Sunday, October 15
Extreme Night Shifts
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Kirk came home around 4:30AM and his fever was back, full force. Not a good thing for someone who'd be boarding an airplane in about 14 hours. He slept as late as he could. He was mostly already packed for his trip to Australia. We spent most of the day/afternoon together and then it was time to take him to the airport. :(
He was facing a long, very brutal bit of travel - a flight from LAX to Sydney, a layover, then a hop to Adelaide. Then another flight to Darwin. All in all, almost 24 hours of travel for him - yuck! AND he would be gone for almost a full two weeks. At least I had building the house to distract me for a few days.
After dropping Kirk at the airport, I drove over to do some more work. I figured the nightshift would be the most sparse. When I got there, I was amazed at the work that had been done since I left. the front portion of the house was mostly roofed, they had built in the skylights, the interior was being drywalled & mudded, the patio and courtyard were being prepped (they were laying some of the irrigation piping, etc.). And there were a LOT of people everywhere!
I got the lay of the land - everytime I went, I had to get sorted out all over again. I bumped into my friend Neil. It was HIS team I was on - the framing team. He had been there pretty much since the thing started - almost 48 hours and was barely standing. He was determined to make sure the framing got completed timely and with the very best of quality. In fact, despite the claims of some people who just aren't on these work sites, the job is done very very solidly. One of the reasons Vic was picked as the General Contractor is his dedication to excellence. His team leaders have the same work ethic.
One of the things that caused me to have a good laugh was the drywallers. Each and every one of the drywallers in the house (they had divided themselves up into 4 teams) were all professional, union guys. Now, remember, I told you we were, on the whole, VERY far behind in the work. Ten hours when you only have 106 is really a significant deficit! The drywallers had a bet going - $1000 to the team that finished the fastest. I'll tell you what - do NOT get in those guys' way when they are out to win bragging rights (and a bit of cash too). Keep in mind, these guys, like everyone else, were volunteers - which made the bet all the more interesting. I have no idea who actually won, but even Vic put some money down on one of the teams.

I got pulled off that job and went in to help the tilers for a while. There was soooo much tile! And it was all beautiful! But each bit was for a different purpose in a different bathroom. With three bathrooms to choose from, we had to be careful where we took each HEAVY box.
At one point in the midst of this, we suddenly had to vacate everything from one of the neighboring houses (I have no idea why). But we had to move a tent, table, tools, materials. A number of us got to work getting everything moved from that location to another.
Finally, around 3AM, I was beat and decided to head home. Part of me wanted to stay, but my body was telling me I was done for the night. And so, my nightshift ended.
Labels: Extreme Home Makeover, Volunteerism