One week later…
Rain, rain, and more rain
The construction for the third phase of the 21st Century Project is running into a few delays with the monsoon season hitting NorCal.
No worries but it has kept me busy jumping through hoops since the traditional building materials we’re using for the conventional framing are composite and need to be covered against saturation by rain.
While the SIP panels are also composite, they’re treated for outdoor exposure while the glulam materials have to be gently tucked in nightly with a tarp covering, then awakened just as gently by removing the tarp so the ground moisture doesn’t evaporate and condense like a solar still and drip onto those composites.
That’s to explain this week’s delay in posting… 
I haven’t worked this hard since…
I’ve been pulling 14 to 18 hour days to hammer this project into the ground. We are three weeks past our initial September scheduled start and the weather is becoming a factor.
I’ve lost two and a half inches off my waist and put on three pounds of muscle. I haven’t worked this hard in twenty years since I was 17 going through Naval Aircrew training. Here’s that aircrew comparison framed properly thanks to this site:
Aircrew graduates leave knowing drown-proofing techniques like treading water, floating and making it to that life raft, even if it’s a mile swim away while wearing between 45 and 50 lbs. of flight gear.
…The air crew warfare designation is one of the toughest pins to earn. The Navy plans to keep it that way because of the reputation that the air crew wings have earned in the aviation community.
“The air crew training program’s reputation has allowed pilots to trust air crews without question,” said Ellenburg. “The pilots never second guess the enlisted air crew’s decisions.”…
The marines (and Jamie Foxx) aren’t the only ones who say… Ooh-rah…
The hard part was Friday when I decided to do a full day and then come back to overnight since the surprise rainstorm had interrupted us prior to locking everything up. Driving back to the site I was very tired, and two lane roads are no joke when there is fog and so forth.
Not so jovial section
This morning there was a serious reminder to me about driving tired I passed by a fatal single-car accident about a mile away from the project site.
The guy departed the highway into a field and evidently wasn’t wearing his seatbelt as he was ejected from the car, a red SUV that was obviously traveling a high rate of speed as it flipped and was airborne (no mud marks) for about fifty feet. The coroner’s van was just pulling up. From what I could see as I passed by (recounting my Private Investigation background) lividity hadn’t set in yet, therefore it was recent. And very very unfortunate.
It was a reminder to me to put safety once again first. No more driving tired, crew rest is back on the books for me.
My thoughts and prayers were, and still are, with the man’s family. Up until today I would have easily said I’m going to finish this project by the end of the month unless I’m dead. Not after seeing that. I’ve got far too much to live for.
Saturday two of my workers left early because of a death in their family. Sunday morning I see a guy stretched out in the middle of a field. There’s always that old superstition about bad news / deaths occurring in threes.
I’m not looking forward to Monday all that much. I think I’ll fly home to San Diego rather than drive.
Posted by Charles in 21st Century Farm Project |
