Monday, August 29, 2011

News in Brief

It has been an absolute whirlwind lately but a brief reprieve is in sight. Now that we've got a roof on the place, well, most of a roof, I can sleep a little better at night. Next step is to close in the rear wall. Perhaps this week.

With the help of Cara, Ben S. and Cam C., we did the improbable in a single day. At 6AM, there were still joists to hang and plywood to install. By sunset, we were putting the screws in the last panel. One less person and it wouldn't have worked. One less drill and we wouldn't have finished. Any wind and we'd have been in a real fix with those 37' long panels. Rain? Disaster. And it all worked out. We topped off the festivities with a delicious meal at Panther's Pride (think I'll try the breakfast next time) and a very surreal experience at the PL where by 10:30, we called it a night.

Sunday- Felt like I was hit by a truck. Aches, pains; could have slept all day. We finally forced ourselves out of bed before noon, must be a new record for the lodge. I took the day a little easier but still managed to wrap the steel on the ground from rain, cleaned up the site, moved the picker to the SW and even typar'd the west upper wall. Picked up inside the lodge, worked on the wagon, analyzed the etchings of a RR control panel, etc. etc. A lazy, yet productive day.

On the wagon front, we should be ready for a trip to Missouri. The exhaust is patched up, rad overflow bottle swapped out, oil topped off, tempmatic system converted and a new Delco 2000 radio installed. All that's left is the rear headliner, which isn't crucial for highway cruising, but will need installation sometime soon.

About 10,000 other little things going on around here, too- From 'the great kitchen cleanup' to the 'seafoam green toilet seat fiasco'. Never a dull moment!



Thursday, August 18, 2011

Touch the Magic

I knew 2011 was going to be a difficult year in terms of personal workload. That was pretty apparent in 2010, the year of "the fixening*". No surprises there. What didn't help was the late spring this year and the ridiculous amount of OT worked spring and summer. The "at-work" forecast for this fall does not appear to be much better.

While CS3 (aka the Research Lab) is more simplistic than the lodge in many ways, it does have its novelties, and whichever way you slice it, you've gotta have time to build. If I can regain a couple weekends, I should still be able to attain my goal of having the place closed-in by this winter. That means cement downstairs, operable windows installed. Walls weather-wrapped. Roofing and trim in place, and rudimentary utilities installed. A closed-in upstairs means I can work on the interior when it starts to turn cold, and a closed-in downstairs means I can quit paying storage on my '60 and find a rightful home for all the construction necessities occupying good lodge space that's cramping my style (table saw, router, band saw, lumber, windows, shelving, fixtures, surplus mat'ls for drive-in, etc).

While I am inclined to write off the spring/summer/fall of 2011 as a lost-year, I need to keep in mind it's been a productive year, and the follow-through should pay dividends in time and money down the road. Plus, there have been perks... 2011 saw a trip to Palm Springs with Cara, the decoration of the living room with actual furniture, my introduction into vintage boating, a new computer for my well-worn G4, an engine rebuild well underway and a healthy addition to the television hobby.

So, I guess you could say I've been busy.

Just how is it some people retire and bore themselves to death? The number of D**re retirees that turn in their badges for their pensions, yet show up to work in a different capacity 4 weeks later just astounds me. This is practically the rule rather than the exception these days. Perhaps these folks do not have the gift a twenty, going on thirty, -year old has. Their life is their job. They've spent more waking hours with a company than their family. Perhaps I think about this occasionally because I couldn't do what I want to do without the paycheck, but compared to my productivity outside of work, I feel absolutely useless behind the desk. I understand life should be well-lived. With enjoyment and fulfillment. Variety. Hard-work. Leisure. One may feel they're invaluable to their job, their employer. I've watched good people suck-up to try to get ahead. Act like people they aren't. And yet once person A moves into position B, position A is so quickly filled with a warm body, and the work done equally, that in several months time, few even remember who occupied that space. I've always found that interesting. How can it be so obvious and yet not weigh on the decisions of those moving about? Odd.

I mention this because as time marches on, we adapt to our environments. If personal skills and cognitive assets aren't exercised, they wither away. I effectively have become a dumber person for excelling at my job, and I do not believe I am alone in this arrangement. This is a blinking light. A subtle warning. The point at which it becomes the background noise is indeterminate. Were I free man, I would heed such a warning. But a little thing called responsibility and adulthood make this complicated. I imagine this is about the time others begin to start families, settle down and buy-into social norms. The light becomes background as new goals enter the picture- Having children and becoming a father. Planning for retirement. Shifting focus from "me" to "them". If that's your bag, great. Novacaine for the soul.

Better get back to work, only a few good months left!



* "The Fixening". I just made that up right now and that's not really what I'd like to call 2010. But the sidebar is that that year was when we first moved in lock, stock and barrel (1 June) and there were no "major" construction projects going on. Not that I wasn't kept busy- August was spent working on the drive-in project. I built the pole-building in the Fall. I drew up plans and sought bids on CS3 before winter and got the foundation in. But I also found the odd weekend here and there between finishing up projects around the lodge to relax a bit. Managed to buy a tractor and a repair manual to get it running right which shaved hours off mowing. Picked up the Olds wagon to play with. And even spent the occasional evening on the front balcony.