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