The rumors are true, one out of the two parts of the Butler Team has moved. Darn near a month ago Cameron and I packed our SoCal Townhouse (with the much appreciated help of his family) into a 16 ft. "Penske Dream Boat" and headed to Colorado. Many tanks of gas, sweat beads (through AZ we both refused to waste any gas on A/C), and hours past our ETA later...we had arrived.
How is that for symbolism?
Once in Fort Collins, we turned our attention towards stashing all of our worldly belongings in any nook and cranny that was not already occupied. This chore was greatly hindered by our storage unit, that I had reserved a couple weeks previous to the move, being yes 5'X10'...but in a layout suited better for a giraffe stall than furniture and boxes.
Cameron flew back to California to focus on work and I stayed here at Camp McMahan (shout out to their generosity and patience) with a mission to push the house project along in any way possible. And push I did.
Which brings us to "The Top Ten Signs You Have Turned Into A Construction Worker":
1. The people at Home Depot have passed the "Know You By Name" phase and now just ask, "What do you need this time?".
3. When standing from a seated position, it takes a full ten steps to get into the full upright position.
4. Even after you have showered, when you bend down to get something (again, not recommended) you see saw dust fall off of you…then mutter “ah, hell…where did that come from?”.
5. You start using the word “hell” a lot.
6. “Mutter” is the perfect word to explain your mode of communication.
7. You would like to get the dirt out from under your thumb nail but the pain involved (due to the numerous misfires with a Paul Bunyan size hammer) is just not worth the attempt at good hygiene. Wait, wait…no…that might be blood under the nail.
8. There are tan lines on your neck and face that can only be created by wearing a chainsaw helmet…with built in hear muffs and mesh face shield (please refer to the visual aid).
9. You can correctly identify the shoe and the apron…and you know that I am not talking about clothing here.
10. It is Tuesday afternoon at 5:00 and you find yourself drinking a beer with three middle age men (unless of course you are a middle age man in which case this is normal behavior and in no way means you are a construction worker).
In the last month, many family members (most of the female variety) have supplied me with countless warnings about safety (not that the men do not care...because they do...they just have different ways of showing it). So many warnings that I started convincing myself that massive bleeding or death was around every corner. Now, I do not want to come across as careless (as I realize that chainsaws, table saws, grinders, sanders, and the like are all dangerous pieces of equipment) so I thought I would provide the masses (aka, the handful of people who actually read this thing) with some evidence that I am, in fact, the Poster Child of Construction Safety:
As luck would have it, the one time I forgot to strap on the Ol' Safety Glasses, I got mud in my eye. Fantastic.
While most of my time has been spent with my dusty nose to the grindstone, I have had a few opportunities to stop and enjoy some of the sights one might experience up at our new house. I present to you...the food chain at work (a few rungs of the chain might be missing or out of order as not all creatures have been photographed):
The Butler Team will be at full strength this weekend after Cameron drives, yet again, across country...this time for good. Barring any unexpecteed setbacks, we should get our "CO" (Certificate of Occupancy) in about a week and a half.
Home, Sweet Home...almost!
