Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Wall



I spent yesterday helping to frame the first wall in our new bedroom. It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it might be and when it was finished I had a sense of accomplishment as well as sore shoulders and a bit of a sunburn. You'd think that I'd realize at this stage in my life that my fair skin burns even when the sun is hiding behind a cloud. I wasn't a tremendous amount of help I'm sure, but I did measure and mark boards and helped carry a few. It doesn't look like much in the photo, but this new wall will have two large windows facing Bay Creek. I'm starting to get excited about the prospect.

The bug is a photocopy of a dobsonfly. It spent the night in my bathroom last night. I thought I recognized it from my oldest son's 4-H bug collection. It was on the floor dead this morning, so I thought, "Cool, I'll scan it for my journal." I was checking online to make sure it really is a dobsonfly and discovered that the females can use those pinchers to deliver a painful bite. Who knew?

2 comments:

Liz Fulcher, The Fragrant Muse said...

Dawn, your wall photo brings back memories of two summers ago when my husband added 1200 sq ft to our house. I learned tons about framing, construction and (most importantly) when to offer help and when to keep my mouth shut!

If you've got Lavender essential oil, put it on the sunburn. It's amazing - you wont' blister or peel and it will really get rid of the pain.

Your bug is spectalular. You're right, everything really does end up in your journal!

Liz

Dawn said...

Liz, our addition is exactly half what you built. We're adding 600 sq ft. I helped some with our original house and the first addition, but that was 30 and 25 years ago. The first part was logs, so no framing. The second part I had small sons, so I wasn't able to help much with the framing. I did get in on the insulating, wiring, plumbing and lots of other stuff once the roof was on.

I'll have to look for the lavender oil. That sounds like something I need.

I'm glad you mentioned the bug. I had forgotten to take it out of the scanner. That could have been yucky. That's not even the weirdest thing I've put in my journal. I once picked up some stuff from our driveway and some rose petals and sewed a vinyl pouch for them that I glued into the journal. My husband and kids hate to see me look down when we're traveling. They know I'm about to pick up something from the sidewalk or street.