The well house, clean up, Sunday parade

I finally got to work an entire day on the well house. As of last week, I had raised and set three of the four walls knowing that the south wall would take me a good deal of time because I had the breaker box attached to a pallet where that wall needed to be set anticipating a better set up once the building was built. I had to pull the meter at the pole to kill power to the breaker box for all the rework I was going to have to do. I also had to trim the base of the wall I had build just that morning to fit the conduits that came through the slab along that wall. Once I go that in place I had to pull out the wires that had made the temporary connections to the box and set up junction boxes for those that would be too short to make the new connections. All of that took me about three hours.

Once the breaker box was in place and the permanent connections had been made I put the metal on the south wall – the one facing the barn. Once I had that done I put on the roof. I was very blessed to have the materials for the roof. Over a year ago, Mama and I had tried to help out with Victoria’s house and had bought two pieces of metal for the roof. It was all that was lacking to have the roof complete, but I inadvertently got the wrong kind, so we could not use it there. It sat on our farm until Saturday. I had thought the metal was 16 feet long, but we had gotten 18-foot pieces. That worked out perfectly for the small building. I cut the pieces in half and had the roof on in about an hour. I put two pieces of metal on the west side of the well house so the electrical supply to the building would be protected from any rain we might get before the building is sealed up and started to run wire for outlets and lights. By the time I quit, I was pretty worn out.

While I was doing that, Mama had cleaned up the well house at the house and had cleaned out the chicken coop – neither was a small task. I had stopped to help her at certain intervals as I went to and from the house to get tools or fittings I had not packed on the trailer when I hauled the tools and the wall over to the barn lot. Those two chores took her the better part of the day but both buildings looked and smelled so much better for the effort, she was quite pleased with herself.  Victoria was not feeling well yesterday but she spent her day fooling with the pups. At one point in the evening, she had all the pups in the house because their little building was too hot. When they stared stirring about using the bathroom on the living room floor, I asked that they be returned to their habitat. She reluctantly complied but it was easy to tell the pups enjoyed being inside our house.

Sunday was the annual motorcycle parade to raise money for toys for local children. We got out of church and got the Chinese Restaurant before the roads were blocked. The restaurant was empty because everyone seemed to be watching the motorcycles. Lin took the girls over to meet Alex who had parked across the street with Aubrey. They had to be on that side of the street because the riders throw candy to the children along the parade route. That excited the girls. They are not allowed to eat the candy, but they relish collecting it none-the-less. We got to watch the entire parade from the comfort of our table inside the restaurant. They all came to the restaurant once the all the motorcycles had passed and Mama got to hold Aubrey while Cheyenne and Yilin ate their lunch. By the time they got to the restaurant, Mama and I had long since finished eating but Alex insisted on cooking us a dish so we could take it home for Victoria – and for our lunch today. We enjoyed the time there.

This week I will be in class Tuesday through Friday, 8-5. I do not mind the classes but the commute to UT Arlington is a chore.