Grump Central Archive: Week of 3 March 2019
Sunday, 10 March 2019
Three years ago today, great weather allowed the crew to make great strides with the foundation forms, and they'd made it down to the living level. I should like to think I'm now poised to make great strides once again, but presently I'm bereft of motivation, despite improving weather, health and finances. As a friend recently put it, "People who have never suffered actual depression (no, it's not just feeling down one day) can't understand that depression isn't always tied directly to immediate circumstance." Truth.
Saturday, 9 March 2019
Progress on the foundation forms seemed achingly slow as I watched, but I was impatient. I was also ignorant of the process; yet the plus side of that was being able to learn so much. Today I'm still learning, and still putting that knowledge to use, albeit in a much more limited fashion than I'd prefer. And I'm still impatient, not happy that most things take far more time than I'd like.
Friday, 8 March 2019
Back in 2016, the first of the foundation forms are erected, and the shape of the garage begins to emerge. Three years later, things are slowly turning around. The cold snap is easing a little, as is my flu, and most encouragingly, the financial pinch as well. Between a flurry of model train sales and double the retirement benefits I was expecting, I may actually be able to press forward with the house. It will still be a challenge to take on the last couple of big-ticket items, such as the deck, but any progress at all is more than I'd anticipated a few months ago.
Thursday, 7 March 2019
This day back in 2016, the slow, tedious and physically demanding process of assembling the forms is just beginning; it would take them nearly two weeks to finish. Today, I feel lucky if I can crawl out of bed and make it to the house to sit at the computer. I hate cold weather, and a flu makes it all that much worse.
Wednesday, 6 March 2019
Continuing the flashbacks: all of the foundation form panels and associated hardware had been delivered; then, the hard work of assembling them would begin. Three years later, things are at a standstill once again—although hopefully just briefly. We're in the grip of a deep freeze: nights in the teens, and days hovering just below 30°. Lately, all I've accomplished house-wise has been to repair the garage door from my stupidity, which doesn't really count as progress. But it was about all I could manage with the flu at its peak.
Tuesday, 5 March 2019
Three years ago today, foundation form panels began arriving by the truckload—and continued arriving for two days. It was a happening place! Today, I'm using this pleasant reverie to distract myself from the misery of a nasty flu. And while the area was spared from a predicted deluge of snow, I fear forecasts for a deep, week-long cold spell will prove much more accurate.
Monday, 4 March 2019
Three years ago today, the footings were finished and ready for the foundation forms. Meanwhile, we've just had another snowstorm, although thankfully total accumulation was much lower than predicted. But now we're headed into a week-long severe cold spell, one that may finally freeze the ground—which could ruin my plans to try and get the well connected sometime soon.
Sunday, 3 March 2019
Three years ago today, the footing forms were assembled and ready for concrete, which was delivered via an enormous pumper. Exciting times! Today, however, I'm still in a lot of pain, so my mood is quite subdued—made worse by a forecast calling for 3-7 inches of snow tonight.