Posted By FarmerJ on November 2, 2009

After finishing out last week in complete silence and inaction, Darling Husbie stood ‘in’ his shop for the first time this evening!  We are so excited about the progress that was made today, although we were a little leery early on.

The weekend was absolutely beautiful with the temperature reaching 63 degrees on Saturday and 67 degrees yesterday.  For the first of November in Nebraska, those temperatures are truly a gift from God!  The warmth and sunshine did wonders for drying up the mud surrounding the shop pad, and we ended the day yesterday very hopeful we would be seeing our work crew this morning.

But, we awoke to an all too familiar sound at some point during the night.  Care to make a guess what that sound was?  Yep.  The pitter-patter of raindrops on the window.  I think I muttered something like, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” while rolling over and completely fading away again.  It was still misting when the alarm blared and hope of the crew arriving was quickly fading.

Much to my surprise, I saw the trucks coming down the road just before 8:00 a.m.  Yay!  Even a tiny bit of progress before the rain chased them away would be more progress than last week.  True to their nature, the crew made visible progress very quickly.  Within 45 minutes, they had all the forms removed, all the beams, cables, nuts, bolts and washers sorted and the first 2 beams on the pad ready to erect.

The crazy lady in the window happened to peer out just as the crew was getting into the work truck.  What?  Wait guys.  That can’t be all.  It’s sprinkling a little, but certainly you’ve worked in more inclement weather than this!  Then I the crazy lady noticed the crew was eating a little snack.  Well, that makes sense, I guess.  Heaving those steel beams undoubtedly exerts energy, so taking an energy bar break is alright, I guess.  Then we have to allow some time for the energy bars to kick in ~ so we’ll play a quick hand of cards.  Seriously!  I just had to giggle.

Shortly thereafter, activity began again.  I was busy doing some deep cleaning and carpet shampooing in the bedroom today.  By the time I had the carpet vacuumed, the crew had 2 posts in place.  I couldn’t believe it.  We’ve been waiting 4 months for this moment ~ it had finally arrived!

By the time I had my carpet cleaner set up and ready to roll, the guys had 3 posts and 40′ of cross beams along the back side and 2 posts and 20′ of cross beams along the front completed.  It’s impressive to watch this crew ~ they don’t even really have to talk to know what needs to be done or who’s going to do what.

In a matter of a few brief moments ~ in between carpet cleaner bucket dumpings ~ the coolest scaffold had arrived.  I seriously need to borrow that thing to reach the second story windows!

By the time I had the bedroom carpet cleaned, the crew had all the posts, cross beams, roofing beams and cables in place on the 40′ x 40′ section.  Wow!  It’s like a dream ~ but it’s finally really happening.

The weather looks promising for the remainder of the week, so after witnessing today’s accomplishments, we are very excited and hopeful that much more progress will be made!

Oh, I guess this means we’re not in the flood zone ~ or if we are, we’re built up high enough.  That’s a good thing.

More tomorrow…hopefully!

Categories: Shop Disastrophy & Recovery
Tags: