Deck the Walls

Inspirational song: Mansion on the Hill (Bruce Springsteen)

A few minutes ago, Mr S-P had the quote of the day. He limped out of the garage, after putting the dogs to bed, and said, "Everything I own hurts." I'm certain all three of us--me, him, and our neighbor--all feel the same way. It was a build day, but for some reason, all of us were tired before we got there, and beyond sore by the time we left. I know for me it was because I've overextended myself all week and I carried up a bag of steel that was way heavier than I thought it was when I set off with it up the hill. (It was short pieces of steel channel that will seal up the seams on the metal roof eventually.) The Mr has been doing lots of trips hauling materials up, so maybe that's what wore him out sooner than usual. No idea why our neighbor was complaining about how sore his back was from the first hour we worked.

When I arrived, the house looked much as I had left it. The Tyvek was a little higher up on the walls, but that's all I could detect on first glance. We set up, me inside cutting up scraps of house wrap so they took up less space in the trash bag, and the guys putting the very first deck boards on the steep side of the barn roof. Today was the CU-NU football game, the first time my Buffs have played Nebraska since we left the conference. I brought up an AM radio, and set it someplace it wouldn't get knocked around while we built.

I was in a dangerous position. I can't imagine how I managed not to be knocked out or desperately broken by the things that were falling from the roof work. At one point the circular saw came down and hit the floor two feet away from where I sat. More tools and debris came down. Once a three inch deck screw came down and landed point first on the floor hard enough that it stuck and stayed standing upright for the rest of the day. I'm glad I wasn't under that one too.

The aspens are peaking right now. There are already large swaths that have turned brown and dropped their leaves. But what's still there is beautiful. I'm afraid there will be very little color left when I go up next weekend. I did everything I could to enjoy this golden day while I could. With a Buffs win, I suppose it really was golden.