A Rainy Day in Nowthen -
Last Saturday was beautiful. Work proceeded in shirtsleeves both inside and out.Not so today. It was too warm to snow, but it did not feel like much too warm. The rain was steady to hard through most of the day. Out front of the building, where rumor says a parking lot will be, now more closely resembles a marina. Kevin's car is hiding behind the sign near the road. He had no confidence that the bug would either float or dog paddle. So he walked in and left the car on high ground.
On the back side of the church, the new merged roofs got a thorough test. No leaks appeared, so that is positive. A water tight roof is really nice.
Eric got a chance to try out his civil engineering skills by digging irrigation trenches to drain the low spots under the back porch roof.
On the bright side, the new porch roof permitted some outside work to be done. Flashing, siding and some trim work on and under the roof continued apace. While the roof kept the folks dry, it did not do much for warmth, as you can see. Brandon, Troy, Paul and Eric are all pretty well bundled up.
On one trip out the door, I noticed a pair of legs, not under the roof, but outside the covered area. Perhaps Troy drew the short straw.
He was hanging siding with only the eave to offer protection. When I stuck my head out to see who the legs belonged to, my camera lens was immediately showered with raindrops. Troy did not seem to mind the work and he
paddled plodded right along.
Work on the Inside -
It was nice to see that Bob's daughter had enough time away from her school work to come in and give dad a hand. There appeared to be some serious educating going on here. Bob seemed to be very interested and attentive. I think he probably learned quite a bit. Here Sasha demonstrates proper tape measure technique with the smart end at the top and the dumb end hanging down to the floor. This is my first exposure to a tape measure having a smart and a dumb end, but now I know.
Here Bob lends a hand holding the wood while Sasha operates the tool.
A similar situation arose a little later when a piece of wood needed shortening.
I was uncertain what the lesson was with the floor mounted table saw, until Sasha quickly picked up their tools and moved to the ladder. Bob is using the ladder to stabilize the board while Sasha cuts the board (shown above). Then I realized the point of the lesson.
Don't use the machine as a bench when Troy needs to use it for a saw. Here he is pictured ripping a piece of siding to be hung in the rain.
Activity in the Dining Hall -
With some Sheetrock hanging, the dining hall looks like a real room.
A quick glance up and I notice Brian heading outside with treasures on his back. Curious, I had to move in closer to investigate.
This time he was not hauling out scrap material to his truck, as I had seen him do previously, rather he was changing the function of this multi-use tool.
Needing a bench with a hole in it for cutting a piece of drywall with a saber saw, the emptied trash barrel was redeployed. Brian noted the additional beauty of this redeployment when he pointed out that the scrap piece cut out of the circle would drop into the trash receptacle as long as gravity held out. I watched long enough to witness the accuracy of his prediction.
Mark coaches while Brian whacks a starting hole in the drywall.
Notice the concentration by the operator as the saw accurately follows the outline.
Brian admires the exactness of the fit around the pipe while Mark maneuvers the right hand piece into proper position.
With the rain continuing on the outside, putting up dry-wall on the inside seemed like a good choice of jobs.
More Framing on High -
The room high on the wall in the front of the church will house organ speakers. The bosses say the size large return air duct up in that space needs to be walled off. Brent, having already demonstrated skill making room in high places, was tasked with framing the walls. Here he uses the laser to guide him in placing the header.
Kevin joins him and together they try to remember where the laser line was and take its measure.
Now some deep thinking and meditation seems to be the order of things.
Apparently guidance from afar is required and summoned by phone.
Calculations and writing on wooden slats follows. It must have worked as later I did see the header successfully attached to the ceiling.
Brent not only demonstrated high quality carpentry skills, but also set the fashion bar very high showing up on the job with his Micky Mouse ears.
While I have not personally seen any wildlife prowling in the church yard, I did see the evidence of it being there. When the mud dried out, clear footprints were left behind. Not being a wildlife expert, I only speculate without confidence on the critters that left these prints. I suspect a deer is responsible for these ones.
Portico - 
The inspector gave the go ahead to cover some of the walls, so that accounted for most of Saturday's activity. Three teams work on three walls.
Using a scrap of plywood and a stubby 2x4 as a lever and fulcrum, the heavy sheet is jockeyed into position. Phil on the scaffold calls out directions.
