Boy, was I wrong.
Today went at a snail's pace. Our work today involved coordinating the electrician and framers. Because of all the exposed beams and plank flooring, the best way to install lighting is to drill little holes down into the beams (or joist, depending on the situation) through which they fish their wire, and then mount the lights on the sides of the beams.
Things started off really well and were going smoothly, until one of the joists got drilled wrong. It wasn't ruined, but it meant it had to be installed in a different place. I had picked out the nicest looking joist to be installed at the front door, but now it had to go somewhere else. Not the end of the world, and all the joists are very similar. However, with solid wooden lumber, they are really all different, and no matter how good they all look, there is always one that looks better than another. So it wasn't the end of the world, but it meant I had to re-evaluate the whole thing and pick a new one to go by the front door.
Then one got nailed into place where there shouldn't have been nails visible. That one was mostly my fault, because they did ask, and I was a little vague with my answer. I thought they were talking about a different one, and wasn't as specific enough as I could have been. Luckily, I was able to save that situation, and no one will ever know where the hidden nail holes lie! (Ok, ply me with alcohol and you might learn. Maybe.)
It just seemed like the beam selection and direction took forever. After lunch, I found myself trying to help the electrician find the right kind of wire for the low voltage lights. Seriously, people? Can't the electrician please just know where to get the wire? The internet was excruciatingly slow. It was positively agonizing.
During and after that, someone who is not me, but who is in charge of the budget for the project, and who signs the checks, decided that we needed to trim some of the budget out of the lighting. That would be the same lighting I had stayed up until 1 a.m. Sunday night drawing and detailing, for the electrician to start roughing in this morning, and for which beams had been drilled already. Great! No problem!
Since I want to have a happy client in the end, all I can really say is, it's all in a day's work, and that today's work involved dealing with a lot of curve balls.
By the end of the day, things started looking up again. I came up with a really good lighting alternative that was acceptable, and was treated to the beginnings of some exterior siding:
After all the workers left, Paul + Todd and I ran a couple of sprints up and down this giant hill behind the house:
It was exhilarating, and Paul and Todd loved it too, and I think I'm going to start running up and down that hill a lot more. I can take them around the place off leash now, and they know where to go and how to behave (mostly!) It really was nice, and my back started feeling a lot better, for the first time since it went awry Friday night.
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In other news, the local bank was robbed late last Friday afternoon:
Be on the lookout for these two:
Don't they look super friendly? Apparently they may be armed and are considered dangerous. You can read all about it here:
I'm not sure whether Officer Barbrady has caught up with them yet, or not.
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