July 8 - A Strange Tale and the Coverup

Blame It On A Power Outage -
The power went out at our home the other night, in the wee small hours of the morning. I awoke, as is the habit I share with 98% of senior citizen males, and needed to find the plumbing facilities. We have a street light outside our bedroom window, but when the power is out, the streetlight is also out. The bedroom is dark, really dark. I fumbled my way along the dresser and turned towards the biffy, but somehow the house was not the same as in the light. The hinges for the door were on the wrong side and I lost my confidence. Retracing my steps for a ways I opened the blinds and was able to regain my bearings from the light of the lightning bugs outside the window. Somehow being cloaked in darkness brought to the forefront an incident previously residing in the recesses of my brain.

The target

I was taking a break from my bike ride when a stranger rode up and joined me on the bench. I could read him as a man of culture and wisdom since he was also riding a bike. In the course of our chatting I mentioned that we are in the process of building a new church. "Well, is the roof on?" he asked through a unrecognizable drawl. I acknowledged that it is. "Well, then, do you realize that it is being daily battered and bombarded by 'foe-tawns'?" I struggle to write with the proper dialect, and I did not understand his last word, so I requested a re-transmission. "Foe-tawns", he replied, louder but no more comprehensible to me. I started to spell out what I thought I heard. "F-o-e- ...". "No," he interjected. I tried again. "F-a-u-x...". "NO," came the emphatic response. "Foe-tawns. P-h-o-t-o-n-s."
Now I had the word and immediately questioned the English language gurus that spell phonetic with a ph instead of an f. But I still lacked understanding.
He continued, "them thar foe-tawns come crashing down on the roof. Some folks say they come from outer space. Now, near as I know, they don't do structural damage even tho' they come frightful fast and by the kazillions per second. Now then" (I could not tell if he knew where the church is or if he was talking Minnesotan.) "these here foe-tawns is tiny little rascals. So small ya can't measure 'em. If they find an opening in the roof they will flood the entire attic." I assured him we will keep a sharp eye out. He carried on, "No, them foe-tawns can't do no structural damage even tho there are so many of them, and they come on unbelievably fast, 'cause they are really, really light."
Just then I rapped my shin on the foot board of the bed and was jolted back to my dark room. As I crawled under the covers, I was not sure if this was a recollection or if I dreamed the whole thing.
The Big Coverup -

On Saturday everyone was either covering the walls with drywall or covering the seams with tape and mud. Bob indicated that all hands were involved in the coverup.

Phil tapes seams from floor level.

Matt elevates his work for better  phone reception and to tape the high seams.  

Pete and Ami do such a good job of covering up that Ami does a little uncovering.

Eric is back among the nooks, crevices and pipes, cutting holes in big pieces to fit pipes and piecing in small chunks to fit little spaces.

Adrian stretches to hold the end of the piece while Kevin screws up the sheetrock. More than one person told me that is what Kevin was doing so I had to believe it.

 It took a time or two of measuring, fitting, remeasuring and adjusting but they got it in place.

Adrian added a lift assist board and was able to ease off the stretching.



















Tom holds the panel in place while Charles applies the fasteners.

Scaffolding is in place for taping the seams on the front vaulted wall. Ken is seen here walking the plank.

Ken and Bob test the scaffolding.