Small Steps

I've been slowly but surely working on the barn, and it's hard when you can only take small steps, but you have to do what you can with the time you're given. What I find frustrating is setting up all the equipment to do about an hour's worth of work, and then having to put it all away. It just takes up a lot of time. If this was California I'd just leave everything out and just show up and work, but that's not an option in the wilds of New England. It seems like every day brings a threat of rain.

Whatever be the case, in my one hour of allotted time, I can only manage to get a part of the soffit done. Part of that laborious process means climbing up on the roof to measure the space, cutting the boards to size, painting them, climbing back up on the roof to learn that the board is either too big or cut at the wrong angle (dormers are a pain), then cutting it some more. I know a seasoned pro would do it more efficiently, and I'm sure my Mentor (and the Amazing PR Man) is shaking his head and wondering, "Where did I go wrong with this one?" but I can't seem to do this any other way. It's hard to get perfect measurements when I'm working up there, and I always seem to need to fine tune the pieces before I nail them in. It's sort of embarrassing, and frustrating at times, but for all it's worth, it does get done. Thousand mile journey begins with small steps, right?

It doesn't help that all my other domestic duties are continually calling me, but don't get me started. I know what I was getting into when I signed on, so I can't complain... yeah, right. It will help when more visible progress is being made because some of us will be happier to see the results, but when you're doing the work, you realize how much goes on behind the scenes that never gets seen or appreciated. It's not unlike being a parent.

I don't want to look too far into the future, but once those dormers are done, I'll be happy to stop working on the roof and plant my feet on solid ground.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Vicki for the pic.