confused as to what this had to do with Mom's birthday, but then he let me in on his scheme. He told me that I was to create a "happy birthday" design on the mesh that we have been tacking up on the studs for insulation purposes. This would be at no cost to the overall look of the completed project, seeing as there will be a layer of drywall on top of it in the end. So, before doing anything building-related, I set to work, relying on my experience as a graffiti artist. Well, relying on the fact that I know generally how to use spray paint. It turned out pretty well; there was even a candle with stripes on it! Mom came in around 9:15 or so, and was very amused and appreciative.
- Mom stands by her "birthday card" -
I did some actual work today too... the first huge task (and hugest of the day) was "processing" an insulation delivery. That means that 3 palettes plus a huge pile not on a palette of cellulose insulation bales were dumped on our parking space. It was my job to haul all the bales off the palettes (the other pile could stay where it was), and re-stack them in the yard. The bales weighed about 25 pounds each. Drawing on the experience with "relatively light" drywall, I was expecting them to start feeling very heavy by the end. That didn't happen so much, except when I was lifting above my head to get them onto the top of the stacks. The worst enemy I had was the heat... some of the yard was shaded, but I had to go out into full sunlight to get a new bale. I took fairly frequent cool-down breaks in the shop - thank goodness one building around here is well insulated! In the end, I got all the palettes moved before noon, and I had managed to create impressively high stacks. By some miracle, not one bale has fallen so far.
- The piles of insulation have surpassed me in height. -
After lunch, we took a very long break to avoid the heat some more. I actually ended up going to spend some time with a friend who had an accessible trampoline and garden hose - quite a way to cool down! Upon my return to the Shack I was assisting Dad in getting more mesh up for the insulation and stapling it to the studs. We have to do this because the type of insulation we're using is actually blown into walls using a large machine/hose. The mesh is so that, ideally, the insulation stays in the walls! My other main job this evening was to cover both my ridiculously high insulation piles, and the pile that I didn't have to move, with tarps and plastic so that there could be no potential rain damage. Winnipeg has an ever-present "chance of showers" these days, and usually some thunderstorm watches. It was a difficult task to take on my own. It ended up involving, among other things, getting lost underneath the infamous 1500 sq. ft. tarp (aka "the beast") and falling off of a dirt pile, becoming sandwiched between a large mound of dirt and a large pile of insulation. Eventually though, both piles were covered, and the work did not go to waste at all - it began to rain even as I was still putting bricks on top to secure the tarps!
That's it for today, I think... once again happy birthday to my mother.
Essentially, Shack life rolls on well amidst the heat. So well that sometimes the thought gets in my head that in a matter of weeks, there may be no more Shack life... very strange.
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