Pages

Monday, January 15, 2018

Construction: Weeks 13-17


If I thought weeks 9-12 were challenging, they had nothing on weeks 13-17. 

I can't even.

Here are some photos:

My clumsily but adequately installed slab insulation skirt (adequate was the engineer's word for it) 

With added Geotextile

Obstacle course. Crude but (hopefully) effective solutions.

December 17, 2017

The gravel pile.


Keep your powder (I mean, gravel) dry.

My beautiful furnace. I can't even say how magically, deliciously warm my house is.

Covering the skirt with gravel
Mudding and taping



Hieroglyphics (I loved all the bits of random math and cryptic messages I found on the walls of my home)

Making progress.

Coming along
Storm warning morning: January 4, 2018

This is the top of a tree that fell from a height of about 40 or 50 feet, fortunately onto the bare piece of ground next to my well – where it will aid the reforestation the process. The power lines are just about 20 feet to the left. 



The thaw after the storm let me move a lot more gravel

Sunny skies after the storm

Up on staging, priming the walls

Painting in the bathroom

Fresh and clean

Dusty and paint-spattered – and satisfied and tired – at the end of a long day.
Another thaw and this is all that's left of the gravel pile – I shoveled in my T-shirt sleeves in +15 Celsius weather on January 12, 2018. 

It was too soggy to manoeuvre around the house, so I spread the gravel on the driveway, where it was just as badly needed. 
This colour was called "Unforgettable" by the paint company. Which is, let's face it, a pretty forgettable name. My friend who was helping me paint that day (Thank you!) won the renaming contest with "I'm Lichen It" (my suggestion of "Chartresque" received an honourable mention).

I had my first ever exciting interior decorating idea for the bathroom. Here is the first stage – one and a third walls painted grey...


I don't think there is any way I can put together a literal narrative of this segment of the project, so here are some (mostly short) poems which attempt to capture something of these past five ineffable weeks:

Power outages

No back-up heat
Only questions
What–?
When–?
How soon–?
How long–?
If–?

Will it–?


Storm-stayed

Forest-caught wind
Throat-caught heart

House
rock solid
in the howling
night


Wreckage

I heard the SNAP
at two in the morning

Dawn cracks on
torn and twisted
sisters 

One top dropped
from fifty feet or more
Onto the bare ground
next to my new well

The first step 
in the reforestation project


Altercation

Frustration met with anger
Anger met with fear

Straight back to the old times
the bad times
the worst times

Always with me
Even 
After 
All 
These 
Years


Shoveling

The bite of the
blade
into the big pile
of Class A

The shuddering of
each landing
against the bottom of 
the wheelbarrow

My newfound
favourite meditation

Crunch
Clang
Roll
Dump
Spread 
Sweat
Repeat


Painting

Unforgettable
London Road
Milk Mustache
Pink A Boo
Lemon Ripple

Pink A Boo
Was a mistake
I swear
I handed in the wrong card
At the paint counter


Waiting

With luck
It will be done
next week

or
at least
before Christmas

No luck

Perhaps January first
Definitely January third

Or not


Tired

You'd think
it would get easier
After learning
so much
Figuring out
so much 

The confidence
of accomplishment

Look!
It's done!
A building
Warm against the cold
Solid against the wind

But it is not done yet

More interlocking tasks
Remain
More deadlines 
Remain 
to be hit or missed
tasks to be scheduled 
and/or re-scheduled
hit and miss

And I am tired.

Physically tired:
From painting
lugging
shoveling
sanding
vacuuming
disassembling
storm-watching
losing sleep
from surprises
and adjustments

Mentally tired: 
from learning
from failing 
and succeeding
from surprises
and adjustments

Emotionally tired:
from feeling
worrying
spinning
running on empty
trying to ask for help
managing disappointments
and surprises
and adjustments

I have sometimes thought that 
surprises
are the most delightful thing
about having a human brain
And I still think that
sometimes
But I have learned that
surprises are more fun for me
when I am playing tennis
than they are when I am 
trying to build a place to live

In real-life terms
surprises can be
exhausting

And so
instead of feeling
like this is getting easier
I'm battling fatigue
and an overwhelming desire 
for this to be over
done
complete

I promise myself that
I will 
NOT DO 
ANYTHING ELSE
to this place for several years
at least
except for gardening

And maybe 
just a little
recreational
gravel-shoveling

9 comments:

  1. Wonderful read . . . I really "felt" it, the joy, the frustration! I love your colour choices . . . brave, just like you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. For reading, for connecting, for empathizing. I appreciate it!

      Delete
  2. Fabulous account, Alex! you are brave and incredibly resilient! And I like chartesque best... :)
    Paula

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Paula, for reading and for seeing me in my vulnerability and resilience. I appreciate it.

      Delete
  3. Fabulous account, Alex! you are brave and incredibly resilient! And I like chartesque best... :)
    Paula

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oops, typo! I mean ‘so’ don’t hesitate to call.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, my dear! It seems like an earlier message may have gotten eaten by Blogger :-) but I can guess what it said. xo!

      Delete
  5. What a journey, Alex. Your poems take me with you, terror and tiredness, wind and gravel. Your home really is *yours*—a work of art as well as a dwelling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mom, and for all your support throughout, emotional and material. It means the world.

      Delete