(I only mention the car because my dad kept saying he was renting a Hummer, which didn't sit well with me. I didn't, however, make any comments to him about it.)
My mom and dad arrived Tuesday, June 26th after many last minute household cleaning chores were completed. Phew! Tom and I walked them around and showed them the work in store for them. Abba was impressed and showed Mom the corner of the basement that he dug a year before. A lot had changed!
Their gracious hosts, not Tom and I, awaited us with enchiladas and cold drinks and hospitality like no others! Mom and Pop had a fine feast spread for us, and we ate and laughed and enjoyed ourselves until we were all ready to crash. Wednesday was a work day!
Wednesday Mom and I did many odd jobs, not the least was making dishes for our family dinner that evening. Our first house job was mixing and pouring concrete, a job Pop and Abba refused. Boy, we showed them! We also popped all the concrete out of the top grid of styrofoam block, so the next row can nest into it. We also put up a little shade tent with Pop's help, which made taking breaks nicer. The men were driving tractor and backfilling around the basement walls. This made it a lot easier to pull up the truck with decking, as well as enabling us to get close to the edge for popping the concrete. I didn't think I was that cruel - we stopped for a nice lunch Mom prepared and took lots of water breaks, etc. We even got a little rain shower (that Abba and I got caught in walking back to the house from lunch - oops!). We enjoyed a family dinner, though we missed Julie and her parents.
Once a grandma, always a grandma, even if they aren't yours.
Sofia was the center of attention, and for good reason - so cute!
Thursday we got busy laying decking. Thomas laid out the instructions, and we just rolled with it. I was dubbed "grasshopper" because I kept hopping from one thing to the next. Pop & Abba kept repeating, "I just pick things up and put things down;" truthfully, they did a lot more than that - loading/unloading decking, lining it all up perfectly, marking it for screws, driving in the screws, and starting all over with the next piece.
Pop and Abba standing in the living room!
Mom slaving away in the shady basement sweeping up piles and piles of dust and mud left from the flood of our last pour. We also got to make homemade pizzas - meaty and all for our hardworking guys.
We were only able to go so far with the decking. It was hot, so we needed to take breaks. It was hot, so we - oh yeah, got that part. We also needed to hang the last of the joists and frame in the stairway. This would require Tom's help on Friday when he had a day off. Once we hit our wall, or lack of it as it were, we enjoyed homemade pizza, salad, watermelon, and beer. A neighbor joined us, and the while us ladies chatted inside, the gentlemen smoked cigars and drank scotch out on the porch. Stinky!
Friday the rest of the joists were hung, and the stairs framed in. I can only comment on half the work, as I had to go into Cimarron to do a little work. Someone had to cut the paychecks. Mom accompanied me, and I showed her a few other places in Cimarron. We got back as the men were wrapping up. The heat was really zapping everyone, so we ended the day early enough for showers and naps before going out to eat in Cimarron. Tom and I finished up the last of the big sheets of decking, so we only had a few inches to go on Saturday!
The last gap in the floor...we got this far on Friday and finished the last edge Sunday.
Saturday morning the guys made quick work of the last edge of decking, and then it was time to install the tarp. Mom & Pop got a 30' x 40' tarp to keep out the water until we can get the roof up. It will go far to protect the decking.
Unfolding the tarp looked like a game of parachute from my grade school days.
The tarp was screwed into the walls to keep it in place and weighted in the middle with pallets. It proved not to be strong enough for the wind storm 8 hours later, and Pop found the pallets floating on the tarp in the wind. Gratefully, he added some concrete blocks on top and cardboard over the windows to keep out the draft.
Me and my wonderful, hard-working parents - don't I look like a lucky girl!
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