Just hand me a hammer!
Yesterday, I helped build a house.
More specifically, I helped move a giant stack of lumber--2x4s, 4x4s, and heeeeaaaavy 6x10s; built a giant box to collect scraps of wood to meet their Green requirement; removed a concrete sidewalk and re-filled it with temporary blacktop; and framed windows.
Please excuse the poorly-darkened faces of my coworkers, who may wish to remain anonymous on the Interwebs
I'm glad the window-framing happened, because I was beginning to think I would be working hard all day and not do a single thing on the actual house! I know every job is important, and this is just the beginning stages of the home (only the first floor was framed), but I really wanted to have a hand in something permanent, y'know?
Today, I am sore all over: heavy lifting, blacktop tamping, and hammer-wielding are all making themselves known this morning! And even though I wore sunscreen, I'm sunburned in weird places: my arms between the tops of my gloves and where my t-shirt sleeves started, the tips of my ears, and the back of my neck on either side of where my ponytail hung down. I really hope the tan fades or evens out before September, because let me tell you, NOT CUTE. And I was being so careful!
This house is supposed to be finished around Thanksgiving. I'm really tempted to schedule a Saturday to go back and work another day closer to the finish, just to see how it all turns out!
I'd always wanted to work a day with Habitat for Humanity, and I have to say, it was just as fun and rewarding as I thought it would be. If only all the local sites weren't a two-hour drive away...