Joists are in!

I spent some time Friday evening and Saturday morning checking off items from the list of "things to bring" that I created in preparation for installing the joists in place on the "Thinker's Box".  The bulk of the list came easy and with only a few minutes spent thinking about the necessary items, I had a full page.  What was interesting (I'm sure this is not unique to my brain) was the dozen or so other tools and/or ancillary items that popped into my head at random moments before the time to leave arrived.  Literally, it was as-if I was busy going through the day and in the back of my head a small portion of my brain was continuing to think about the checklist and when necessary sending messages to the conscious brain of things I might wish to include.  They'd just fly in from nowhere, I'd grab my list and write them down.  Cool, but weird at the same time!

I've noticed that in the blogs and videos, mentioning the weather seems to be an area that always seems to be included.  This time won't be an exception, but I'll try to make it brief.  The forecast called for 1.5" of rain beginning around 11pm on Saturday and continuing in thunderstorms slated for 2-3 hour intervals alternating between the same amount of time of severe clouds/overcast conditions Sunday morning/afternoon.  Let's just say that we were gifted the ability to relax around our neighbor's fire pit until 3AM or so and experienced only a passing hint of a thunderstorm from 3-7AM.  From 6AM-8/9AM we had a slight drizzle/light rain, but no where near what was forecast.  I believe that the mountain peak just west of our location took the gusto out of the storm before it even got a chance to hit our location.  A huge thank you goes out to Mother Earth and Mother Nature for their coordinated efforts in eliminating the threat of having to construct an ark rather than arranging floor joists!

So, let's review what Floatman and I were able to file away into the "completed" cabinet.

• Kids will be at Grandma/Grandpa's house for the night
• Jen and I will head to camp after I get off work around 6:45pm.
• Arrive in Erie around 8:30-9pm and visit Home Depot.
• Pickup the 2"X8"X12' PT lumber for floor joist construction and load the trailer.
• Arrive at TC around 10:30-11pm and setup the EZ-Up tent/Screen porch
• Unload tools from the Mountaineer and relocate them to under the tent
• Visit Pedro's place and party like a rock-star
• Sunday AM, assemble the floor joist structure
• Paint the beams and posts (in the absence of rain)
• Drill the carriage bolts holes in the beams/post and secure them to one another. (if the bolts arrive from Amazon.com in time for the trip, if not, defer to Tuesday/Wednesday trip out to camp.
• Pack up / head home / pick up the kids on the way

We skipped the setting up of the screen porch/tent in lieu of covering all the unloaded tools with a big tarp.  Less time and less work which permitted us to start the evening's festivities quicker! LOL! Because the beams and posts were still damp/wet in places, I put off the painting to a better day.  The carriage bolts haven't arrived, so I did forgo bothering with drilling holes.  I'd expect to get this part completed this Sunday.

So, what's next?  I'm heading out to Erie on Wednesday morning.  I've decided to bring the gymnasium floor home rather than to camp because it needs some preparation before installation.  This work is best done in the convenience of my garage.  When I have all the boards squared up and I figure out a way to get them so they'll interlock to one another at the edges, I'll haul them out to camp for the floor install.  Something I'm hoping I can get done this Sunday as well.  It won't be long until I'm posting about stick framing and installing the roof!  Won't that be cool!?

On a side note:  

Please feel free to comment or ask questions about anything that I post in the blog or that you see in the video.  I do appreciate the comments and interest and take them as encouragement and motivational!  

Enjoy the video!