Notebook Blogging #10

Well, after several weeks of MIA notebook blogger is back, though this might be a short post. Doesn't it seem like the year is just flying by? In one week it will be the 1st of May! The 1st of May!! 114 days into the new year and exactly 35 weeks until Christmas, which BTW, I already have some gifts for. :p While it seems the days are just flying off the calender, there is also a part of me that feels like time is just crawling along. It is a weird feeling, to know the year is moving right along but at the same time some things in life have their own timetable and all you can do is be patient and wait.

Take our house, granted, we only work on it a couple hours a day when it is not pouring rain (something that has been quite common recently) and the work ethic of some class members leaves sometime to be desired, but taking that all into consideration it is still mildly irritating that construction has been so slow, but at least if I get too frustrated there are usually plenty of things handy that need a good hammer. :p And like I said in January, while there are a lot of things I want to happen or get accomplished you just have to be patient and trust the Lord's timing even for something as minor as building a house.

One recent element of construction that I thought was great fun was dragging trusses for our roof. We had them all dropped at one end and we had to space them evenly across the top of the framework. This involved balancing on the 2x4 top-plate and walking trapeze style 48 feet to the other end of the house which is actually really easy. We were going to have three people move each truss just to get the job done faster except almost everyone chickened out of getting up there! So the few individuals, myself included who were not scared to death of a little 15' drop balanced ourselves on the 2x4, gripped the truss in the center and dragged them individually to the other end of the house.

The first time I have to admit I shuffled my way across the length of the house, this was mainly due to my feet being the size they are and the fact that I kept kicking myself in my heels. After that first run though, I was good and we got them spaced out relatively quickly considering most of the class was on the ground. Once we got the sheeting down on the roof, most of the class was a little more willing to get on the roof to put down the tar paper and shingles but that could be a post all of it's own.

Remember the I mentioned sunburn in the Earth day post a few days ago? Well, I did not follow my own advice and I actually got rather red, though not severely when we were working on getting the trusses set up and the sheeting on the roof. Since that day I have religiously been putting on sunscreen, I have vowed not to revisit lobster land!

Anyone remember the furniture I was going to build? :p Well it seems like free time we have in the shop is few and far between but I have almost finished the bookcase. I just need to stain it and put it back together. I will post pictures whenever it is fully completed.