Bored, but busy with boards

One of the advantages to having a house being built on your property is that there is plenty of off cut lumber for projects.

Note large pile of lumber to the right of the house

One of the disadvantages of plenty of off cut lumber for projects is...more honey do's.

So....Mrs J, ever thoughtful of my mental health, and in addition to the normal "Honey Do" list has begun adding to my workshop project list.

In spite of my subtle warnings.

However, she does know my weak spots.

Oscar would be my little buddy on the right, his wonky leg is his front right one. Annie is on the left.

"Well...You know that Oscar is getting a little long in the tooth and his "wonky" leg is giving him issues"

"Yes"

"Well, he's having issues getting up on the bed and even worse ones jumping off of it."

"Yes", I say with trepidation, knowing the trap has been set and there's no way out.

"Well,  couldn't you build a ramp for him to use to get into and out of bed?  Soon."

So, I run out to my nearest lumber supply depot, (Shown above) and pick out two long cut off pieces of siding and some quite usable (after cutting nailed ends off and squaring them) 2 x 8's.  Which when laminated together, mitered to the correct angle (14^o) , covered with leftover carpet from our last re-carpet of the current house and garnished with a beautiful piece of ambrosia maple for a rail gave me a nice little ramp.

Banished to the Lumber Dump!

Which Oscar promptly jumped off the tall end, catching his hind legs on the rail. The Czechoslovakian Judge gave him a 10 for the resulting half gainer.

The look on Mrs J's face as she rushed to assist him, told me that Oscar would not be sleeping in the Dog House that night, but it would not be empty.

So...fortunately, my local lumber supply depot had not been stripped bare of lumber.  So, consulting with my project manager on changes She'd like in the design, I went back to work.

Round two went a little easier.

We will be adding a permanent covering shortly.

And, while not completely finished, we tested it before committing more carpeting  (which was a pain in the butt to unwrap, cut, attach then re-roll and re-cover in industrial Saran Wrap).  Annie was first up the ramp.  Oscar eyed it a little nervously, so we picked him up and put him on it.  He promptly jumped off the side.

I felt Mrs J reaching for the rolling pin.

So, I picked him up and put him on the bed.  He ran down the ramp.  Again, I picked him up, Again he ran back down.

Finally...

 Tuckered out by the episode, he ran up the ramp and took a nap.  Unfortunately, that's my side of the bed and I had intended to take a nap.

Knowing that discretion is the better part of valor, I let Sleeping Dogs lie (Literally!) , and went to clean up the work shop.

So, how is the Lumber Supply Project coming along, juvat?

Well, Sarge,  pretty well.  

Monday morning last, the project looked like this.

Taken from the Horse Barn.

The crew has been working for about an hour and gotten the sheeting down on the garage roof.

Later that morning.

By Tuesday.

We had a pleasant surprise Wednesday evening, as evidently, some one other than just carpenters had shown up.

The fireplace and Chimney had been installed.

Doors also.

By the end of the week, most of the internal braces had been removed, the AC ducting installed.

Great room taken from front entrance with dining room on left.

Front entrance from Patio door, Kitchen on right

I've been told that we are rapidly approaching that part of the project where  noticeable progress slows considerably.  That having been said, one of our commenters here, BillB, had suggested adding some insulation to the inside wall between the Master Bedroom and the Great Room to dampen the sound of the TV above the Fire place.  We made that change in time, so...Thanks Bill!

The plumbers are expected this week and one of their tasks will be to reposition the water pipes from the middle of the Master Suite hallway  and into the actual bathroom where they might be useful.  Guttering is something else we need to consider.  We've had fairly heavy rain and the ground underneath the roof corners is eroding quite a bit.

Didn't think of that (and 4.6 Billion other small details).

So...Life goes on.  Heard a little good news from our Governor.  Hope y'alls are doing what they should be doing and not what some have been doing.

I'll leave it at that. Or maybe some Hummingbird dogfighting.