Pulling Forms

Yesterday, while we were in the car most of the day, the temperature was hot and dry. It wasn't thrilling to be outside, but it was crisp, breathable.

Too bad today wasn't the day to be in the car, since the thick, humid air arrived in force (despite no rain for weeks). The boys went out to help Phil pull forms this morning, and after a few hours they returned, dripping and red-faced. They played peaceably inside in the air conditioning all afternoon.

When I went to join Phil late in the afternoon, I pulled screws and shoveled, and he used a sledgehammer and wedge, trying to pull the 2"x12" formwork. It was rough going. We had to shovel away a foot of dirt, extract screws that were very over drilled (Phil said, "I told the neighbor over and over not to keep driving them so deep," but some were impossible to extract). It was sweaty, thankless work.

In linear feet, I think we got done with about a quarter of the inside of the building. When I asked Phil, he figured we were actually closer to half, since we've pulled most of the supports and have done most of the hardest extractions. He figures the outside forms will come away much more easily.

As tiring as the work was, I found it such a pleasure to have a task to do with Phil: I think it's been some months since I was able to actually assist in something he was working on.