I knew it!!!!!

As I have mentioned before my dad is getting remarried. The wedding is going to take place in his backyard, and a couple of months ago he told me was going to build a deck for the ceremony. When he told me this I knew he would be calling at some point to help him on a weekend or two. He never did call, so I figured he was doing fine.

I was right. I just didn't think he would wait 2 weeks(!) before the wedding to call, and he is going to be out of town the weekend before. So, I cancel my plans for the weekend (not like I had anything big planned). When I get there he hasn't done much since I was there in April.

Day 1: I arrive at about 10:30AM and it is time to get to work. I help unroll more of the power cord, I move a piece of lumber. I can see why he needed an extra hand, I think to myself. Seemingly hearing my thoughts my dad says,"Don't worry I'll put you to work soon." And did he. I had to dig holes for the posts he was putting in. I dug 2 holes 20 inches each. The post hole digger was useless in the hard clay in this part of Texas. I used it a few times, and it looked like I got about a 1/2 a tablespoon of soil. Would did work pretty well was the garden claw. Still it really wore me out. On one hole there were large pieces of brick that had to be dug out. What they were doing there that deep I have no idea.

About midday I realized I didn't put any sunscreen on, uh-oh. We made one trip to Home Depot, and once we return my dad realized he forgot the most important item (a 4x4), and he never wrote it on his list. After lunch we go back and pick it. I also mixed concrete to fill the holes, which I had never done before. I had to leave at around 4:30. My neck burning up from the sun and I had two deep bruises on the palms of my hand from the garden claw.

Wearing sandals was also a bad idea.

When I got home I eventually, and decided to take a nap at around 8PM. I woke up at 10 grabbed some dinner and went back to bed at 11.

Playing Rock Band until 4:30AM the night before...another bad idea.

Day 2: First thing in the morning I go to the store and buy some sunscreen. More holes to dig today. Before the end of the day I will have dug 10 more holes. These only about 12 inches deep, but still 10. This time I had some gloves so there was less wear and tear on my hands. Another trip to Home Depot, and more supplies. We really slowed down around 2-3 o'clock the sun was beating down on us and there was no shade. Plus, my dad wasn't sure what he wanted to do next. Work finally devolved into what i thought it would. Me standing around watching my dad work. As he wasn't sure what he wanted to do next so couldn't give me any leads as to what to do. We picked up the pace around 4:30 when the sun started to going down and it cooled off. We quit finally at around 6:30.

Dad and his fiancee wanted to take me out to dinner, but I wanted the work I did for them to be its own reward. Furthermore, considering how tired I was at that point I just wanted to get home.