the view from the living room.
The house is starting to come together. There's some concrete, a bunch of wood, a ton of nails, a roof, a couple cans of Mexican mango juice, a tube of Clearasil and now, wiring for a surround sound system.
Joe and I spent most of yesterday afternoon out at the site running 310 feet of speaker wire. Actually, Joe wired the house while I walked around, climbed in the rafters, spoke to a neighbor, chased a cat, admired the burning pile of junk in the yard over the back fence and smashed 2x4s together.
I have to point out that Joe has skills. Like, mad skillz. We were drilling holes and running 18/2 wire all over the hizzy. He decided where we should put the speakers based on where the couch might be. Until then, I had no idea that there was a strategy for listening. But there is. And you're probably doing it wrong.
At one point, the staple gun broke. So Joe just cracked it open and fixed it. Just like that. I looked at the open staple gun and just threw up. I think that the biggest difference between us is that while Joe is great with tools, I am a tool.
Joe even figured out how to send the signal from the stereo and dvd player into the kitchen for simultaneous entertainment action in both rooms. That's right. Aimee can now be forced to watch whatever explosion/car chase/car chase explosion movie I'm watching in the living room while she's fixing dinner. I'm sure she's thrilled. I think she's too excited to speak. That's probably why she didn't say thank you. And didn't talk to me this morning at breakfast.
The best part was that we did the whole thing without a ladder. I did most of the walking through rafters and the duct work, but Joe developed an ingenious system for running the wires from the living room to the kitchen through the space above the rafters. We wrapped the wire around a piece of 2x4 and I was just going to toss it over as many rafters as I could, making my way to the kitchen eventually. Joe put two nails into the end of another 2x4 and said he would take care of it. I said he was stupid. Then he took care of it. I'm not sure I can adequately describe his system, except to say that you wouldn't believe it would work. And it was also quite effective for putting tiny holes all over my face after I called him stupid.
Sadly, the sun had set before I took any pictures. So I still don't have any pictures of the house itself. But we'll probably be out there next weekend, too, doing it all over again. Because there are two guys standing in the frame work right now, staring at our wiring and thinking, "How in the Sam Hill did these wires get in here? This must be a mistake. Let's tear 'em out."
I just hope they don't toss the wiring in the dumpster. I really don't want to have to pay for it twice.
Joe must be adopted.
This post is ranked way up there in 'the best of'. Two GREAT lines "I looked at the open staple gun and just threw up" and "Joe is great with tools, I am a tool." The metaphor of the first line was not lost on me...
Thanks!
Awesome. Totally awesome.
I built a simple coffee table this weekend, and it was the most strenuous thing I'd ever done in my life. And it doesn't even play explosion/car chase/car chase explosion movies!
A coffee table? Sweet. I'm hoping to use the lumber leftovers from the construction to build a bed frame.
there's just something about an el paso sunset.
nothing like it.
ours our pinker