In which I discover the cure to the common cold…

Dave caught a cold last week on his vacation. A couple days later, despite my germophobic precautions, bang, it hit me. Sore throat. Chills. Wrap up in a blanket and I’m still cold. Sneezing and coughing. Are there enough Kleenex in the house for the two of us??

Dave’s favorite cold medicine is orange juice with tequila.
Or is that tequila with a bit of orange juice?

Orange juice didn’t appeal to me that evening but pineapple juice did. The label on the little 6 oz. can said it contained 100% of my daily recommendation of vitamin C. Hmm, that sounds promising….crush some ice, pour the pineapple juice over the crushed ice, hey, there’s coconut milk in the ‘fridge, add 3 or 4 tablespoons of that, ooh, this needs rum, add an ounce or so of dark rum.  Tasty!

…if 100% of my vitamin C intake is in one, maybe I should have a second, for precautionary measures.

Friends, I tell you, I had that cold for no more than 5 or 6 hours.

Vacation is over...

Dave had a long list of things he wanted to accomplish on this vacation. He got the majority of them done and probably would have been able to do even more if his wife hadn’t made him stop every evening to do annoying things like eat some food.

In no particular order he…

Got the rough electrical inspection, finally! (see previous post)

Finished spraying the foam insulation.

Scraping foam blobs off the floor, wall studs and ceiling rafters.

Replaced 6 windows.

 

Spent an evening calculating how much pink fiberglass insulation to get for the rafters…it involved a spreadsheet, a calculator, numerous trips upstairs to measure, notes and scribbles on paper…and two trips to the store in the truck to buy it all.

And caught a cold.

Still a long way to go...

I did manage to get him out for a day of fun at a Celtic festival. We saw family and friends, enjoyed a variety of music, had a few beers and some horrible food - and I got myself a wee little souvenir.

Sometimes you just need to drop the right name…

Before his vacation started Dave called an electrical inspector to have him come do the initial inspection. Dave gave him a few days and when he didn’t return the call, Dave called again. In the mean time Dave built a couple new walls, made another phone call, sprayed some foam insulation – being careful not to cover the electrical wires that still need to be inspected – replaced a window and kept himself busy with the endless list of jobs that need to be done.

Add scaffold construction to the man’s resume. It was like popping through a trap door, which was appropriate for International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Foam every where.

Trimming off the excess foam…hard work with a one-handled blade…

…so Dave fashioned his own two-handled knife!

Yesterday morning Dave made his fourth phone call. When he got the inspector’s voice mail again, Dave said hello, identified himself, and said “I’ve been trying to reach you for an electrical inspection… Oddly enough, I was out Friday night, talking with Mr. X* and your name came up when I mentioned that I needed an inspection….” 10 minutes later Dave’s phone rang. The inspector should be here this afternoon.

*Mr. X, a friend who, I am fairly certain, would feel that I besmirched his good name by mentioning him here, with VW emblazoned across the top of the page. We like him any way.

Vay-cay-shun!

Woo-hoo! Dave’s on vacation again.

Some people go to the beach.

Some eat their way across Europe.

Others go hiking in the woods or exploring canyons.

If you know us at all, you know what the next two weeks will entail.

It won’t be as exciting as this…

...but stay tuned for updates on all the fun that we plan to have.

I do sometimes wonder what “normal” people must think of us.

Race postponed due to rain...

Dave came home early today to do some online training for work. I went out to the garage to ask him a question (due to our household turmoil, his desk & computer are in the garage).

This is what I saw...

What the??

He was watching the NASCAR race that had been rained out this past weekend!

Electrifying...

Bob the siding guy and a helper were here for half of a day last week to finish their job.

 

I had mixed emotions about the peak of the new construction when viewed from the driveway side of the house but after Bob got done with it, it really doesn't look half bad. He used siding, soffits and metal trim to match the rest of the house, it all ties together nicely - rather than sticking up like the potential sore thumb it could be.

Yesterday Dave built a wall, framed a doorway, and pulled some of the electrical wires.

 

As he was hand sawing the threshold for the doorway I heard, “I bet Matt & his guys never use one of these.”

Drilling through a corner post.

I helped by chatting at him, taking photos, occasionally locating a tool, vacuuming up sawdust (while Dave was still trying to work) and generally slowing down progress.

For example, I spied this wayward hammer. Helpful!

It’s surprising how much planning and thinking ahead is required for each step of this process in order to eliminate making more work for ourselves down the road.