Artificial sunburn, more hot weather, Grandma

Even though the temperature was a little over 104 degrees Friday evening, I set about in the shop to create a jig of sorts to lay out the angle iron so it could be welded properly. A jig is made to ensure the angle iron pieces to be welded are accurately squared to each other – or however the final product is to be assembled together. Creating a jig/layout tool allowed me to ensure the corners were squared properly prior to welding them together and to be able to repeat the process several times to weld the frames needed for each of the four windows. I finished one frame Friday night just before dark, but I had my layout form made. The last thing I did before quitting for the night was to test the frame I had made to make sure the window fit easily into it. The windows will fit into the frame with a space on each side to squeeze in some foam to seal it. Success.

Saturday was even hotter than Friday, but I set about as early as possible to get all the metal pieces cut for the frames and then assemble them one by one. I was interrupted several times by other farm needs, but by about 2 pm, I had welded together all the window frames successfully. The last thing I needed to weld was a frame for the little a/c unit we are going to use in the container. I did not make a jig for it so once I was done cutting the metal and had tacked it together, I tested it to make sure the a/c would fit into the frame. Not! I had to cut apart one of the corners and reweld the frame. It was a bit too tight in the original placement of the pieces for the a/c unit to pass into the frame without scraping against it significantly. It was a fairly easy correction to make and complete. So, all the frames are welded and ready to be installed.

What I did not realize as I was making all the required welds was that in using the auto darkening glasses in the process, I was exposing my face to the burning light of each and every weld. The Spanish term for a welder (a person using the welding machine) is “solador” which means in a general sense, “sun maker”. By the time I finished the sixteen welds per frame, I was pretty red on the parts of my face that the glasses had not covered and in the bend of my left arm where I had steadied myself as I welded every seem. I could feel the skin tightening on my face here I had been burned. After I showered, I applied some salve to ease the burning and by Sunday morning, the sunburn did not look too noticeable. No one at church seemed to notice anyway. A sunburn right now is not uncommon. I picked the glasses over my welding hood because I was sweating profusely, and the glasses made the welding less cumbersome by not requiring my whole head to be covered by a hot welding helmet. I ultimately paid the price for the momentary comfort.

I am entertaining the idea of cutting at least one of the window openings this evening, but the temperature is climbing to over 108 and tomorrow will be 110 degrees or better. Inside the container it will be a bit hotter, so Mama may put her foot down and disallow any such work, especially since Grandpa recently gave us a scare when he suffered a mild case of heat stress. Grandpa has since avoided being outside in this heat, but I have managed a few hours at a time as I try to continue the container retrofit projects in spite of the ambient temperatures. Although I am making progress, I will not have the retrofit done by the end of this month. I can only work so long in this kind of heat.

Mama is spending the entire day out with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma had a series of medical tests today that will take most of the day to complete. She was required to be at the doctor’s office at 7:30 this morning for fasting blood work. Following that there was to be a stress test and some other type of heart test. Then a couple hours later she was to eat a fatty meal and have further blood work done. Last of all she is scheduled for a final heart diagnostic test to begin about 2:30. I am not expecting them home before 4 pm. By that time, they will have put in a full workday. That is unusual for Mama. It is exhausting for Grandma and Grandpa who spend most of their waking time either sitting in a chair or lying in bed. During Grandma’s last medical test Mama plans to do some final shopping at WinCo for items Victoria will take to Honduras when she leaves Thursday morning. None of the participants in today’s medical testing endurance contest are used to putting in that many continuous hours of activity in a given day. It was probably wise on the doctor’s part to get all the testing done in one day, but I am not sure the schedulers realized what the test candidate and supporters had to endure to make that happen. The last test, Mama was told, will potentially leave Grandma nauseated. That is why they saved it for last. We will soon see.

Nevertheless, it will be mission accomplished when they do get home. At least I hope so.