Wednesday, November 17, 2010

11/17/2010 A Good Day, A Bad Day, All in One

Let the floor laying begin! Yep, today the floor started going down. The very first piece should have given Bob an indication of how this job was going to go. The edge had to be cut in order to fit where it needed to be. This is not going to be easy for Bob. Being the carpenter he is he’s used to a proper workbench and not having to work off of a patio table. But again, being the carpenter he is, he made it work.

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After measuring and cutting….

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….the first piece went down.

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It seems that nearly every piece has to be cut. That involves lots of kneeling and stretching and getting up and down and traveling up and down the three steps to the outside and back in…..this is brutal. Every cut is time consuming and physically tiring.

On top of it all its a beautiful day outside and Bob would rather much be riding his bike or perhaps even golfing. Instead, he spent his day working on this floor that he now HATES!

Measuring twice….

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….cutting once.

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Small hand tools are used…..

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….and bigger, sharper ones are used.

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WATCH THOSE FINGERS!

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By the end of the day, 2/3 of the floor was done. He would have more done but this is where the bad part of the day came in.

Today we lost a friend of ours here in the park. Dan. When we went cycle riding in the desert two years ago Bob rode with Dan.

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We partied with Dan and his wife Bonnie just a few nights ago at one of the park dances. Dan danced all night and in between sat and talked with Bob about projects around the park model. On Tuesday nights they play pool together and I spent several afternoons at the pool with them. Dan was one of the ones we planned on growing old with.

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Dan was only 58 years old. Fifty eight. He died suddenly and without warning. The whole of Quail Run is stunned. People just walked the streets of the park and stopped to talk to everyone and say the same thing over and over, “I can’t believe this happened.” And we can’t. It shouldn’t have. From the conversations I had with Dan at the pool recently I had the feeling that he was in a very happy place in his life. Dan, we’ll miss you buddy

On that note, I’m going to close this.

1 comment:

LaVon Baker said...

We are still stunned, as well. Our prayers are with all. You created a very nice tribute to Dan here.