Know when to Hold 'em

There's a certain something in the air. Not quite the indicators of spring, after all, March in Iowa has been known to dump a lot of snow on us. But the pavement is covered in sand, and not the white stuff. The lawns look like matte paintings. A slight tinge of green and brown with the consistency of a brillo pad. And occasional days of sun.

This bodes well because I'm eager to get Cold Storage III off the ground, and that means excavating for pier footings. Hard to do with frozen earth.

It was a whirl-wind-weekend. I spent the majority of Saturday fighting off the effects of Friday night. Getting up after only a few hours sleep and hitting the open road was rough, too. A tankard of coffee and Mickey D's helped get the motor going, and after a couple hours Ben started feeling better as well. We took his Tahoe down to DM for an appliance haul, and a random CL search turned up an extremely rare appliance find in CR of all places. It was unfortunate we didn't have a lot of time to snoop out the small towns, but that kind of venture really needs a dedicated day. Flashlights. And a flatbed. So we criss-crossed the state, unloaded the goods shortly before Cara made it back to CF and decided at the last minute to grab a bite to eat at Z's. My hot beef sandwich was pretty good, but not as good as Cara's reuben. Exhausted, I hit the pillow shortly after getting home and slept for 12 hours.

I've pretty much hit the wall with headway on the basement front. What needs to leave in the first wave when the new bldg is complete is packed and ready. A big pile of stuff is set for the spring garage sale. And there's still some items that'll hit the rubbish bin once there's more room to maneuver. So now it's a waiting game. My goal is to get the new building up and closed in this year. Yes, start laughing now. It may not be sided (I'd like to focus on the siding as a single event), and I don't plan on full bathroom/kitchenette completion upstairs. But structure complete, insulation and wall covering, typar wrap, roof, locking doors, downstairs floor, operable windows in, etc. is the goal. Then the exodus will begin!