It's been raining for the past month on Saturdays. That's put a damper...haa...on steady progress. But today I am getting into it, and I didn't want to quit even as the rain and thunder clouds started rolling in.
This is the process this weekend:
1. Cut wood "joist" that sits on metal "joist" to size, and temporarily clamp it into place.
2. Use yellow screwdriver with 1/4" bit to make hole in joist and to mark metal joist.
3. Take off clamps and move wood joist.
4. Use black screwdriver with 17/64" bit to make hole in metal joist.
5. Use Great Grandpa Hopp's tapper (?) to create threads in metal joist.
6. Adhere wood joist to metal joist and use Blue screwdriver to drive non-self-tapping screws in.
Yup, slow. But in my determination to finish, as the thunder grew louder and the rain went from a drizzle to something more steady, so also did my frustration at not being able to get the last hole drilled into the metal joist. 5 minutes of drilling turned into 10 minutes of drilling. One hole! One lousy hole! As that frustration grew, so also did my voice, until finally I got the attention of my dad, who had his own work to do. "This drill bit sucks! It's only making the hole wider, not deeper! I'm so ANNOYED!"
(Obviously I had a motive here. To get someone else to help. I learned that trick when I was 8, I think.)
And, things being what they are in life, when my dad picked up the black screwdriver, he looked at me and said Did you know it is set in reverse?
pause. take a deep breathe, and laugh. Yup, slow. I got almost halfway through the steel running the drill in reverse. Now that's what I call progress.
(photos below to show I'm not doing it all alone -I've had some amazing help from friends and family!)
Everything is easier with a smiling Michelle around to lighten the load...and a backwards baseball cap wearing dad, of course..
Norah, my sweet little niece, giving some best practice advice on how to use the table saw.
When you really need help, be thankful that the Naval Academy is nearby. Rhett, a fellow Iowan (I count myself in there) is my building buddy!