Monday, March 14, 2011

The First Day

We arrived at the site today with the sun shining and a slight breeze. It wasn 't really warm but above zero!

The day started with our usual safety talk from Herb - HE who must be obeyed. We prayed and then it was off to work. Lumber had to be moved from one place to another, the subfloor needed to have the plastic removed (which was keeping it dry), table saws needed to be set up, 2x4's needed to be crowned, and the walls begun. It didn't take long before the worksite was a buzz of activity with the hammers banging and the chop saw humming. All the red hard hats were heads down and hands were busy.

After lunch the first wall was ready to be raised. And up it went! Then the back wall. With braces in place, it was time to start on the two shorter side walls. And by the end of the day, we had encased the entire house, and cut out the front door.

It was a great day, a tiring day, some folks found muscles they didn't know they had. I am sure more will find those tomorrow after a nights sleep. All in all it was a safe day on the worksite, maybe a few slivers and only one swan dive off the side of the wall by yours truly! Poor Nick watched it all unfold standing on a ladder at the opposite end of the house and couldn't do anything - I knew after I took the first step off the edge that it wasn't going to be pretty but I just let myself go (as lesson taught to me by my wise grandmother) and then waited for the eruption of laughter or gasps from the rest of the group, only to have silence - then I thought Oh, no one saw me, just get up and brush myself off and then I won't have to explain.....that would be too good to be true! I got up only to have Nick looking at me wide eyed at the other end of the house asking me if I was okay - to which I responded a firm YES!

We were also being watched today, by an inquisitive hawk that had a nest up in one of the trees on the edge of the lot. I am sure the bird (assuming it was female - hope to be able to ID it tomorrow) was wondering what was going on. There hasn't been been any work on the site for a few weeks so it has been quiet, then today it was hive of activity. The hawk would return to her branch every so often and make a just enough noise to let you know she was there and then off again. The outdoors are waking up, everyday something we didn't see yesterday - robins, nuthatches, flying insects and the wonderful calls of the spring peepers. There have also been plenty of daffodils and dandelions as well as a pretty purple flowered ground cover that seems to add just enough colour to the landscape.

We wrapped up our day around 4pm and returned to the hotel for a little down time before heading to Grace Episcopal Church for dinner. What a wonderful meal of Brunswick stew (chicken, corn, tomatoes and lima beans in a broth), fresh garlic bread - with cloves of garlic baked right into the loaf, and some very decadent brownies, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream for dessert.

During our evening gathering we shared our experiences of the first day and read a wonderful letter by Lauren Delcourt (miss you and wish you were here!). The group is playing a rousing game of paper telephone - it is quite entertaining but wonderful to hear the laughter being shared amongst the group of 16, teens and adults alike, some of whom, only days ago had never even met.

Tomorrow the boom truck will be on site to get the roof trusses up on the roof so we will have a variety of groups working on different tasks: a shed needs to be built and there are some finishings that need to be completed at the Willis house before they "close" tomorrow. The weather is calling for a little rain tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday. Hopefully it won't set us back too far.

1 comment:

Ryan said...

Paper telephone could perhaps be the world's greatest game!

I'm glad to hear things are so going well! It sounds like you're really enjoying yourselves.

Keep up the great work!
Ryan

Ps. Sounds like a pretty good fall!