Wood vs. Cloth

My husband and I both work with material.  His material of choice is wood and mine is cloth.  Cloth is much more forgiving when it comes to creating...you can fold, twist, stretch, and ease it to make it work for you.  Wood is not so forgiving.  When you make the cut, that's all there is to it!  It's important to "measure twice, cut once" and that actually applies for both wood and cloth.

Unlike cloth, wood makes for good writing surfaces, though, when you need to jot down some dimensions or such!  :)

Regardless - I prefer cloth.

I’ve been reading my blogs in the mornings before I head to the jobsite and I get to see all the projects you all are working on out there…all the pretty quilt blocks, matching up points, cutting into fresh, pretty fabrics, and I have to admit I’m engulfed in jealousy!   Don’t get me wrong – I’m still maintaining a good attitude about having to work outside in the cold, with a raw face, chapped lips, bruised and cracking fingertips….seriously, I determined that one special gift I could give my husband this year would be the gift of my willing mind and spirit on this job, no matter how much I dread some of it. We’ve actually been having a good time with the camaraderie and fellowship, calling each other by our Mexican names and such. Everyone is family and it’s just another chance to get to know each other a little better while working together. I’ll have to introduce you to everyone another time.

Anyway, my week has been like this so far.

Monday I got to play with cement. We had to fill these holes up and stand the metal anchors up in them, making sure they were absolutely plumb.

Then, on Tuesday, when the cement dried, we had to use bricks to rub all over the masonry to knock off the little dried bumps of cement so the wood shoe plate would lay flat.

note how nice and new my goatskin gloves are - I'll post a picture of them at the end of the project!  :)

Then we drilled holes in the shoe plate and lay the wood over these anchors, spreading the “arms” across the wood. Next came all the stubby little nails – one in every hole. This basically holds the house down on the foundation. Pretty smart!

Wednesday and Thursday I was on saw duty, or as my husband calls the job “saw man”. There was sparse saw work on Wednesday and I sat around most of the day, freezing.

frost-covered boards - first thing in the morning!

Today (Thursday) there were less of us working, so I moved a bit more and did a little more sawing.

My first task of the day was to get all these boards from here:

Up onto the sawhorses:

These boards are 2” thick by 10” wide and 16 feet long!!! Each one must weigh at least 30 pounds.
No problem...I just needed to pretend I was on "Biggest Loser" and this was my funky challenge for immunity, in addition to a great way to burn some calories!
Guess what? I did it all by myself!!!!  I am WOMAN!!!  ha ha

It was nice to have furry company during the week....Buddy was there and it looks like he found some more jerky.

And, of course, little Dixie was present.

We got most of the floor joists set today and will hopefully finish the joists and put some flooring down tomorrow.

When I'm at home, sewing every day, working on things to put in my shop, I tend to lose track of the weekends as it all blends in together and there's not a lot of definition between my weekdays and weekends, but now that I've been doing some of this labor stuff, I am CRAVING the weekend!!!

Thanks again for all your well-wishes on Bill's hand (he is doing fantastic!) and your encouragement on my spirits (I am doing much better, too)!

Talk to you soon!!