It's All Good, Truss Me

Yea! Saturday night Ed came home with my daughter, Ellen, my son-in-law Dan, his buddy Abraham, and my granddaughter, Elicia. Once they got into PDX, they realized Dan and Abraham's checked luggage, with all their tools, had been put on a later flight. Sooo.. Sunday morning at the crack of dawn, Ellen and I drove back to Portland to pick them up.



Dan and Abraham are both in the construction trade, so we wanted them to be here when the trusses arrive on Monday morning. We were hoping the trusses would be here bright and early to give them all day to work on them, since Abraham has to fly home Wednesday and we want to squeeze every ounce of work out of him we can get! Poor guy doesn't know what he's in for.

So like the Earp brothers (Wyatt, Morgan, and Virgil) they head out to the OK Corral to scope it out. (Doc Holliday shows up Monday)

The guys went topside to check out the catwalk, and after they stopped snickering into their sleeves, they told Ed they wanted to do a little reinforcing. Ed mumbled something about never expecting an ox on scaffolding, but he got his hammer anyway. If girls ribbed each other like guys do, somebody would be crying.














Here's something I didn't know. If you want your scaffolding to be strongest, you don't put the nails in straight, you angle them down. It makes sense when you think about it..I just never thought about it. And of course if you just took the nailbags and boots and weighed them, they're probably ..I dunno..30 lbs? Danny and Abraham are still growing boys, and I don't send them out with empty stomachs, so yeah, a few extra nails and braces in the scaffolding is probably a good idea. And you should see those guys! They scamper around on that scaffolding like squirrels in an oak tree.





Sunday evening, after a little liquid refreshment, we had dinner. Elicia was in charge of setting the table (everyone works!) BBQ roasted prime rib, baked potatoes topped with everything, fresh asparagus, and birthday cake and ice cream. Another bow to the catwalk.




Monday morning at 0630 I said to Ed.."Think we ought to get up in case the trusses get here early?"


"Nah, " he replies, "I'd be surprised if they get here before 0800."


"Well, I think I hear a truck coming up the road.."


"Probably a logging truck." he says.

About then we hear gravel crunching in the driveway, so we jump up and start throwing clothes on. Sure enough! The trusses have landed!

Once all the trusses were loaded and the crane truck left, the guys noticed that the two end bundles were loaded backward. Please note how I have graciously declined to mention WHO orchestrated that error. That's because it's not polite to ridicule and point fingers at free help!

About that time, our neighbor Dennis showed up to help too. We really have nice neighbors! So Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers all go topside to sort things out.

Abraham thought of a ropesling system to re-arrange the order of the three trusses on each end. After some sweating and swearing, they got into the groove.

This was the first day that there was little or no wind, which is a plus when you have all the trusses stacked but unsecured on the roof. It was also the warmest day we've had in a while which makes for hot hard work. Finally! It's like watching a butterfly emerge from a cocoon. After a very long day and a lot of hard labor, the day's work is done. The guys find a chair on the back deck and put their feet up. They have earned their leisure, that's for sure. Dinner was roast turkey, dressing, baked sweet potatoes, and green beans. After dinner we lit a small bonfire in the firepit and roasted marshmallows. A true thanksgiving as there ever was.