November 2011 Archives

I don't know what message nature was trying to send me today, but after an 11h long day, I was driving home and nearly hit... a cow. Yes, a cow, in the middle of the road. After assessing the situation, I called the cops and spent another 30 minutes waiting for them, and chasing cows around.

Well, I didn't chase them, and they didn't chase me either, but I did shoo them around a bit, to keep them off the road. They didn't do anything but moo and eat grass.

After the cops arrived, I pointed out where the cows came from and where they went to - apart from the 5 or so that were still on the road - and wished them luck. We all cracked some jokes about the situation and then I headed off home.

It's been a long day, time to hit the bed in a couple of minutes :-)

Some, if not most, people will consider me strange, weird or even a freak, yet I'm rather certain most of my readers won't be surprised at all if I state that I enjoyed watching a documentary titled "Man over woord" that I just caught the first episode of on Canvas. It took me, as a viewer, upon a rather interesting trip explaining the origin of certain words, dialect and common spelling mistakes and how or why they are so difficult to prevent or spot.

I've always had an interest in language and as such I'm a huge fan of word games, playing with words and language, the various meanings of words, related to the context they're used in. I find it relaxing and challenging at the same time, which may appear to be a contradiction in itself.

Seriously : if you have any interest in the origin of the Dutch language, take a look next week.

Sure...the lion is king of the jungle but airdrop him to Antarctica...and he is just a penguin's bitch.

It's foggy outside and temperature is around 5° Celsius, even though it feels like 2°. However, I'm rather pleased, as it's November 13th and there has not yet been any frost. I hope we can get most - if not all - of the support beams in place today, so I still have a chance of finishing off the outer wall before winter really hits.

It may still be early for most people - especially on a Sunday - but I've already dried my clothes, washed my dishes and prepared to start building in about an hour. While I'm typing up this entry, my mind is trying to figure out how to tackle some of the issues we may come across when placing the support beams. I'm on a multitasking spree it seems, grin.

Note to the IRS : how about refunding me my excess taxes next week? I could use the money :)

I've just finished construction for the day, and I've made a calculation as to what material I'll need to finish the walls. Truth be said, it was kind of disheartening. A quick calculation tells me I'll need at least 50 more blocks to raise the inner and outer walls to the level of the roof, and I didn't dare count the blocks needed to finish the outer wall completely.

Apart from it all becoming rather tiresome, the financial impact is starting to become important as well. After all, this is all just structural work I'm doing, the functional elements and materials (plumbing, electrical, tiles and such) are not yet on site, nor ordered. Still I'm staying optimistic and hopeful that I'll be able to get the room weatherproof before the winter really hits (crosses fingers and hopes for a few more weeks of relatively few days of rain nor snow or frost).

Off to watch Paranormal Activity now, last night I decided to watch I, Robot instead.

Yesterday I went and ordered the support beams I mentioned in my previous post, so I'll be able to put those in place next weekend. Tomorrow - I think I'll abstain from doing any work today - I'll raise the walls a bit more so everything is more or less in place to get those beams installed next weekend.

Went out with S. last night, went to see Paranormal Activity 3, which was - if you ask me - not a freaky as PA 2 was, but it was still pretty good and entertaining. It gets my recommendation :) Since I haven't seen the original Paranormal Activity movie yet, I picked it up on Blu Ray, and I may decide to watch it later tonight. As we were having drinks after the movie, S. said that a new TV series titled Fringe was rather interesting as well, so I googled for some more info and it seems like fun indeed. Can't wait for it to show over here.

I've spent this first of November building more wall, and made progress, yes I did. It's time to call it a day though, as I ran out of glue and didn't feel like making another batch. My hands look like they can use a treatment with oils and all those creams and various things women seem to possess, but of course I have none of that. Guess I'll have to plan some shopping later this week, 'coz at the rate my skin is peeling and raw flesh is appearing on my fingers, I'll be called stumpy before the month is through, lol.

I've taken some measurements for the support beams and just because I know I'll forget the paper when I need it, I'm gonna list them here.

Door 1 (slide) : 200x25x15
Window : 250x25x24
Door 2 : 150x25x10
Door 3 (utility room) : 125x25x10