Great Friends...Good Times

Last week I wondered how much trouble three engineers could get into while trying to build a couple of window wells. Turns out not too much. I had a fantastic weekend hanging out and working with three of the best people anyone could ever have the privilege of knowing. I don't tell them near often enough how much I appreciate them. With this project going on I haven't made it to many of the parties and get togethers I normally do. I hadn't realized how much I missed hanging out with them until we had 2 days together.

The weekend started Friday evening with some beverages from the Keeweenaw Brewing Company and some reminiscing of the old times at Michigan Tech. You can't drink beer from KBC and not talk about the old times.

Saturday Glen and I headed to Home Depot for the first time in the weekend. Our mission was to pick up 80 landscape timbers and 2 bags of quickcrete. I told the guy up by the landscape timbers that I needed 80 of them. He got some big eyes and said, "80? Why don't you just pull your vehicle up." So I went inside paid for my goods and headed back to the front of the store with my truck. The guys says, "Whew! We're glad you have a truck!" Did he think I was bringing an Escort to pick up 80 timbers? He then tried to tell me he didn't think they would fit in the back of my truck, but the Home Depot does have trucks I could rent! They all fit and we headed out to the house. Dad and Grandpa showed up shortly after we finished unloading the materials. While I had a design in mind, Dad helped us actually set it up and make it a reality. While Dad was setting posts and making everything square for us we started talking about This Old House and Norm. Dad informed us that we probably didn't know it...but he is better than Norm. Paco responded with, "Yes, but the difference between you and Norm is Norm has skilled laborers. You have Glen and I." Ha ha...touche.

Grandpa stayed and worked with us for awhile, but the sun was warm and there wasn't a whole lot of work for 4 people in one window well. So he went home to sit in the air conditioning. We set up a pretty good system of Paco and Glen nailing the timbers together while I cut them to length and set them out ahead of them. When either of them needed to tag out I would nail in a few boards. I did, by far, have the easiest of the jobs this weekend. The nails we were using were probably 6 inches long...and very difficult to drive! Kerri and Hugo came out to supervise in the afternoon. Kerri said everyone looked pretty worn out by the time she got there. Worn out and sunburned. We completed the first window in the early evening. I was impressed. It turned out very well. The evening ended with a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings for some dinner, Red Wings, Pistons, and Tigers.

Sunday started out with another trip for Glen and Tara to the Home Depot for more landscape timbers. We only needed 25 this time though. Being the lumber connoisseur that I am, I made them get down another bunk of timbers to sort through. While Dad was setting our posts Glen and Paco took care of some other business. Paco's mom wants to throw out a PC, but they want to make sure no one can get to the information on the hard drive. So they tore it apart in the middle of my drive way and damaged the drive so it wasn't usable anymore. (Note the sledge hammer in the picture) Once a computer nerd, always a computer nerd. I couldn't resist getting the picture. We set up the same way we did the day before and got to work. The second day didn't go as well as the first. We had a more difficult time keeping the posts plumb this time. So Dad came and taught us how to fix it up and brace it up so we could continue working. We continued working, and as Glen was driving his last nail Dad comes up and says, "I probably should have given you a lesson in how to swing a hammer earlier in the weekend!" Dad decided he would finish the nails in the top three boards. In showing us how to properly swing a 20 oz hammer he smashed his thumb with it. As Glen said, "You can't say your dad hasn't put his blood, sweat and tears into this project!" His thumbnail is pretty bruised, and there is a big flap of skin hanging off of it! He has it wrapped up in gauze for awhile until it heals. We ended the day on Sunday by giving our favorite movie producer, George Lucas, some more of our money. We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. We tried to head out to get a few drinks after the movie, but it looks like all the bars in Midland close sometime before midnight on Sunday nights. Bummer.

Monday Dad and I went to Saginaw to pick up my doors. We ended up calling Mom out to the house to install the patio door. That was an interesting project, as the door was a bit tighter in the opening than we anticipated. It is installed now, and it looks great. I have even more light in the house now.

Today I went looking at lighting. My mission today is to look through some catalogs and see if I can find some cost effective ideas. We'll see what I come up with.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. I know I did! Good weather and time with great friends...what more could I ask for? Thanks guys!

Work, Work, Work

I don't really have anything to report this week. Saturday I flew down to North Carolina for work. I returned yesterday.

Dad ordered my shingles yesterday. So those should be going up soon.

He also put the foundation sealer around one of my egress windows last night. I shoveled and leveled sand in the garage so we can pour a floor sometime soon.

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend though! A couple of the Pi Rhos are coming up to spend the weekend helping out at the house. Glen and Dave should be up sometime Friday. Kerri (Dave's wife) will also be up, but being that she is pregnant I won't be expecting her to be much help out at the house. :) Our task for the weekend is to build my window wells for the two egress windows. Should prove to be interesting. What kind of trouble can a civil, environmental, and mechanical engineer get in? I'm guessing quite a bit. Stay tuned next week to find out... :)

That's all I got folks...sorry for the short update.

It's Time for Inspections!

Exciting news! My plumber finished his work on Friday! Enough that we can get an inspection anyway. So that means I should be able to get my plumbing, mechanical, AND framing inspection done all this week! The electrical inspection was done last week.

Saturday morning started with me running house errands. We realized as we looked at our special order chimney parts that they would not fit onto our other chimney parts...they were about 4" too wide. Thanks Menard's plumbing guy! So I had to go back to Saginaw to deal with the lovely people there. I felt bad for the poor girl at the returns desk. She was all alone and had a line of about 15 people waiting. She kept calling and asking for help and no one would come help her. Then on top of that she has people like me saying, "Yeah, that restocking fee? I'm not paying it." Anyway, after all my errands, stopping back at mom and dad's house 3 times for miscellaneous stuff, and picking up lunch for my work crew, I showed up to work at 1:30 pm. My errands started at 10 am.

Grandpa arrived back in Michigan on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning he was at the house with is tool belt and hammer, ready to work. He worked for awhile on Saturday until we ran out of work for him to do. He was over for dinner last night. I'm so happy to have him back home again. In sharing stories over dinner, I learned that my father comes by some of his personality quirks quite honestly! :) Specifically the locking your family in the car for hours on end and driving...not knowing where you're going...but knowing that getting there is half the adventure. Well that's what he kept telling us anyway. The many family vacations and road trips we've had that involve much exasperation are legendary stories in our house. It turns out that Grandpa at one time piled all the kids (except for Dad) into the car for a trip to Gaylord to pick up a door or lumber or something. Late in the evening Dad is wondering where his family is and if something was wrong. He gets a phone call from Grandpa saying, "We're in Wawa, Canada! We'll be home sometime tomorrow!" Last night we pulled out the atlas...Wawa, Canada is a good 100 miles past Sault Saint Marie! So Dad, I am still going to give you a hard time for the Reedsburg Dam and the Elk viewing area for the rest of your God given life...but I do understand that it might not really be your fault! :)

Anyway...things are finally moving again...

Softball Junkies

We can't help it...softball comes to town and we're drawn to the ballpark. This weekend was no different. The GLIAC softball tournament was in town which meant that Ferris was playing, along with some other pretty good ball teams. So Saturday started and ended with a trip to watch some ball. Dad and I worked for awhile on the house too, but knocked off a bit early to get to Ferris's last game...and unfortunately it was their last game of the tourney. They will be moving on to regionals this week though. Good luck Dawgs.

Onto the house stuff.

Dad had me dig two holes to China out in front of the garage. Then decided we didn't need them and had me fill them in. Ok...that's a bit of a twist on the story. We had to put the brick ledge in the front of the garage. Dad says, "You need to dig down to the footings. They're only a couple feet down." Well...Dad distance translates very similar to Dad time. For instance 1 hour real time = 4 hours Dad time. Similarly 2 feet Dad depth= 4 feet real depth. Once the brick ledge was in I got to put all the sand back into the hole. But that's one more to do checked off the list.

Dad worked on the fireplace and chimney most of the weekend.

I did get my doors ordered on Friday, so those should be in in a couple of a weeks.

No pictures today. Sorry. There wasn't anything new to take pictures of anyway.

Not the Sharpest Tool in the Shed

Ok, so I went to order my exterior doors last night. I didn't succeed in accomplishing that task.

I walk back to the door section with my manila folder of door information. I have a quote in hand for the front door I want...probably the most important of all my door selections. The other 3 doors should be pretty simple. As I approach the desk I see two young girls working with customers and a 16 year old boy available to help me. Ok, I'm exaggerating, he was probably over 16, but he looked about 16. I'm hoping that since he's working the door department he might have some knowledge of exterior doors, because I do have some questions I need answered. My hopes were dashed rather quickly.

I got to the point of asking him about steel doors. He says, "We have those in stock right here...why don't you pick one out." So we wander over to the in-stock door section. I see a $109 door and a $94 door. I ask the employee what the difference is between the two. He looks at me and says, "Uh...one is white and the other is gray." Yes...that is the answer he gave me. I just looked at him and said, "That's it?" He nodded his head. Hmm...

As I looked at the doors I said, "First of all these are 32" doors...do you have 36" in stock?" Blank stare..."Um...I don't know..." I asked, "This one is a Mastercraft and this is a Commander...is the Commander a lower model of Mastercraft or a different brand all together." Another blank stare..."Um...I don't know...I think they are different brands." I then asked, "Does this come with just a lockset bored without the deadbolt?" You guessed it...another blank stare. He then says, "Why don't we just build up the door you want on the computer and see what it costs?" Good idea Einstein...that's kind of what I suggested we do in the first place.

Needless to say...I did not order my doors last night. I called the store today to find out when JS will be working...a guy I went to high school with that I have spoken with in the past there. He has some knowledge about the parts he sells.

I was not rude to the employee that worked with me last night. I'm sure it's not his fault that he is working in a section he knows nothing about. I simply told him I had some more thinking to do and would come back another day to place my order. It's just that I will feel more comfortable that my order is going to be what I need if I work with someone else. Let's hope I succeed tomorrow.