PBRMeASAP!

A lengthy writeup for a lengthy weekend. To recap: a succesful Damfest, an enjoyable Saturday break, and enough labor to cause every joint in my body to ache by Monday night.

 

Having been putting in long hours at the lodge last week, and spending Thursday night arms-deep in the ETC waterpump R&R 'til after dark, I cashed in a little vacation Friday, giving me an extra hour of sleep before bouncing into work with a devil-may-care attitude and a couple hours off in the PM to give a final coat of paint to trim boards, and measure for carpet out at the lodge before heading in, changing, running over to the parents at 4 (after buying the requisite High Life) and getting a jump on the great round-up.

We have the Damfest mat'ls down to the essentials, and while they stay put over the winter, it's always a burden to drag up speakers, the card table, the giant cooler, the filthy grill and then go hunting for all the small stuff like the lights, toolkit, powerstrip, banners, etc. I had everything lined up by 5 when Cam stopped over and we loaded up the goods and headed to the dam. From there it was a whirlwind. Unfortunately, a bamboo reed on one of the tiki torches diced my finger up pretty good mid-evening and from that point on it was tough to shake the pain; a real king-hell papercut. Other than that, excellent turnout, great polaroids and thanks to Ben and Cara for handling the grilling after I opened an artery.

 

Saturday morning went pretty much by the book, hitting up the ReStore in CR mid-day for some decent finds, than onward to Coralville for the one distributor that carries the commercial brand of carpet that possibly has the color I want for the lodge. As always, dealing with carpet sales people is a struggle, especially when they're blowin' smoke. From there we hit up the Old Capitol Mall and drove around taking in the scenery and eating a tasty meal at Boston's. Cara caught some rest on the way home but I was driving and struggling to do so. Once at the apt it was light's out.

 

Sunday was spent at the lodge, then a reprieve mid-afternoon for lunch and unloading of Cara's car and mine, still full from Damfest. Then right back out to the lodge until 10PM or so. I set the cut tiles for the bathroom floor, taped and mudded the 20x16' high east wall with an exterior extension ladder (that was fun), put up the final exterior red beltline board, trimmed steel up on the deck and managed to install, trim and touch up a good portion of the Pump House fascias before it was too dark to see my own hand in front of me. Meanwhile, Cara had been doing a bang-up job cleaning at the apt, scrubbing floors and running errands. Around 10, with temps just right, and a light blue sky to the west, I cracked a beer and sat on the deck; listened to an owl off in the woods and regained my composure. Finally, home to pass out.

 

With a 6AM alarm sounding, we struggled to wake and pull ourselves out of bed. My body was not pleased with all the ladder climbing and contorting from the day before, but we were up and on the road by 7 with the trailer in-tow heading for Menard's. 2 hours later we had what we needed, including impulse buy ornamental trees (hey, when you've got a trailer to haul 'em, and 22% off, might as well). Loped over to the parents and loaded their riding mower, then got to work. Even with the rider, we were both impressed that it took almost 4 hours to mow the yard. While Cara ran the tractor, I finished up on the Pump House mitering, adjusting, fitting and end-painting the last fascia board, then painting all the nail heads. Finally, installing metal flashing along the rear edge, trimming and fitting the pieces to length and getting out the oh-so-messy roofing glue. Roof: Done. Next, the moment of truth…

 

False-walls have been in the garage door openings for a couple years now, in fact I put them up shortly after getting the roof on, to keep the place closed in. This means the steel beams spanning the openings were effectively shored up by the framing. They were even in place when the cement deck was poured. However, Monday, the south-west false-wall was torn out to make way for the actual garage door. What might happen without the shoring in place was anyone's guess. Would stress cracks appear in the EIFS? How might the cement deck respond? Cara kept mowing while I went about pulling off the OSB panels and methodically knocking out studs and pulling out plate sections…until all was free. The place, DID NOT, fall in.

 

After some prep work and installation, the parents showed around 3:30 and we set forth to shuffling around door sections and going for the full install. Ben stopped by, dropping off anRR and TV, and helped lift and clamp the upper panel into position, allowing the lower panel to be slid into place. Then the top panel released, and hinges tightened. It was obvious I was beat, and my bumbling in fetching hardware didn't speed matters any. But we were done and without a lot of sweat, or so we thought.

 

With rain looming and winds getting ridiculous we discovered the plastic to protect the wood door was soaked all the way through. Tarps and piecemeal visqueen were a lost cause in the high winds so we weighed our options, and the parents, Cara and I got out the rollers and stained the door right then and there. I will with-hold conjecture about the door for now, but suffice it to say, it's in, and hopefully held up to the rains of last night.

 

Then to the parents to unload the mower, grab some pizza, load tires, and limp home while the skies spit rain.

 

Now That, is a weekend!