TGIF

It's Friday.... up the mountain I go.
I'm heading to do a little warranty work on the large custom home we built about a year ago.
A little boring background:
The owner says that he hears water dripping in the wall when he runs the shower upstairs. Water damage is the mother of all warranty issues so we head up there quickly to resolve this. Upon further investigation we find that the noise is not a leak but only occurs when hot water is run down a cold pipe, causing the pipe to expand and rub against the wood blocks it passes through. The noise stops after the pipe warms up, and the same thing happens when it cools and contracts.

So I crawl under the house through a maze of foundation walls which makes you zig zag back and forth until I reach the location of the pipe. I take with me a hammer, flashlight, and chisel. first I determine there is no water dripping from the pipe and then I proceed to chisel out the wood around the pipe so it won't rus so tightly against wood. As i am doing this the light is shinning directly up on the block I'm working on. There is limited space under the house so you pretty much have to lay flat on your back on flat on your belly to fit under the joist. I am widdling away and suddenly i hear a kind of snort and growl about 8 feet away. It took me a moment to register that there should not be any noise like that under the house and it must have come from something.... I hear it agian (only about 10 sec. apart) I franticly drop my hammer and grab the flashlight and shine it tward the noise... i see a grey head and eyes start to take a step tward me and I yell... it scurrys away.... it was just at the nearest passthrough so i barely got a glimpse of it.... It looked like a possum or a muskrat or i don't even know.... My first thoughts were not very pleasent. A racoon, a badger, anything like that could just tear me up under there.... I was confined so i couldn't even move quikly and i was completely spread out and there wasn't enough space for me to curl up to protect myself. Its dark, I can't move quikly, all I have now is my 5" long wood chisel and a light in my other hand.... So basicly I'm thinking I'm going to have to defend myself against a wild animal with nothing more than a sharp screwdriver. So i grew up around animals in the country and I think you never loose that sort of comrodery with nature... So I start making intimidating noises, whistling high pitch thinking it might have sensative ears.... i'm trying anything i can to give myself the upper hand as I am stretched out exposed in the dark, immobile with a badger a muskrat or a racoon.... All the while knowing they could just (parden the expression) fuck me up! --but that is verbatum of what was in my mind.
I happen to be working with my father that day and when he hears the commotion he comes over to the access under the house... I yell to him to stay there..... as I weave my way back around the maze of foundation walls I also began to think that if I had anyone still working for me... i wouldn't be the one down here with a badger.... but then i also realized Im not sure workmans comp would cover an attack by a badger as a work related injury. (can you picutre it... I'm trapped under a house with a badger --very much in his ring--- and these are the thoughts that pass through my head) So crawling on my belly making intimidating noised and whistling, hissing and shining the light everywhere i work my way out. When I get out I stand up and tell my Dad what happened, and he asks "where is my hammer?" at that point i realized i had dropped it when i first grabbed the light. I told him it was still under the house if he wanted to go get it, I could tell him exactly where it was but under no circumstances was I going back for it. So I have to buy him a new hammer... you do the math

New hammer = $25

Facial reconstructive surgery + wild animal vaccinations = (anyone know?)

If you want to get to a picture of what might have happened to me follow the link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La9eWGJNs4Q

At least its Friday and I'm taking the weekend off!

sleepless nights

So it has come to this.... a few urgings + an overall sense of non-contribution + sleeping in too late and staying up too late + introspection and just plain bordem = Jeff has a blog

Well as I find myself approaching 30 I tend to reflect on certain things...

Am I the only single person in redding pursuing a career in a seemingly dead end job?

Is writing on this thing from time to time going to make me feel like Doogie Howser? (people used to tell me I kinda looked like him..., my question is; Is he going bald? Does he look 38-according to a recent poll

Home is where you hang your hat..... really? 'cause recently I find myself hanging my hat on the step ladder I sleep next to in a closet of a jobsite, and let me tell you.... It don't feel like home

They say the rich get richer.... and I have to agree. Every time I reflect that we are in a slow economy and I should save more and spend less, I eat at home and try to work more, however due to the lack of work and the fact I'm at home all the time I get depressed and go buy a Reses Blizzrd and spend money

A little bit about work:

Work is work... and things are looking up. We now have a signed contract on a 2 month job... I will say times have changed... The job is adding on a mother in laws master suite onto a mobile home in happy valley... work is work

In a recent kitchen remodel, a consultant from our company designed a sewerline to drop from the second floor into one end of a kitchen island, and then wraped it in a decorative small cabinet... to save about $1,000 on a 100,000 overall cost. The intent of this job was to open up the kitchen and family room. In a related incident to save an additional $5000 he decided to leave an existing 4' wall floating off center in the middle of the room.... when questioned his reasoning was well this jobs not perfect... they are going to have a sewer line drop in the middle of the kitchen so an out of place wall should be no big deal..... at this i was amazed to me this is like loosing one of your toes in an accident an then cutting off the same toe on your other foot so they will match... according to the math.... I'm speechless

Memoirs coming soon

Jeff