stepping up

Today was Liam's stepping up day ceremony at McNeil Canyon Elementary. It involves physically stepping up to the next tier of the bleachers where they sit for events. The sixth grade students have a big celebration, but each grade is honored by moving up a rung, so to speak. It could have been a long and tedious presentation of honors and awards, but Liam's face when he "stepped up" made it all worthwhile. He was absolutely thrilled. Then he reached over to his friend, Sam Banks, and gave him a great big hug. I cannot tell you how proud of this little guy I am. Today, as we were driving out of town to pick up some wood, we were talking about something and he reached forward and squeezed my shoulder. How it is that this person has evolved this way, I just don't know. But I am immensely proud and grateful to see what a warm, loving person he is.

This week, like the ones before it for the past month, was jam-packed with layer upon layer of work. The chickens needed to get out of the house, and my friend Mo offered up her chicken coop, which was once a loft at McNeil Canyon. As such, it was built with great sturdiness. And sturdy is not the easiest thing to take apart. In the middle of that project, I managed to lose the keys to the truck, so the next day, Craig came down and did the final destruction with me and drove the pieces up the hill. Then came two days of construction, which I did all by myself. I learned two things from the experience. 1. Do not balance 2x6 beams on top of posts and then try to reposition the post while your head is under the 2x6. It hurts for days and days and gives you nightmares about blood clots and such. 2. Sawz-Alls are the BOMB! I'm completely in love with them. When I checked them this morning, they were even moving around the area a bit more after a couple days huddling under the lights in shock.

The Hoopy House is proving pretty successful all in all. I need to order a window that opens and closes automatically but otherwise, things are pretty good. Some of the starts went a bit shocky, but mostly they seem to be recovering. And some of the plants are loving it. Lettuce and spinach I planted from seed are starting to sprout, but no sign of the beans or the carrots yet.
The weatherizing project is moving along fairly well, with 2 out of 4 walls done. The interior needs to be a priority again, but I'll get on that shortly. I spent this morning clearing out shed and mud room area so I could get at the floor board and find out what kind of foundation was under there. I'm afraid. Last night, I picked up half the boards for the siding from Small Potatoes - Steve is awesome. I was out stickering the wood until 10 p.m. and my back is torqued because of it, for sure. But progress doesn't happen without a lot of sweat. So sweat it is.