Various things

Agenda:

1. correction to previous post
   
2. cold and wet
   
3. stringers
4. concrete pads
5. miscellaneous
   

1. In the post entitled "Saturday, Halfday" I incorrectly referred to the friendly neighbor dog as Bess. This information was based upon distant (and frantic) calls from the dog's owner that we interpreted as 'Bess'. Well, on Sunday, crazy dog's owner came from afar and wandered through the bushes looking for her. It was then that we heard loud and clear: "GOOSE!!" Sorry Goose.
   
2. The last two days have been cold, foggy, wet, drizzly, cold, frustrating, slow and cold. Here is an example: Maia's typical daily property routine consists of running to and fro, chasing grasshoppers, particles of dust and everything else that moves. She then cools off by rolling in some pond scum, and proceeds to charge into the forest, spends 15 minutes doing who-knows-what, and then tears back out and completes 1 to 2 laps around the three acre field at full speed. Next, she'll add something weird to her pile of stuff - pears, apples, wood, branches, trash, pond scum. She repeats this pattern for several hours, then sits facing Goose's house, completely alert and still, unmoving until we leave. Yesterday and today, things were completely different. After sifting through her horde-pile, Maia hunkered down for the rest of the day.
   
3. Erin, Maia and mom made a trip to ROSSI's yesterday morning to purchase 2x12"s for stair stringers and to look at fake-decking fascia. When they got back Erin went straight to work and completed a scale drawing of the stringers for the first set of stairs, which are pretty normal as far as stairs go. As Bill eerily predicted, the first stringer was messed up (but not by much) and so now we're one 6' stringer short. Never fear, however: ROSSI's is sending a delivery tomorrow. Today Erin finished up the rest of the stringer material using the skillsaw and these nifty little doodads you clamp down on your carpenter's square. Only 5 more to go.
4. I may have stated in a previous post that I "dug one last hole, and mixed one last bag of concrete". This statement is partly true, and partly false. But more false than true. I did mix that bag of concrete and I did dig that hole; however, it was definitely not my last. See how I keep thinking we're getting to the end of something and it comes back to bite me in the ass? Anyway, Erin had to dig a hole yesterday, and mix three bags of concrete today. And we'll have to repeat it again tomorrow! These mini-foundations are not for piers or posts, but for the stair stringers to rest on.
5. We also tacked up the last piece of rim joist before our lips finally turned blue and we packed up shop and went home for a hot toddy (not really). We also spent an hour completing the list of lumber we'll have delivered - plywood, foam insulation, 2x4s and some more 2x12s.
   

Please pray to your personal deity for sunshine tomorrow.