The talent behind Carter Oosterhouse

After 2 days of hard labor, well, not so hard, we nearly surrounded our house with new wall framing. My dad, Pat, kept us moving at a good pace while making us laugh with tales of his early days of construction as side-kick to his mentor Bob Ranski. Pat had anecdotes for every tough moment in our two days with him. He explained the practical points of proper positioning to Patricia and I all while executing exacting cuts with the circular saw from over his head and chewing gum. I now understand that it is my dad's knowledge he passed on to Carter Oosterhouse that made Carter both into a famous host of several HGTV home improvement shows but also a handsome male model. I am feeling prettier today and Patricia now cuts 2x4s with ease on her Chop Saw.

Windows and a large order of building materials arrive in our front yard this morning. Two very chatty, jolly men unloaded our future windows to our storage shed. They were looking forward to their long trip to the cooler shores at Ocean Beaches to drop off their other order today and maybe an ice cream. And they were right. By mid afternoon the sun crested our cedar trees and added to the dark tan on the back of my neck.

Patricia worked the saw with skill, cutting lumber for me to nail up to the house. Only a few feet of the south side of the house and the whole west side is left to frame. We hope to complete the remaining framing tomorrow, get our inspection and begin with the insulation and vapor barrier installation on Wednesday. This all means our windows and siding will go in later this week!




Pat executing Bab Ranski's favorite vertical cutting with the circular saw.
patty says: I'm glad Pat was here to give us a confident nod that cutting a hole through your house is okay. So far, so good! I told Joanna we live in a Jamaican house now - no windows and boards up in the evening.



Pat peeking through the hole in the guest room. It's drafty now! Anyone up for a tropical breeze at our place?



Three seconds after this photo Pat leaped from this window doing a reverse back flip to remove a nail above his head.



That's how big the window's in our bedroom will be! - 4'11"
Patty says: I can't wait to sneak out my bedroom window!!



Keeping up with Patricia is not as easy as dancing tango at our wedding.



She just told me to, "get back to work, chump."



The cut that made Carter famous.



My cut was no where near as successful. Note the final location of the saw at my feet.



See, Patricia works hard! It's only 4:59 pm and I'm falling into REM sleep.



And out cold by 5:01.......

patty says: it's beer-thirty!

Good night all,
s & p