I am really tired tonight. Not so much from what we did today, it was just a normal day, but I guess from being in such pitiful physical condition. Today was Fred's last day of work at the camp until they return in January. Working beside him has just worn me out! That is embarrassing because he is a 75 year old colon cancer survivor. He is TEN YEARS older than me and I'm worn out <GRIN>.
It isn't that either of us tried to outdo one another, we just both have a good work ethic and like to see progress being made. John, the camp director, might kid about us "old guys" not working hard (in fact he does), but he also makes us very aware of how much he appreciates our efforts. I'm sure that if we wanted to work fewer hours/days he would not mind. If we mentioned being tired I don't doubt that he would tell us to take a day, or more, off and rest.
This morning started out OK for me (no more coffee all over the countertop and floor), not so much for Fred. Yesterday we saw that we were getting short on the sawed boards, that we needed for the trim work that we are doing. When we met this morning we decided that the first thing we needed to do was saw several more logs into boards. We went over to Fred's saw and started prepping. We got the saw uncovered and put log on it. Fred went to start it and the key was gone. He normally keeps in in a magnetic case that is attached to the saw frame. We looked for awhile and gave up. He went into their motor home to get a spare key and it was not on the hook where he keeps it. He took the cover off the control panel and we looked at the switch to see if we thought we could safely jumper it. After some discussion we decided that would not be a good idea because we would not know what safety features we might disable. He called Woodmizer and ordered a new switch. We probably fooled around for an hour and a half before we gave up on sawing logs.
We ended up scrounging some pieces that we had sawed previously and we ripped them to size, as best we could, on the table saw. (He came back from lunch with a grin. He had found his spare keys. Somehow they had gotten down into the back of a chair. He cancelled his switch order.) We managed to contine working without the additional boards. By the end of the day we had accomplished enough that we were OK with our progress.
Mark, the young man (30?) who works here part time, has went through the Woodmizer training course for the saw. John told me that Mark and I would be sawing a bunch of logs before I leave. John wants to build up a stock of wood for projects he has scheduled in January. That is fine with me. It is something new. I imagine that after a day or so of constant sawing it will get boring, but who knows.
65 camper are here this weekend. They signed up two weeks ago and at that time there were only supposed to be 40 of them. Since the camp only furnishes them with bunkhouses and kitchen facilities, as well as all the play stuff, it doesn't take a lot more work for 65 than for 40. Actually before we went to saw the log this morning I used a leaf blower to blow all the leaves, and sand, off the porches and decks of the building the campers would be using. Mark and John mopped all the floors in the buildings that will be used while Fred and I put up more trim (after fooling around with the saw mill).
Tomorrow I think I am going to the George Bush presidential library in Bryan/College Station. I've seen the sign for it a couple of times and I want to make sure I get to see it while I am here. Depending on how I feel I might walk around some of the Texas A&M campus, it appears to be huge. I guess it has to be for 50,000 students.
Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.
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