Fish Like a GIRL

Welcome to London. Not really, but it has been a bit gloomy here and there. Who am I kidding? It was almost monsoon-like conditions the day the concrete was finally going to be poured at our house. Finding a concrete guy was not an easy task. We originally had an agreement with a couple of guys who fish with us. The day comes and they tell us they cannot come the next day because they scheduled another job and then would be done working for the year. 

They refuse, apparently, to pour anymore concrete after September. I would guess winter would get a bit long and money a bit short for them if they did not have other jobs besides concrete work, but I digress.

At any rate, numerous calls to our original concrete guy went unanswered. Honestly, I’m not sure that is the worst thing in the world as the last job was not exactly what would be considered by everyone as level — which made for some fun as we were building walls and whatnot earlier this summer.

The little touches, such as the fascia and soffit going up, made all the difference. Here Jared Jonsrud and Chet are working on the bird box on the end of the eve. 
(Photo by Beckie Gaskill/Lakeland Times)

The third concrete guy said it was just too far for him to drive. We live about 15-20 minutes away, but that is cool. We moved on to the next concrete guy. This young man has been super cool and quite knowledgeable. The day came when we were finally going to get concrete poured between the back door and the garage — somewhat of a little concrete patio in the backyard offering access to both the garage and the She Shed (or garden shed, as they used to be called). As luck would have it, half an hour before the concrete truck was to show up at the house, the sky opened up. It did not just rain, it rained sideways. Wind, rain, lightning — the summer storm for which we had waited all summer. Needless to say, that delayed the concrete work. Our concrete guy also has another full-time job, as it seems many of them do, so he could not come back until a week later.

Having a backyard full of clay for a week is bad. Having two dogs who can no longer go out on their tie outs because there is no longer a way for them to get out the back door is another level of un-fun. Then, add to that the fact that one of the dogs is really not doing well at her advanced age and most of the time cannot navigate stairs, and it makes for a lot of fun — especially when that same dog has a condition that means she drinks a lot more water than she has in the past. I think readers can understand how many more times per day my little fur kids need to be taken outside.

I fashioned a ramp for the stairway into the garage, and that worked well for a while. Then Daisy found out she could slide down the ramp rather than walk down it. This often meant a face plant at the end of the slide. So I added treads to the ramp. Apparently that made it “no fun” anymore and she has decided she can now go up and down those three stairs just fine. Go figure. I often wonder if my dogs are simply laughing at me when they obviously had me believing something that was not quite in the same zip code as “true.”

Two weeks ago we rented a drywall lift to put the sheeting on the ceiling of the garage. Suddenly it started to look like I have originally envisioned it. I also have to say it was much easier to use that lift than it was with Chet on one end of a full 7/16” thick piece of OSB, his dad at the other end, both climbing a ladder, and me in the middle holding it up with an eight foot two by four. That was not an experience I would recommend. 

“Are we sure this would be OSHA approved?” is a question I have asked several times throughout this job. But it has all worked out thus far, and we are headed toward he finish line.

This past week we got our roofing guys to come back over and put the soffit and fascia up. The siding is done on two sides of the building, which looked great, but I cannot believe the difference finishing off those pieces along the eves has made. We also got the lighting up on the inside and the outside. There is one more light to put up once we put the last OSB on the ceiling and blow in the insulation, so there is a bit more ceiling work to do, but for the most part, that is done.

Today we got all of the insulation back on the walls that was on the walls of the old part of the garage. We bought 11 more rolls of insulation, and that should be enough to finish the job. Once we hang the Modine heater, I think I will have to spend a good portion of the winter out there, just to say I did! It has definitely been a labor of love, and has also taken a lot longer than we originally envisioned, as I have said before. But the more the little touches and finishes that get done, the happier I am that we undertook this project. And I say that even though we really had no idea what it was going to take as we added things to the project.

I believe we have everything landscaped to the point that the water will run away from and toward all the right places. I think it was important to go through an entire year here before undertaking the project to at least have a reasonable suspicion that we would not wind up with low, flooded spots in the middle of the yard or some other unexpected sogginess. I suppose we will not truly know until spring. Until then, I am going to enjoy the comforts of the new garage, shed and shop.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached at [email protected].