The temperatures were wonderful today. Cool to start, in the mid-50's, chilly enough for a sweatshirt, and we were out good and early enough that we found Corbin there with all the materials for the day.
The storm had blown through and the day was clear and perfect for working, especially on the roof, in the attic, and up on the sunnier side of the house. I forgot my earplugs and was grateful when some ladies that came later brought them with them.
I mostly worked on the front and one side of the house, doing the .22 rounds for a chunk or two of it, and mostly loading the literal nail gun for John. I did a lot of glueing as well as they got the big gun that fit the bigger tubes of glue, and we had to glue every piece before nailing it to the house. Jim got a really good shot of me shooting a nail. *laughs* I'll have to beg him for a copy of it.
Christina, Donna, John P., and Jim were up on the roof, taking off the old one. They were impressive, because they put nearly all of the matierals they took off right into the dumpster. It as Soooo much easier on everyone else to have them do it that way and not have to do the pickup of all the debris *again* and try to put it in there.
We had two painting stations, one in front, one in back, that we set up so that folks could paint the siding before we put it up. The main reason to do it is to get the edge of the pieces the same color as the front before they're nailed on. It's a lot better paint job if it's done before the siding gets put up on the house. Gary taught Jennifer, Carol, Jo, and the others how to get that together, and they did a pile of of them.
It didn't really warm up until afternoon, and with all the humidity here it takes a good deal of warmth for things to dry. Lunch was amazing, as for the first time ever, the owner of the house worked alongside us and he gave us lunch! He bought us Pizza Hut pizzas!! *laughs* We all sat along the wall to just eat them and enjoy the time out in the sunshine.
Clay and Marian worked on the siding, and then Amy, who had been working on the interior came out to help with that project as well.
Jeff, Lysa, John, and I were doing the side framing too. Russ and Don worked on framing more of the windows, and then we discovered that one of the old door frames, under the stucco was just completely termite infested, and the stucco there wasn't big enough to allow the framing work that we were doing. So we had to pull it out. I got a big pry bar and sent a lot of stuff crashing to the ground, wasn't quite as much in control as I wanted, but then John and Gary took over and bashed away at it.
I spent the last few hours cleaning up the broken plaster and stucco. It's good and heavy stuff, so Lysa and I ended up with 5 gallon buckets and a big, flat-blade shovel and loaded up the buckets as we went. Harry loaded up a whole wheel barrow, but the thing was way too heavy to get it unloaded into the container the usual way, especially since it was too full to do that. We ended up helping him with buckets to get it all in up front.
It was odd how much the experience of past jobs made it easier to do the loading and carrying and cleaning up. The funny thing is that if I were now looking for a professional general contractor or construction I'd look for someone that cleaned up meticulously. The best builders all seem to be utterly amazing about keeping their work areas really clean. They spend a lot more time on the cleanup than the destruction and construction itself, which is why they're able to work so much faster with the whole crew. We do the cleanup, and our best folks are the most appreciative of our ability to clean up after them and do the work they would otherwise have to spend a great deal of effort and energy on doing.
So we did cleanup, and at 4, a number of folks wanted to head back to the dorm for a meeting with the head of the Mission to see what the mission was doing and what it was about to the local area. I drove them back and then went back to the work site and picked up John and Don and we all went back to the dorm for the life-giving showers and then off to dinner.
Dinner was at Tarenta's Broiler, which, they said, had just changed its name so had to get a new liquor license. The odd thing was that it was BYOB, i.e. you could buy beer anywhere else up and down the street and drink it there with their food. They had a soft-shelled crab po'boy that both John and I ordered, and we had a dozen of the raw oysters on the half-shell as well. It was a pretty good meal, and I was very happy about
the legs sticking out of my dinner. *laughs* You can follow the link if you're brave enough. *laughs*
Back to the dorm and we had a quiet night, sharing pictures, Don's Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, and quiet conversation. John and I got to talk to Jet and he's tired of being left behind. He and I talked a little about it only being six years before he gets to go with us, and that he'd like that. At sixteen, he can come and work on these sites as well.
So it's been a good day, a quiet night, and in the morning we get to go to 'Tater Nuts! *laughs* I'll happily explain tomorrow.