3 August 2015

Sonny and Ian arrived shortly after 7 and we three got right to work removing the two remaining staging towers on the west side of the house.  Then the two geese went back to shingling the east side of the house, which they nearly completed by day’s end.  Jimmy Ploof arrived just before 8, with James following an hour later. Jimmy, James, and I put in the remaining few feet of the perimeter drains on either end of the house, terminating both lines in the big stone wall.  My job was to drill forty zillion holes in the 4″ conduit caps, transforming them into mice- and other critter-proof drain caps.  Everyone admired (admittedly with some eye rolling) the precise pattern of the drain cap holes.  Luther Corcoran, one of the Goose Creek foremen and ace installer of EPDM (ethylene propylene diene terpolymer – an extremely durable synthetic rubber roofing membrane), came mid-morning to install said membrane on the porch, rendering it totally waterproof, even if a tsunami were to strike.  Meanwhile, Team Ploof and I were busy building the stone wall on the south end of the sun room.  I wanted that wall to be nearly vertical (so that the kids and grandkids would have a good climbing challenge), which is not Jimmy’s usual style, so I stayed actively involved all day (translation: PITA?) in picking and placing the rocks.  Mid-afternoon a pin fell out of the wrist for the bucket on Jimmy’s big excavator, resulting a few minutes later in a hydraulic line shearing off.  What a mess!  Fortunately, Jimmy had a whole other digging attachment back at his shop, which is only 7 miles away.  Parts soon changed, but not before I was covered in grease and hydraulic oil up to my elbows.  Pulled out my cell phone to check the time at 5:30 and had just time for a quick plunge in the lake to clean up (and, yes, I had previously thoroughly washed the grease and oil off with soap up in the RV) before heading down to Marty & Merry’s for much-needed liquid refreshment, the first of Wayne Kingsley’s corn for this season, and other delightful victuals… not to mention the always wonderful company.