The weather is warming back up this week. Last nights low in the high 40's. Todays high was in the low 70's. Highs are supposed to be in the mid 70's for the next week, with lows being in the low 50's.
Mark and I worked together today. (Mark is probably in his late 20's. John hires him on a part time basis.) We started out trimming the upstairs. One of the rooms up there is done in oak and the other in elm. We are to use elm for all the trim. We ran out of elm while doing the first window. It was time to fire up the sawmill. I think I am going to pay for all the stair climbing today, with leg cramps tonight. It is 20 steps from the ground, where the table saw and chop saw are located, up to the 2nd floor. I didn't count how many times I climbed the stairs but I'm sure more than 20. My legs aren't sore. I'm not sure why I get the craps in the evening and during the night. I eat a banana most days and had a baked potato last night so I'm pretty sure I'm getting plenty of potassium. I think I will drink a lot of water this evening and see if that helps. It was warm enough that I did sweat some today, but not nearly as bad as I do when the weather is really warm. Its tough being old <grin>.
John and Mark put an elm log on the saw while I did some clean-up work around the job site. I then went over to the sawmill and we started sawing the log. On about the 3rd pass we hit a nail and ruined the blade. We got the rest of the nail out of the log and changed the blade. We found another nail and broke the head off while trying to pull it out. Of course we had no tools for that. I made a trip to the motor home for a pair of channel locks and a pair of vice grips. We removed the nail and continued sawing.
When we got near the bottom of the log Mark noticed that a guide needed adjusted in order to cut the last board as thin as possible. I made another trip to the motor home (it is over an eighth of a mile from the sawmill to the motor home so I was using the camp 4 wheeler for the trips) for tools. After the adjustment we finished sawing the last board.
I had been loading the boards in the back of a pickup while Mark was sawing them. We headed back to the job site and after lunch started work on the trim again. We made good progress. Mark had some good ideas on how to do the trim. The upstairs trim will look nicer than what Fred and I did downstairs. We worked until 4, and hour longer than Fred and I normally did. About 3 he had asked when I wanted to quit and I said 4 was fine with me. I think we will be able to finish the upstairs trim tomorrow.
Once we finish the trim we are supposed to saw up logs until all the logs are gone. Depending on how long that takes, and how long I remain here, we will probably cut down some more trees.
Fred and Gail left around 8 this morning, according to John. They are probably most of the way across Texas tonight. I think it is about 800 miles to where they are going in New Mexico. They will stay there through Thanksgiving and then leave to visit another of their adult children, and grandchildren, in the Tucson area.
Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.
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