I survived. My solution was to hack that pine tree to death with my cordless reciprocating saw and then lean the ladder up against that. Also, I fabricated as many pieces as I was able down on the driveway, and then trucked everything up the stairs, a section at a time. It wasn't as fun as, say, cleaning the cat's litter box, but it was up there. I even rolled around on top of it for a while, which is something I've never done before. These things are stronger than I thought! The highlight of the day was when I was hanging on to the underside, leaning out [in the above picture, upper right hand section -toward the camera] to get two tiny, dull, pointless screws in.
By 5:00 I was covered in sweat and sap and caulk and pine needles and canine turd and my own blood, but I got it done. They handed me the check, "Don't cash this right away!" It don't matta, mam, it's already spent! Nice people, though! [if they're reading this.]
And tomorrow: again. This week's set of problems has to do with a cover of varying projections, varying heights, an oversized column span, and a set of stacked double headers over the middle post (with half of the rafters suspended) and not to mention the mitered fascia attachment, the fascia extension, and the as-of-yet-unsolved problem with the existing rain gutter. I hope to do a good job, too, since this is the customer who gave me half an albacore last week, odd as it seemed at the time. Nice people, though! [if they're reading this.]
Sometimes I wonder what everybody I know does at work. Sure, I know what they do, but what do they do? After reading what I just wrote, I'm not so interested in what everyone does at work now. Especially if it's going to fill me with dread, dismay, and confusion like describing my own work does.
But it's not so hard, really. You do something often enough, the solutions present themselves pretty quick. Today's tests were taken on one problem at a time. Best not to overwhelm yourself in the heat. The worst thing was the AM radio reception in Fallbrook.
I did hear that the shuttle landed okay, which was a relief. Imagine their set of problems at work. "We got to work okay, the launch went off just fine, earth looks great from here but, oh, hey, what's this? A hole in the wing? Oh. Well, we're gonna have to bring her down then... Huh? What hurricane?" and so it goes. But they've got air conditioning, I'll betcha. And disability. Sure, they probably bump their heads a lot in zero g, but that couldn't be worse than the death by a thousand aluminum cuts I suffer.
I try to look on the bright side. Their view of the whole planet couldn't beat the scenery I got from atop this baby, no sir.
