Pinky Jackhammering

Ooooh doggy! Yesterday was warm and sunny. I went to work early so I could spring out that mug around 3 and it was oh so nice. I could have done anything in the world that afternoon, and I chose to play in the dirt. Sweet. I got the footings poured for the porch so my concrete work is done. But this post today is not about dirt, it's actually something that the ladies might not want to read. Ladies, I'll let you know when you can rejoin the conversation. The beginning of this post is about something personal to guys, and I don't want to skeeve out the ladies. The coast clear?

I was picking my nose last night and I was having a really hard time getting some of the stalagtites loose. Then it dawned on me, when I was emptying the bags of concrete mix, I was certainly getting some of the dust in my nostrils. The end result was me inhaling concrete particles which inevitably turned into concrete boogers. Yum! I did some hearty spelunking last night since blowing my nose wasn't cutting it. This morning, I did a little more pinky-jackhammering to free up a few more stragglers then gave it a good rinsing in the shower. I'm pretty clear now.

Ladies, you can rejoin the conversation.

So, with the footings poured, my next step is to attach the ledger board (the board that attaches the porch to the house) to the house. Once again, this is one of those "do-it-right-the-first-time-because-you'll-be-sorry-if-you-screw-it-up" jobs. The footings were another such task because if I missed the mark, I'd be stuck with misaligned footings. If I screw up the ledger board, I end up with a bunch of extra holes in my house. And as you might imagine, that would suck.

Now, I have a hammer drill which I have used on several occasions to drill into concrete. It has worked well, but in the interest of time I think I'm gonna rent something a little more powerful for this job. Plus, to buy the right bit for my drill would probably cost just as much as renting the better tool. So there you have it.

Tonight is mountainbike night, and of course my bike isn't quite ready to ride. I was planning on bailing out today, but I wanted to do a little more porch planning before I rented any tools so I won't be working on the porch today. Now I just have to get my bike up to snuff before heading out. And someone scheduled a meeting at 3, so I can't leave when I wanted to. Balls!

The clock is certainly ticking on the porch, but I think I still have time. Worst case scenario is I have to take a day or two off of work to finish everything up. Not a big deal in my book. Let's just hope the weather stays nice!

Okay, that's it for today. I'll holler at you all later.

Over and out,
Old Coot