Christmas Day

Things are a little slow around the Smith household these days.

9:33 Wake up. Go downstairs to start making breakfast.
10:23 Eat breakfast. Eggnog french toast, bacon, juice. No bacon juice though.
11:00 Open gifts. Very few carpentry related.
12:00 Family comes over. Get new work gloves, and a new hat for work. Some other stuff, not carpentry related.
2:00 Go for walk.
3:00-10:52 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
10:53 Write this line.
11:00 Go to bed.

Happy holidays. Hopefully things will pick up in the new year.

Tho' I could never know why

Christmas Eve Day. How wonderful. What better way to spend it that working!


6:00 Wake up. Hit snooze.
6:23 Get out of bed. Eat vector, fill lunch kit with snacks for coffee.
7:00 Leave for Adam's
7:05 Arrive at Adam's.
7:30 Arrive at site, with coffee. Thanks Adam.
7:45 Head to basement. No propane = no heat. Huddle together for warmth.
8:36 Get to work. Continue standing trusses.
10:00 Coffee. Water, banana, apple, snaps, chocolate thing.
10:30 Back to work. Stand more trusses.
12:30 RRRRRRROROOOOOOOLLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUPPPPUPPPPPPPPP!
1:00 Arrive at mechanic, pay for truck, give Adam keys. Adam drives truck to my house. I drive him home. I know, why the nice-ities? Well it is Christmas Eve after all, and as I was driving home, I heard a song that said "Christmas is about love". Who am I to argue with that?
3:30 Arrive home after some running around.
4:51 Write this line (I know right?)
5:30 Go to family party.
6:00-? PARTY!
? Put son to bed
? Shower
? Go to bed

Merry Christmas All!!!!!!

Filled to the brim with girlish glee

6:00 Alarm clock is ringing, who could that be singing? Its Toby Keith, baby, with my wake up call.
6:15 Actually get out of bed. Lacking desire. Think of my day ahead. A little more desire. Get a phone call from Adam needing a ride, lose all desire.
6:30 Pack lunch, eat a PB and N sandwich. Out the door.
6:45 Freezing me ghoulies, walk to where my truck should be only to find an empty stall.
6:46 Re-enter house, wake up wife to ask her if I could take her Jeep. "IF I FIND ONE PIECE OF SAWDUST IN MY JEEP, I WILL CLEAN IT OUT WITH YOUR FACE!"
6:47 "Love you Hon" says I. "I mean it" says she.
7:00 Pick up the A-ball. Start the commute. Roads, icy. Air, frigid. Other people on the road, stupid.
7:32 Arrive at site. Del isn't there. I begin to wonder if he was playing a practical joke on me when he called last night and said "Oh, hey Todd" (muffled giggle). "It's supposed to be nice tomorrow" (muffled giggle). "We should head into work" (muffled giggle). I said, "Del, you tell me what to do, and I will do it."
7:35 Del pulls up, lucky for him. He was about to incur my wrath.
7:40 Realize how cold -21 feels, and we head to the basement. There, we shoot the breeze, laugh, cry, share our feelings with each other.
9:27 Roll out. Well, shovels anyway.
9:30-10:16 Move 3600 cubic feet of snow.
10:17 Have coffee. A banana and some snaps. A sip or two of water.
11:00 Go back to work. Ambient air temperature feels no warmer.
11:01- 12:30 Push trusses by hand. All I can say is there is a reason God invented the mobile crane.
12:30 Lunch. Pasta with Alfredo sauce. Thanks Mama Michellina. You maka the fina pasta ah. Also, an apple, a nutri-grain bar, 3 sips of water. Invigorating conversation also sustained me.
1:30 Back to work, push more trusses.
2:30 Finish pushing, start standing.
2:31 Back to trusses.
2:45 Del's phone rings. It's Jake.
3:30 Feels cold again, so we go home.
3:35 Receive phone call from mechanic. Good news, they can fix my truck. "Good News", it will only cost me 1500 dollars.
3:36 Heart stops briefly. Tell them no, I only paid 1000 Dollars for it. I can drive without lights, thank you very much.
4:25 Drop Adam off. On the way home though, someone called about his car and said (trumpets and gongs resound!) that they wanted to buy his car! All I can say is that if this guy pulls out of the deal, I will slam his face into the hood of the car and say "you buy this car". I'm good like that.
5:00 Mechanic calls back, they can actually fix it for 600 dollars. Will be ready tomorrow morning. Sorry Hon.
5:30 Arrive home. Spit shine Jeep.
6:00 Eat supper. Pork roast (thanks hog), scalloped potatoes (thanks son), mixed veggies (thanks green giant), raspberry pizazz juice (thanks Sans Nom). Overall, thanks Hon.
7:00 Feed son snack
7:23 Give son bath
7:55 Put son to bed.
9:44 Write this line
10:00 Shower
10:30 Go to bed, with visions of not ever having to pick Adam up again in the morning, dancing in my head. Best Christmas present ever!

P.S. I figured out how to get that second photo on there all by myself, thank you nobody.

Just another manic monday....

I wish it were sundaaaaaayyyyyy!
Just kidding, mondays are fine by me.

8:00 Awake to a snowblower
8:20 Eat peanut butter and nutella sandwich, drink glass of mango madness juice.
8:45 Drive to mechanic to have them look at the electrical in my truck. Tail lights don't work, neither the dash lights, or the brake lights. I just thought that people were really friendly and waving and honking at me all the time.
9:00 Call Adam. Wake him up. Tell him to come and pick me up and drive me home.
9:10 Adam picks me up and drives me home.
9:20- 1:37 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
1:38 Start Sketching Up.
2:00 Realize that my computer prowess is lacking, resort to tutorials.
2:35 Call Andy because I can make neither heads nor tails of the computer stuff the computer was telling me to compute.
4:00- 5:30 Go to Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Wal-Mart= not fun. Home Depot= super fun
5:55 Eat supper, Mac and Cheese. Thanks Hon.
7:00 Read book on cabinet making. Well, not the whole book. And not really reading, more just looking at the pictures.
8:30 Give son snack
9:00 Give son bath
9:30 Give son to his bed.
10:00 Watch Robot Chicken Star Wars episode. Nothing to do with carpentry, but funny none the less.
10:48 Write this line.
11:00 Shower
11:23 Go to bed.

till morning is nigh...

Aaaaaahhhhhh Sundays

9:15 Wake up. Change diaper, not mine. Feed son. Eat breakfast, vector. Drink mango madness juice.
10:45 Arrive late to church, along with 95% of the congregation.
12:30 Talked with Jon Hamm, my finishing carpenter friend.
12:32 Saw Jake from a distance, waved, but no response.
12:33 Phone rings, its Jake. Talk about the service, never once losing eye contact.
12:45-4:00 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
4:01 Read Fine Woodworking magazine, issue 177. You know, the one where they describe how to do the dovetail joints for drawers. Good times.
5:00 Go to supper with family. Boston Pizza. Ate tropical chicken pizza, drank ice tea.
7:00 Arrive home
7:30 Go out to blockbuster, rent Get Smart and Brokeback Mountain.
9:00 Why didn't anyone warn me about that movie! I didn't know Steve Carrell was in it! He's good in The Office and everything, but a secret agent? Come On!
9:01 Write this line
9:30 Shower, s and s
10:30 Check for comments on blog.
10:31 Log off and cry self to sleep, wondering why I do this. I know why. I do this for you, people. As you can tell, I am a very busy man, and I could be doing a lot more with my time than this. But no, I pour my heart and soul into this and this is all I get. COME ON!!!

My kingdom for an ergonomic keyboard!!!!!

My wrists are killing me. No one ever told me that blogging was going to be so taxing on my body. But I will push through the wall of pain for you, my faithful followers.

7:00 Wake up to put soother back in son's mouth so that he goes back to sleep
10:00 Wake up for real. Go downstairs, eat breakfast. Vector. Feed son, cheerios.
10:30 Look through Lee Valley catalog. Make wish list for Santa.
11:15-3:30 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
3:31 Go to basement to change laundry, stub toe on compressor. Blinded by fury, throw hammer through wall
3:35 Fix drywall.
3:59 First coat of mud.
4:13 Phone rings, it's Jake. Talk about work and how he doesn't know how he will get through the holidays without seeing me. reassure him that the time will come when we will be together again... at work.
5:17 Eat supper, chicken fingers with ketchup and perogies with sour cream. Thanks Hon.
6:00 -8:11 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry
8:14 Write this line.
8:30 Watch some Arrested Development, "the one where they build a house"
8:31-9:30 Laugh uncontrolably
9:45 Drink some tea, eat some vanilla ice cream.
10:30 Go to bed

Goodwill to all.
P.S. How do I get more than one picture per post. I see all these blogs were they have one at the beginning and one in the middle. I want that too. TEACH ME YOUR WAYS!

Celebrate

6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze until 6:30
6:30 Roll out of bed. Adam calls. Oh ya, Adam. It has been a few days since I have had to think of him this early in the morning.
7:00 Pick Adam up. Start the hour long fight on the road.
8:15 Arrive at site Everyone else is there, even Tag.
8:30 Andy- "well, we didn't come here to B.S."
8:31-9:10 Failed. The B.S. was flying.
9:11 Rolled out. Apparently things grind to a halt when I am not there. They weren't even done the basement yet. Walls were framed, ceilings dropped, garbage thrown out.
10:30 RRRRRROORROORLLLLL UPPUUUPPPPPPPPPPPP! See what a motivation I am.
11:00 Start driving to Tim Hortons. I had a sausage breakfast sandwich, a french vanilla, and an apple juice.
12:30 Lunch. Luckily Timmy's shares the parking lot with the Senachie public house. So we met there for lunch. Tag was already there, waiting for us it seemed.
1:00 Mike McDonald showed up, as did Ted, the lumber guy. We laughed, we cried, it moved us. Jake gave us our paychecks, chuckled and told us "don't spend it all in one place" HAHAHAHA, and "don't cash that right away" HAHAHAHAHAH, and "I want a PS3 for Christmas." What a kidder.
3:15 Said our goodbyes for the Holidays.
3:18 Told Adam to start my truck as I went to the bathroom. When I got out to the parking lot, he was still standing outside of my '88, wondering were the keyless entry button was on my keychain. Youngins, can't live with them, can't leave them standing alone in the middle of a parking lot on a day that has a -38 windchill.
4:30 Arrive home
5:30 Eat supper. Baked chicken with country mushroom rice and cauliflower and cheese. Thanks Hon.
7:00 Feed son
7:15 Give son bath
8:15 Put son to sleep
8:45 Get a call from Kevin McInnes wonder where his son was. I told him Adam was putting in overtime, and that I would have him home soon.
8:46 Drive to Senachie, hoping that the little guy is fairly resilient.
9:46 Drop Adam off, wish him good weekend, happy holidays and the like.
10:03 Write this line
10:30 Shower
10:45 Go to bed

Well there you have it, all the nitty gritty from music city.

Ok, this is getting old.

And I'm not talking about my blog. I am talking about the weather. Still freezing, still snowing, still sucking.

6:00 Wake up. Knowing that I had an hour drive ahead of me, I thought I would be all smart and responsible and get up early.
7:00 Start driving. Should have been driving at 6:30. Awe well, Jake and Andy are loving, forgiving chaps.
8:05 Arrive to site. Still freezing, still snowing, still sucking. Heaters blowing luke warm air. I didn't even think that doing carpentry could brighten up my day.
8:15 Jake and Derek decide to show up. Coffeeless might I add.
9:07 Start rolling out. I had some more walls to build. So I built them, and my day seemed to lighten up. Nothing like a framing nailer freezing to your hand to warm the soul.
10:10 Coffee. Kevin and Derek went into town and they brought us back french vanillas and chocolate bars. I had an O-Henry. I also had some water, yogurt, a banana, a package of vanilla sesame snaps. And three sugar cookies. And a brownie. And a tart of some kind. And a minty cookie. And... well it is the holidays.
11:10 Back to work. Still working by myself, still doing twice as much work as Kevin and Cristoph (sp?) together. Of course.
12:30 Del calls Andy from Revelstoke to let him know that I need to go to the other site because trusses were on their way. So off I went, forsaking lunch for the sake of the job. Well, I had an apple as I drove. And some water. And a rice crispy square. And a coconut wafer. And a chocolate crunch cookie. And 7 toffifees. It's a long drive ok. Stop judging me.
1:22 Arrive at other site. Supervisor Adam was already there supervising, nobody. He did unlock the gate though. That was a weight off my shoulders. The delivery truck arrived shortly therafter. Which shocked me, because normally when the lumber company ( I can't name names because they have a better lawyer than I do) says that something is on its way, they mean that they are just on their way to their supplier, then back to their yard, then tomorrow sometime they will get it out to us. But low and behold
1:26 there it was. A truck full of trusses. So I help the guy unload them. Well, his truck did most of the work, but I "supervised".
2:45 Leave for home. Not that I didn't want to go back to work, I just didn't want to blind the rest of the crew with my awesomeness.
3:43 Arrive home. You may be asking, "Todd, why does it take you an hour to drive everywhere you go?". My answer is...because.
4:45 Go to mall.
6:45 Leave for Adam's "Never Ending Party of Eternal Awesomeness"
7:45 Arrive at McInnes residence.
7:46-8:53 Party like it was 1999.
9:53 Arrive home
10:00 Give son bath and put to bed.
10:45 Write this line
11:00 Shower, s and s and go to bed.


Toodle's

Snow way dude!

Hello from the coldest place on earth.

Before we get rolling, all I have to say is "what the heck?" Since when does Calgary get this kind of weather at this time of the year? Maybe if we were in Winnipeg or Iqaluit. Maybe all those scientists are right and I should put the catalytic converter back on my truck.
Anyway.

7:30 Slept in again. It was supposed to be cold, so Adam and I decided the night before to wait until it was light out and a little warmer before heading to the site. Instead, I wake up to snow and 50 KM per hour winds.
8:05 Leave for Morgan's Rise. Jake and the other guys are eagerly awaiting my arrival, getting the heaters going in the basement, brewing a coffee for me cooking me crepes.
9:15 Arrive at the site. Should have been a half hour commute.
9:16 Start framing the basement. Join Kevin in wall building. I cut blocks and got studs for him, and then nailed the wall in when it was in place. It was exhilarating.
10:30 Coffee. Andy went to town with Kevin and bought us french vanillas. I don't care what Jake says about him, that Andy is a swell fellow (who has a truck for sale, btw. Click on his face to contact him, tell him Todd sent you). I had a banana, yogurt, vanilla sesame snaps, and orange juice. I drank it in liquid form.
11:30 Back to work. Kevin goes to work with Cristoph (sp?) while I lay out plates. Derek nails in backing blocks while Andy builds walls and Jake talks on the phone.
12:20 Taggart graces us with his presence. He knows it is just before lunch, yet he doesn't even invite us out. Well, I know someone who isn't getting a Christmas card from me this year.
12:45 Lunch. Leftover spaghetti, an apple, some sort of chocolate baked thing. No water, it is frozen solid in the back of my truck.
1:45 Back to work. Keep laying out plates, Kevin keeps building with Cristoph (sp?), Andy keeps building walls, Derek keeps installing backing blocks, and Jake keeps talking on the phone.
2:00 My phone rings. It's Jake, calling to see how I am doing. It is a big basement you know.
2:56 Finish laying out. Apparently Kevin has found a "nbff" in Cristoph (sp?) because he didn't come back over to work with me.
2:57 Start crying in the corner
3:02 Compose myself, find the strength to be independent. I cut my own blocks, got my own studs, built the walls myself, and stood them by myself. It is like I am a machine who's sole purpose for existing is to do carpentry, and to kick ass at it.
3:03-4:30 Kick woods ass.
4:33 RRRRRRRROROROOOOROROOLLLLL UUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP! So we do.
4:50 Leave for home
6:00 Get home.
6:15 Eat supper. Pulled BBQ pork sandwich, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. Thanks Tony Roma's
7:30 Gord and Janice arrive. Talked until 9:30.
9:33 Give son bath.
9:45 Put son to bed
10:44 Write this line
11:30 Go to bed dreading having to get up and go to work in -30 weather

Things just got wierd

Hello,


8:30 That's right, I got to sleep in. Tripping on ecstasy, quickly brought down to earth with a phone call from Adam. "Can you come pick me up, my car is buried under two feet of snow." (To be read nasaly).
9:05 Leave for Adam's. Arrive shortly after.
9:20 Go to Timmy's. Get 4 french vanillas, a yogurt, and a breakfast sandwich. Not all for me, Del.
10:20 Arrive at site. Del and Kevin already shoveling.
10:25-11:30 Move 4700 cubic metres of snow.
11:30-12:00 Roll out tools and stand around.
12:00-12:30 Install insulation stops, nail beams, nail hangers, pack floor sheets. I'll be honest, I did none of those things. But you better believe I watched Adam and Kevin do them.
12:30 Lunch. Lasagna, courtesy of Mama Michellina. An apple, a banana, some yogurt, vanilla sesame snaps, and frozen orange juice. I drank it with a spoon. Kevin was complaining about a sore back and said that he would pay a hundred dollars for a good half hour massage. Adam immediately replied with "take your clothes off, lets do this". I looked at him hoping that he was joking, but the look in his eyes told me he wasn't. I know the recession is hitting us all, but come on!
1:30 Back to work. Everyone still has their clothes on. Start sheeting the flat roof (see photo).
2:00 "Lets go home, it's cold outside". (everything in quotes to be read through your nose, except for the things I say, which should be read with the deepest, manliest voice you can imagine).
2:01 "It's warmer in Tim Horton's"
2:02 "I can't feel my feet"
2:03 "My back is sore"
2:04 "The nail gun is frozen"
2:04 "Are your hands broken?" Boomed I
2:05-4:00 "Wa wa wa wa wa cry cry cry wa wa sniffle wa snort.........."
4:01 "Can we go home early?"
4:01.25 "Yes, in ten minutes" said I
4:01.56 "wa wa wa wa cry cry cry cry......."
4:15 "You can go home forever if you don't shut up" threatened I
4:16 "wawawawawawaawawwawawawwwawawawawawawa....."
4:20 "RRRRRRROOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL UUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP". Screamed I over the whining.
4:30 Started driving home
5:15 Dropped Adam off
5:45 Arrived at my home. Thanks Calgary for driving with extreme caution. It's not like it snows here often or anything. It's like we live in the LOWER MAINLAND OR SOMETHING! COME ON!!!!!
6:00 Eat supper. Spaghetti. Thanks Hunny Bunny.
7:00 Feed son snack
7:26 Give son bath
8:00 Brush his teeth
8:05 Put him to bed
8:05.01267 Start surfing the web
9:05 Write this line
10:00 Go to bed
10:05 Get out of bed to surf the web
6:08 ( the next morning) Wake up with drool and keyboard stuck to my face.

Laters

Hurray, it's the 15th!

Hello everyone out there on the "net". Hopefully you had a good weekend. As you all know, I did.
Moving on.

6:30 Wake up, Adamless once more. I'm starting to like this day already.
7:00 Go outside to warm up truck. Scrape windows as tears freeze to my face.
7:45 Arrive at site. No Del. Slacker.
7:50 Del arrives, supposedly stuck in traffic.
7:51 Unlock trailer and roll out cords to plug in trucks and then run to basement to the warmth of the heaters.
8:00 Feeling returns to head, neck, chest, face, and arms.
9:00 Get to work. We had sheer walls to build in the basement before the slab was poured, so...
9:01 - 12:00 We built them. Sometimes I would cut and Del would build. Sometimes Del would cut and I would build. You know, spicing things up a little.
12:00 - 12:45 Cut MDF for my closets at home that I started 6 weeks ago and promised I would have done 9 weeks ago.
12:46 ROOOOOOLLLLLLL UUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!
1:00 Meet the rest of the carpenters and Lloyd (who used to be a carpenter) at Limericks Public House for some lunch. I had a Philly cheese steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. Del, Adam, Jake and Cristoph (sp?) had steak sandwiches, rare to medium rare, with fries. Andy, who had forgotten all about the lunch, had fish and chips as usual. Lloyd had a steak and mushroom pie. Kevin, or Mr Fru-Fru Pants as I like to call him, had a salad. Thanks Lloyd and Limmericks Staff. More meat next time in the appies though, tightwads.
3:30 Leave for home, but not before getting valuable sketch-up information from Andy.
4:15 Arrive home. Go on sketch up. Call Andy to review.
5:30 Give up computers forever.
5:31 Realize that the internet now controls my life and that I can't stay away.
6:00 Feed son
7:00 Give him bath
7:30 Put him to bed
8:00 Do dishes
11:14 Write this line. I know its late.
11:30 Go to bed

Sweet dreams all.

Its still the weekend

7:00 wake up Adamless
8:00 Go back to sleep
10:00 Wake up again. Eat vector, no coffee.
10:00 - 4:00 no carpentry
4:01 Use sketch-up to design cabinets.
5:25 Realize how much I suck with computers and want to throw monitor out window in fury.
5:30 Calm down and eat supper. Sloppy Joes, sloppy, sloppy joes. Thanks Hon.
6:00 Do dishes
7:00 Try to start my truck in -40 degree weather
7:25 Starts only after I get into my truck using a mallet.
8:30 Put son to bed
10:04 Write this line
10:36 Go to bed
10:37 Wonder if it will be warmer in the morning

Looking into the future.......
7:00 am following morning.... No it is not warmer. In fact it is colder, and my tears are frozen to my face.

It's the weekend

8:14 Wake up. No Adam. No carpentry.
9:30 Have coffee, vector with milk.
9:31am-1:30 pm Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
1:31 Look through the Lee Valley catalog.
2:00 -10:16 Do nothing that has anything to do with carpentry.
5:26 Have supper, pork roast with potatoes and mixed veggies. Thanks Snookums.
10:17 Write this line
11:00 Go to bed

Hokey schnikees

Hola!


5:45 Wake up on my own, that's odd
6:00 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze
6:15 Get out of bed, look outside to see no snow, and no frost on the windshield
6:16 Begrudgingly get dressed
6:30 Wished that someone out there in internet land would have an overwhelming desire to by a 92 Skyline so that I don't have to see Adam this early in the morning everyday.
7:00 Pick up Adam. Start driving
7:30 Arrive at site, talk to the guys about how nice it was outside. Clear skies, 0 degrees. Curse you Spence. "It's not gonna snow" someone proclaims.
8:00 Load up the zoom boom with all the fixins
8:15 Start working on gable fascia. Jake feels bad for neglecting me his angelic harmonies, so he breaks out into "When a man loves a Woman". Finally.
8:18 Work work work work work work, work
10:00 Coffee. Pattern developing. Kevin, not in his truck driving to get us coffee, but sitting at the fire enjoying himself. Eat 2 packs of sesame snaps, an apple and something else. Drink some water. The sky is now covered in clouds, temperature dropping, and a strange, white substance starts to fall.
11:00 Back to work. Things are slipperyer than before. Del for some reason thinks that its a good idea to not do work of his own, but come over and critique our work, thus spurring my daily incurrance of wrath.
12:30 Lunch. everyone else goes to eat and they leave me 4 stories up on a slippery gable end.
12:35 Solid ground feels better after risking life and limb. By now there is an inch of snow on the ground, Cristoph (sp?) barely visible across the fire, the only thing defining his presence his wacky french accent. Andy saves the day with the best tasting french vannila I had tasted this day. Eat left over pizza, bitter taste left in mouth. Banana and nature valley bar too. No bitter taste from the latter.
1:30 Taggart graces us with his presence. Charming and whitty as always. Stood around actually contemplating going back to work when the hiss of air hoses disconnecting brought us to our senses.
1:35 Trailer closed. Never have we moved so fast. Kevin was basically at the highway by the time we had the lock on.
1:45 -5 degrees and 4 inches of snow. We say our farewells and away we go.
2:10 Some lady spun out in front of me on Glenmore. Pushed her free by myself, HGH paying off.
2:25 Filled truck for only 76 dollars!
3:30 Arrive at other site. Unload truck, boost some guy, wait behind people stuck on a hill.
5:00 Arrive home
5:30 Eat supper
7:00 Feed son snack
7:30 Give son bath
8:00 Contemplate doing dishes
8:55 Write this line
9:00 Start "Fred Claus", laugh hysterically
11:46 Go to bed

Doyeeeeeee!

Good day friends. T-Rod here again. Let's kick it.

6:15 Alarm goes off. Smile on my face knowing that Adam is on his way here, not me there.
6:45 Out of bed. Look outside and see him sitting in his car. I take my time making my peanut butter and Nutella sandwich for breakfast. "For Breakfast!" you ask. My logic is that it is just two pieces of premature toast.
7:00 Watching Adam scrape my frosty windows.
7:03 Driving
7:31 Arrive on site. Greeted by friendly faces. Can't remember the story, but Derek suddenly says "Doyeeeeee!" We laughed, we cried, it moved us. And then we tried to incorporate it into all our conversations.
8ish Zoom Boom loaded up. Plywood, 2x8, Smartboard fascia, Jake at the helm.
8:23 "doyeeee" says Del
8:23.68 Laughter. More wood gets cut, roof gets built.
10:00 Coffee. Kevin tempts us with thoughts of going into town to get us coffee, but he fails us. Ran out of yogurt, instead 2 sesame snaps, vanilla flavored of course, and apple, banana, and an O henry bar I took from Wyatt. Don't tell him.
10:45 Back to work. Still working on that same, screwed up roof. Someone's gotta do it though.
11:16 Still fairly cold outside. I thought we should hug for warmth, Jake wasn't into it.
12:30 Lunch. No 4 wheeling, just pasta rose, another apple, a raspberry nature valley bar and some olympic styled trail mix. We started a fire in the back yard using wood scraps and old house plans. Huddling around IT for warmth was ok, I guess. Convinced Kevin to go for coffees. Suddenly, tragedy struck. No French Vannila! Settle for a hot chocolate.
1:30 Back to work. Finally finish that blasted little roof. So onto the next task, more roof.
2:16 "Doyeeeeee!" says Andy
2:16.415 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAAHAHAHHAAAHAHHAHA hoooooo...
2:17 "Doyeeeeeee!" says Adam
2:17.001 awkward silence and stares from the crowd
3:00 Lifting Valley sets into place for Del and Kevin.
4:30 "Rooooollllll uuuuuppp!" So we do. We look to the west at the setting sun and talk about how tomorrow it is supposed to be fricking freezing and about the much anticipated snow storm.
Overjoyed "See you guys tomorrow" ring out.
4:45 Drive home. Order pizza
5:23 Half the order arrives. Thanks Pizza Hut.
5:24 Yelling at the teenage girl who works at the Pizza Hut.
5:26 Talking to the manager
5:28 Getting a free pizza voucher. (I learned from the best, xbc)
7:00 Feed my son snack
7:15 Give my son a bath
7:30 Do dishes
7:53 Read some books
9:00 Wife comes home
11:21 Wrote this line
oh ya 8:30 shower, s and s
11:30 Bed

T-diddy out
P.S. it would make Derek feel really special if every one started using "doyeeee!" in everyday conversation. Hopefully one day it will be the tag line of a hit sitcom.

Rise, O Morgan

Good day all. Todd here again. Thanks to all you who enjoyed my first posting. Here we go again.


5:46 Alarm clock ringing. Thinking "I'm going to be early today!"
5:46 1/2 Hitting snooze thinking "Screw that"
6:30 Jumping out of bed, scrambling to get dressed, overjoyed that I get to pick up Adam again.
7:30 Arrive at the site. The air smells of sweet spruce/pine/fir. The silence and beauty broken by the sound of a diesel engine roaring to life. Crew slowly arrives. Kevin, slow as usual.
8:15ish Gather 16 foot 2x6 for fascia, some 12 footers, some studs, some 2x4, some scrap.
10:00 Coffee. No coffee yet though. Only yogurt, a banana, vanilla sesame snaps... and some water. Kevin goes into town and comes back with some coffee. What a saint.
10:30 Back to work. Trusses aren't fitting properly. How could this be. Could this day get any worse. All hope thought lost.
1:00 Lunch. Shepherds pie. Still delicious. An apple, some water. A cookie. Del wants to go snowboarding. Fire up the truck, put it in 4wd, get some rope and a board, and nearly rip Derricks arm out of its socket. He's a trooper though. Back up and through the field. Del saves the day again.
2:00 Back to work. Finish the hips, install eave blocks, then sheath. Exhillerating.
4:20 Roooollll uuuuupppp! So we do. Shoot the breeze. Truck still in 4wd, so try to climb a dirt mound. Fail. Or suceed 50 %. Potato, po-tah-to. Drive me home. Make Adam walk home from my house.
5:15 Start eating supper. Pasta a la rose pour le vous au shrimp et spinich. Thanks Honey.
6:45 Feed son snack
7:00 Give son bath
7:16 Put son to bed
7:18 Realize that I worked with Jake all day and he didn't sing to me once.
7:19 download Barry Manillows greatest hits onto IPod (TM)
8:00 Do dishes
9:06 start blogging
9:40 write this line
10:15 go to bed with visions of circular saws and nailers dancing in my head.

Frosty Walls

Hello everyone. My name is Todd, and I am a carpenter. Some would say that what you do for a living doesn't define you as a person, but here I am.

This day started out like most of my days. Alarm going off at 6 AM. Me hitting snooze. Me shooting out of bed in a panic at 6:45 needing to be driving at 6:30. I had to pick up Adam today though. That was exciting. Not.
7:30 at the site. It was cold out so we headed down to the basement to sit in front of the heaters. 8:30 rolling out, starting work. We are working on a house with a flat roof. We started joisting.
10:00 Coffee. I had yogurt and a banana and some sesame snaps. No coffee though. Only water.
10:30 Back to work. Still cold outside. More joists to put in, hangers to nail, wood to cut.
12:30 Lunch. New England Clam Chowder, an apple and some trail mix. Water too. Talked politics, made fun of Adam.
1:30 Back to work. Kevin stapled Adam's tool belt to the floor while he was in the outhouse. pretended to work in anticipation of Adam trying to put his belt on. It was hillarious. We laughed. Wood was cut and nailed. Realized that my favorite angle to cut is 45 Degrees.
4:20 Roooollll uuuupppp!!!!! yelled Del. So we did. We also cleaned the site in case of snow. Locked the tools up. Started my truck, and drove home.
5:15 Jake stopped by to drop off a drill. Talked a bit, laughed a bit, he sang to me.
5:30 Ate supper. Shepherds Pie. Thanks honey, it was delicious.
6:47 Fed my son snack
6:59 Gave him bath
7:20 Put him to bed
7:50 Read some books
9:30 Started this Blog
10:08 Wrote this sentence.
10:30 Will Go to bed

Goodnight all! Hope you had as good a day as me