August 17: A Sad Window Day

Phil headed to the hardware store after moving the cows. He needed a few boards and some new nails that he could shoot into the concrete.

Then he got to work on the second window. Even though the dimensions were supposed to be the same as the first, the variance in masonry meant that it wasn’t quite the same.

No matter: he cut the lumber. He put a new saw blade on: the old one had worn teeth. He couldn't believe the difference in ease.

Then he fitted the waterproofing, sealed the joints and, hours after beginning, went to put in the window.

And it didn’t quite fit. He figured that if he could have given it one whack of the hammer, it would have gone in. But you can’t whack a window, and so it stayed out. Not even an eighth of an inch, but that hair’s breadth too much was, sadly, too much.

I asked if he could just sand it down a bit. The table saw he used to cut down the boards is not very precise (reasonable for rough construction, but no good for fine furniture). If we knew what the smallest point was, he could plane it down, except that he isn't sure what that one point is.

He had shot the boards into the wall. He had waterproofed all around.

In despair, he said, “I’ll have to take out everything I did today and redo it.” That’s not quite true. Of the three sides with wood, he probably only has to remove one. But still … he was pretty bummed out.

***

His level of depressed resignation showed up when I noticed Belle had again escaped. Her charger no longer had batteries, so no wonder.

But rather than finding new batteries, we both just let her wander. We are so tired by Saturday night.

***

The boys have dug out a hole in the side of the earth mound to the south of the building.

It extends back enough that all four of them can fit at once.

It's tall enough on the inside that Jadon can sit up.

Phil checked it out, after they played in it for some days, and decided he wasn't comfortable with the safety of their creation. Bummer, but they had fun and got dirty, so it wasn't entirely a loss.


***

For me, I had a funny moment. Lacking a scale, I measure my waist at the largest point periodically. In ten days in mid-June, I went from 40” to 42”, which shocked me. But then, for two two months, I held steady. I would think that surely my waist had grown, and measure 41”.

The midwife on Wednesday suggested that maybe in mid-June, I had a 42” waist just in one spot, whereas now the 42” runs the whole of my belly.

The last few days, my belly has been feeling tight, stretching. So it was interesting to see that I had, indeed, grown again, from 41.5” to 43.5”. Oof.

I was at a friend's house this week and surprised myself twice. First, when I caught a glimpse of my shadow and was surprised by the belly on the shadow.

Then, going down some stairs, I caught a glimpse of belly instead of feet. That usually happens a few times each pregnancy, where I don't recognize my reflection. It's odd to be in a body that feels like a stranger.