the one with the ROOF!!!

I would just like to announce that I, Ashley Nicole Mauldin, climbed on the roof of a house on Friday, March 28 2008.  I was quite a milestone, in case you didn't know, because I am deathly afraid of tall things. Its not getting up there that freaks me out... its coming down. I nearly puked. 

We had about 9,000 volunteers today... but we somehow managed to keep them all busy, which i consider quite a feat. Mr. Tim Kennedy came out and got most of the plumbing done

(still a little bit left to do), and then some of the fellas from his church grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.... and they were delicious! And there was alot left over, so we will be having them for lunch out there again tomorrow. Yay, free food.

 

The whole house is ridiculous. I was looking back through some old pictures yesterday...we have come a very long ways. I know we are only like 1/2 way done, but 85% of that 1/2 has been done in less than a month. In other words.... we might actually finish the damn thing.

Little Fred fractured his leg... so that sucks. And then Dale... we have to find a way to keep him at home... he's scaring us! Bless his heart ( literally), i think he just hates to stay at home and being inactive but he's gonna just kill over one of these days, and I would rather it not be because he was out working on our house.

the one where we screw everything up

waaooohh.. its been a while, but Ive been away- so ya know.

So the house is moving along. Apparently there is some sort of emergency meeting tonight at 9:30... I'm gonna go ahead and say it has something to do with installing the windows. And my response is.. NO.  We said we were going to wait and have all these damn "presentations" on how to do stuff ( the correct way). We don't know how to install the windows, and we definitely shouldn't do it without the people who are in charge of it, and should, theoretically, they should know how to do it. I'm sure there are other smaller things around there that need to be done... even if it is picking up trash... it still needs to be done. It sucks- I know... I try to pick up a bag or 2 of it up everyday before I leave... its no fun.. but someone has to do it. We/ Ruston Glass went through a lot of trouble to get these windows and I'm thinking they are not going to give us another set of them when these get fucked up because we were trying to install them without knowing what we are doing. So-- if we could just wait and only do them once.... that would be nice, and unlike everything else we do... we just need to take our time. We have had too many screw ups at this point and we sure as hell don't have the money to keep screwing more stuff up.

the one with the big picture

Well.... it seems the  "angry alderman" matter has been somewhat resolved. I wont get into, but only because of the fact that this is up for public viewing. Lets just say Im glad he's not representing the district that I live in.

The house is still moving along.... suprising.

So in the mean time i have been thinking about how I actually see myself as an architect.... and I while I sort of knew this about myself-- its seems to have come into perspective. I am, as Mr. Brooks described it, as "big picture person."  I like schematics, I like to know what is going on, but not know whats really going on. I dont like details... construction details, model details, color details, any sort of details. In fact... I hate them. I try to like them and make myself learn to do them... but I cant. And- so i have come to decide that that is ok... because it takes all kinds of people- big picture & small picture. I dont know how this will fly in the real world, but thats me.

the one where the alderman needs to "disappear"...

You know.... Im pretty sure if you read the post from yesterday.. you would think that i was actually excited about this stupid house... and i was.... But im so sick of all the bullshit from ruston.  We had to "stop construction" today because we are being threatened with legal actions from the Alderman of our district-- seriously... what the hell! its like we cant get any momentum because there is always crap like this. 

- I would just like to say that i deleted this whole paragraph because i we against my entire argumnet for the paragraph.

Then we have this argument over who is going to go to the meeting that may may someday (hopefully tomorrow) take place. I, of course, got pissed off because I felt challenged for a spot to go. The argument was: well " blank" and "i" studied and did all the research on the codes, setbacks, and regulations for the neighborhood- fine.. that's perfectly valid. But then i said- well I am the contact for Habitat and I will be the one who has to discuss all this at the meeting next Tuesday night... when the person in question tried to tell me i had an attitude and that my reason for not going wasn't as important- fucking fine- but there are 2 other spot and IM SORRY, but i think feel that this is something I need to be at. Not for personal gratification, but because of the role I play in this gigantic mess we call a class. If the press gets involved.. I will probably be the person to set it up and then Im going to need to know what I am talking about- I mean the whole thing is important, but I think it is situations like this that you cant screw up and say the wrong thing.. or you all get screwed over. 

Maybe I over reacted, but I feel confident that i know fairly well how to handle situations.... and most importantly i know when to be  quiet- and not go off acting like I  know everything about everything- which is something that several people in this class have yet to learn. I hate that.

So for now--- we are back to studio.... which sucks... I need to work on my tan.

the one where the sips FINALLY made it

well... so i kind of think that taking weight lifting and studio on the same day may have been a mistake...i think I'm going to have to amputate my knee.

So, the SIPs panels are here.. and up. Since I was unfortunately out of  town during  most of the installation, I- for some reason- failed to be very excited about seeing them up. But after I got out there and really worked on them--- Ive started to feel a bit, a lot better about them. I am the driller-- I drill out the  chases in the splines. Its actually a pretty scary job- those drill are nuts, and you sure as hell better be hanging on to it when it binds up, because damn.... otherwise you're going to have a 1 1/2" paddle bit through your leg.

I think putting the panels on the roof is a joke. Its like the hardest thing thus far- its take about 8 guys, and its only a matter of time before one falls off on someone- its scary. I think i about have a heart attack each time we out one up--  I say that like we have done a bunch of them... we've put up 4 in 2 days, so we only have like.... 20 more to go. Those stupid things weigh about 500 pounds each, and i am a pretty strong girl, but you can only lift something that heavy-- which doesn't mean 14'... which is exactly how high they have to go. Luckily, we've been able to get a few extra guys out there to help....thanks fellas.

Apparently there has been a run in with the local alderman.... and all i have to say is that if he has a problem with it- he should have said something a LONG time ago.

Hopefully things will keep progressing...we cant afford any more delays.

And for a final note-- the folks from Habitat seem to be getting more interested in the house, which is good. I know that, that is something that I personally find very important to the project... especially with what all has been going on with the Temple house.  I hope we can keep their support and interest!

the one with the railroad ties

well i must say we had quite a scare earlier this week with the SIPs panels, but we worked through it and got it figured out.. it just took a long time. We have been working on the landscaping the past few days... here and there- nothing too strenuous, which is nice.

Apparently there is quite a debate over using railroad ties for landscaping. I find this irritating, because we have dont have alot of options at this point. Yes, we should be conscious of our actions and material choices for the house, but is it really our job to make everything as best and top notch as possible?I dont recall seeing many custom HFH houses with a beautiful, beautiful lawn, and view.   I think people in our class have a problem with that. Now everyone if freeking out because of the chemicals on the ties, thanks to a certain someone- which is why we have all these ridiculous arguments anyways. So- i did some research and yeah, there is definitely a downside to them, but they are not particularly harmful to plants- and unless you have long term skin exposure to them you'll be fine-- an itchy rash at best. Or- if you go light them on fire... not so good. So maybe we just say, "hey evans, ya'll may not want to lounge on or go around licking these ties.. they could make you sick" thats it. end of discussion. Apparently, most pressure treated wood is bad for you anyways- which in all likelihood, would be what we would be using for that landscape anyways. Oh and PS, if its such a big deal, those who have a problem with it should cough up the money for us to go buy some OTHER landscaping timbers-- they should only be like $10 each... and they would be smaller so we should be needing, lets see.... 20- 25? yeah so thats like $200- Im sure someone will get right on this.