June Visitor

My dad came out to pitch in on the house (and to hang out with his compadre) at the end of June.  It was a terrific time for me to take a couple days and hang out...oh, and work, too.  I was a little nervous about smoky conditions with all the fires, but it was beautiful...

the Tooth of Time in silhouette

a full moon

Oh right, back to the work.  We had a couple low key days under foreman Pop.  I can't pretend to be in charge with these guys.  We worked in the basement because of the heat, putting up the walls for Tom's workshop.  The guys measured and cut, and I hammered away.  It wasn't until after most of the walls were up that I figured out the nail gun wasn't working because the pressure was too low.  The second day went faster.

Tom's room

the mechanical room 

The weekend before Dad arrived, we got power in the house.  This was a great accomplishment, and it makes working in the basement so much better...let there be light!  Dad and I had the fun of switching out some screws for nails in our joist brackets, and the light definitely made it go smoother and with less sore thumbs.

Saturday morning Tom was on the scene.  Dad and I finished up the nailing while Pop got the tractor set up for trenching our septic line and Tom messed with the electrical stuff.  Our line into the construction trailer shorted out, and though we don't need much power to it, we still want to keep the beverage fridge cold.  Then Tom worked on nailing strips for the siding on the west gable end; I attached some strapping on the inside of the east gable end; and our dads trenched.

trenching the septic - what teamwork!

Abba and I in front of our septic line trench.  They laid 20 feet of pipe.

All work and no play makes Jack a cranky boy - no that's not how that rhyme goes.  We had lots of great meals, including an anniversary dinner up in Angel Fire.  It was a nice treat, and the drive was beautiful.  Sunday we took the day off - church taking up a good portion of the morning.  We also grilled out with the rest of the family.

We'd had some dry weather - the White's Peak Fire being a testament of that.  Concurrent with Dad's stay in Miami, we had a number of rain storms.  A big rain storm on Saturday actually sent mudslides across Hwy 21 about ten miles west from us.  Sunday the rain sent mudslides across Hwy 21 further on down.  We got some good soaking rains, and Father saw fit to thank my dad in front of the congregation.  It was pretty funny, as Dad didn't understand everything Father said, only that he was still looking at him as he talked.  The rains on Sunday also brought a 4+ hour power outage.  Tom & Dad woke up from their naps to find the lights out.  The dark sky meant we pulled out our oil lamps and made do.  When we got to Mom & Pop's for the BBQ, we had no problem grilling dogs, but we ate our beans cold.  The funny part was even getting the cans of beans open, since Mom's opened is electric.  It was a lot of fun, and the power did come back on for clean up.

Abba, Pop, and Tom enjoying stogies and sipping on something strong

What a great visit!