Glacial (S)till

It's not yet Good Friday but, as of 8:15 last night, I can say of this hardwood installation, "It is finished." It took six days to complete the last 500 sq.ft. and, on two of those days, I managed to do approximately 125 sq.ft./day, that being the middle, open section of the loft.
As I worked through the 60+ bundles of flooring, I set aside the very few piece of bird's-eye that managed to evade the sorters and incorporated them into the stair landing. I can't imagine what Geoff Hayes' grandmother's house on Furby must have looked like with its bird's-eye maple throughout – including the pantry!
So, what the heck do I do if I don't need to be bent over the hardwood nailer anymore? There's always the unending and ever-growing to-do list should memory fail me. Today, I'll clean up the tools and left-over flooring, and then ensure that all is in readiness for Beaver Flooring. Larry and his crew will be here later today or tomorrow to do the sanding and oiling of the floor. With that step completed, we can then actually move to have the 53' trailer unloaded and begin putting some of our lives back in order. I'm a clean & order freak, so this period of complete and utter chaos has been both inordinately trying and liberating. I have learned to function even when all around demands that I should just throw up my hands and move to Australia (kids' book reference, don't you know).

One of the first tasks will be to get the closets set up so that Ruth & I can begin to select from more than two or three changes of clothing, as has been the case for the past four months and more. Then follow a raft of tasks related to kitchen set-up, electrical fixtures/receptacles, floor tiling and bathroom fixtures.

Of course, with spring rapidly approaching, the verandah and siding projects beckon. The prospect of working outside again holds great appeal.

Ruth has bravely soldiered on with painting over the past weeks despite the alarming rapidity with which her arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome have diminished her ability to function normally. Happily, she got a call from a first-rate surgeon yesterday, and it appears she may be scheduled for surgery this week or next. She and I have been brought up short by the potential impact of this relatively recent ailment. Ruth is so crafts-driven, so active; and the prospect of any significant diminution of hand-function is daunting and sobering indeed. We are both prayerfully hopeful that the surgery will address the carpal tunnel issues and that the new über-techy drugs will wage successful battle with the arthritis. It's ironic: based on history, I should be the one getting hit with the arthritis. My fraternal grandmother almost died when she was hit by arthritis shortly after my father was born, and she spent the last twenty-plus years confined to bed as a result of the damage done to her joints.

That said, we continue to love the day-to-day camping in our new home, and are buoyed with enthusiasm at the relatively imminent shift to more conventional living situation.

Happy spring.