Raise the Roof

I'm always amazed at how many friends Brad has, and at how talented they all are. This weekend, his friends spent the weekend building a garage in our backyard. Really..they built it in a weekend. The pictures show how quickly it turned from a slab of concrete into a garage. The first picture was taken at about 10:00 Saturday morning, the second at about 4:00 and the third on Sunday afternoon. Brad was like a kid on Christmas morning on Saturday morning. I laughed, because the man who has a tough time getting out of bed in the morning, was in the backyard getting things ready before 7:00 that morning! Paul and Curt were the first to arrive, but people kept showing up. When I ordered pizza for lunch, I think there were six guys working. The coolest part is, they all knew what to do, and Paul is an expert, so he took charge and there wasn't a lot of time wasted while they tried to figure out what to do next.

I teased Brad that he must have worked everyone too hard on Saturday, because Sunday no one came back! I felt bad for him, and since the kids were still at the farm, I ended up being the help! I'm happy to say Brad and I wrapped the garage and installed a window together and we are still married! I figure construction is a good test of a marriage! Gene Rivinius and Paul came over later and since I refuse to go on a roof, I got the grunt job of pounding nails all around the garage to hold the wrap and hauling shingles. My body is still recovering from the shingle lifting!

There's still about half of one side of the roof that needs to be shingled. Brad plans to do that tomorrow morning before he heads out of town for a wedding. In about a month, the siding will go up, the garage door will be installed..and work will begin on the inside, and on the yard that got so damaged during this whole process. We currently have two pallets of patio blocks sitting in the front driveway that need to be moved and arranged in the backyard.

To the outsider, it may look like the project is far from over, but those of us who live here and have watched the project progress from start to this point, know how far we've come, and know that the end is in sight. Brad is anxious to have a place to make jerky this hunting season, and we are both dying to park in the attached garage again (Brad's side has been full of "stuff" since we moved in, and my side has been taken over by construction supplies). Most of all, I am looking forward to grilling, hanging out by the firepit, and relaxing on the new patio! At least until my husband dreams up another project!