Super Human Strength

Imagine a roof in this photo... 

Some of my readers know I have been without a phone for several weeks... Some of my friends and family want to rip my face off because its annoying as hell to try and get a hold of me. Personally, I am loving it! A wonderful new friend of mine gave me a phone to use, but I have been putting off hooking it up to service. I am simply loving the feeling of being disconnected from constant contact. Those who know me well, know where to find me. Others, message me where I can respond within a few days. One downside is I haven't been getting pictures of my progress on the house. Since this last photo, I have added the second top plate, all the roof rafters, the facia, and all the plywood accept a small strip I need to measure, cut and nail in place. I also floored the boys loft this evening. 

Let me tell you about my day. I spent the entire day, after a pit stop at the beach following my morning school drop off, nailing up facia to my roof rafters. For those of you who don't know what facia is; look it up. For those of you that do, welcome back after looking it up... I used some grey reclaimed barn wood cut against the grain that was given to us by Nick's kindergarten teacher and her family. It was such a loving kind gift, and I was so happy to use it today and instal it on the house. It is officially the first piece of the house that won't be covered up. Everything else so far that I have built will be covered up. 

After finishing my facia, I did another school run, and then picked up some plywood for my roof. My Dad scored some beautiful cedar tongued plywood from PenPly (a local mill) before they shut down, and was gracious enough to let me use it on my home. It is going to save me so much money, Ill be owing him favors for a long time! Grass mowing for eternity? I guess its worth it. Any who, my friend helped me load up about 9.5 sheets in my trusty beater of a truck and the boys started in on some roller hockey while I worked. I lifted 8 sheets up onto the roof by myself. Let me share some insight with you all. Im a stubborn fuck. Sorry for the language Mom... I know she reads this sometimes, because last week she asked me why I was feeding all my friends soup on the weekends...lol 

So... I am so stubborn I built the entire roof myself. I had friends offer to help, and even want to help. But, I felt that I needed to go at it alone. And, I said to someone the other day, its not like I can do it all alone... its not like I can hand a sheet of plywood up to myself. Well, I have proven myself wrong. I can do that. It wasn't too hard, just heavy. It was a great workout. Each sheet is probably at least 30 pounds, and I lifted each one up the latter 13 feet and onto the roof. Bam! Then as the sun set, I began laying them out, fitting the tongues together and nailing them mostly complete, and got all eight nailed down, most of the way (the circumference mostly.) There was minimal grunting. 

At around 7:30, Nick found me a head lamp and I decided to cover their loft too. After finishing that, I invited them up there and told them it was their room! We then talked about a ladder or stairs or a cat walk or sliding ladder - still trying to figure that part out. I was able to see the stars so bright when I was up on the roof. I cherish the clarity of the country. I could see so many constellations, and probably planets, who knows... I was able to be still and imagine climbing out the sky light in my loft and laying on my roof to enjoy the night sky, without a care in the world. I can't wait! Actually, I don't have to, maybe Ill head out there right now. 

It sure feels fantastic to build a roof over my families head. This is a magnificent labor of love. And, I must love my family a hell of a lot, because I felt super human with all the work that I accomplished today. To finish off such a wonderful day, I fed the boys the rest of my weekend soup, made them a fresh smoothy with frozen bananas pineapple and peaches that were all preserved from the warmer weather, and fresh lemon poppyseed almond muffins. Take that Martha Stewart.