hello, is anybody home?
A rainbow formed in the sky on the rainy day that the duck left for good. Although always promising by default, it left me bereft of my new favorite pet. Left, gone, flew away, duck no more, not to me, anyway. I miss that duck, but I also am glad to see its primal instincts kicked in, enabling it to be the duck it always knew it was meant to be. I like to imagine the duck telling its new duck friends a story of what it is to be a wild duck raised by humans and a pitbull, and that's why it doesn't fit in with every other duck. He had to go do what ducks do (which is vacation in Florida in the winter). Maybe, just maybe, the duck will land on this pool one day next March or April, pretending like nothing ever changed. And I'll know I did a good job, raising an independent duck.
That happened the day after the windows were delivered. I stayed home from work that morning, and now am glad because the duck partook in the entire window delivery process, and we got to have a final building experience together. Even the delivery man took pity on the poor creature holding one deformed leg up. He also took one look at Lillu the tiny house and said "what the...", at which point I had to give him the full tour (it's a quick one). The list of people I need to invite to the open house party is growing. There's no end to the advice and enthusiasm I receive on this project, all of it very welcome and encouraged. At times it seems to be a community building device as much as a physical building project, and for that I am glad.
Once the windows showed up I felt frantic to ensure that the house was secure from the elements (after months of allowing it to be exposed), and that morning as we waited for the delivery, we wrapped one single sheet of Tyvek around the entire house. There's only one seam, and the actual wrapping process took a total of 15 minutes (and four people - thanks to my Dad's cousin, Connie for her help!), but getting to that point to be able to wrap it up took about 2 hours. I'm a better gift wrapper than a house wrapper, I realized.
So, now the house is a buttoned coat, although not quite a winter one. Finding the right finish materials is a much harder task than buying the framing materials. The decision is a permanently visible one, and I don't want to make a mistake. But even before I get there, exterior insulation is going to provide the down for the winter coat, and I'm working out the exterior trim for the windows. We only installed one window with the discovery that they were delivered without nailing flanges delayed the whole process. I thought we'd just install anyway, but it turned out to be not so simple, nor quite a perfect alignment, and I'd rather rely on building technology to even out certain human ineptitudes. It will be finished next weekend.
Re: Thanksgiving and a few days off, to mark this glorious holiday - I'll offer my deepest gratitude for this spirited project, and all those who have taken part. Without you, this would quite literally, not be possible. Cheers, and happy Thanksgiving to all!
Celebrating early: Who needs a Christmas tree when you can enter a house through one?