Happy Friday to my buddy! :)
This past week I drove by a sign that just made me laugh.. laugh enough to distract me from stopping and being a weirdo on the side of the road taking such a picture.. cause I really wish I had taken the picture... so instead.. I found one that will have to suffice for now.
My life right now.. haha
A few weeks ago I was using my family heirloom - yes, I call it an heirloom :)
Way back in the day when my GP was still on this planet I asked if I could borrow a tool - in this case, scaffolding. :) I was building a large water feature for Alicia Keys - yes, her. :) I legit built this in her house when I was barely 25 :) ..
Stumbling through my old install pics is a nice throwback in time.. I should definitely make time in the future to share that story on another Grateful Friday... talk about faking it until you make it! hahah :) super cool project!
At any rate, I needed to borrow some scaffolding and was asking GP if it would be ok.
I still remember being out there in the Tucson desert, back in what he called his "south 40".. coming from the term the south 40 acres of land I don't care much about.. which was code for this is where I keep all my shit so no one can see it... for him it was practically an acre of land. I recall him standing there, these very metal structured tools in his hand.. much like the way one would pet a horse, or something they cared about.
He stands there leaning one into himself and says, "well, I think you're in a spot where you're going to use these more than I"... "go ahead and take enough to get the job done and keep them for yourself"
Man... it felt like I had just been knighted! ... legit status now! We couldn't have done the job without it, so that was awesome, but not until a couple 13 ish years later would I use them again. Instead they stayed on my west 40... which is code for the west side of my house, which is only about 40 square feet... cause I aint got shit for room... hahah
Now to this day, I use the scaffolding a couple times a year. As my handyman work load becomes more interesting and the scope of work changes, I'm using them more regularly. Every time I do use them, I feel closer to my GP.. Largely because this is something I know for a fact his very hands touched these... and here I am now, using the same sword he did to work on my craft.
Means a lot. :)
like a lot!
This is one of those kinds of jobs where having a buddy to help move these assholes around and construct them would be really helpful.. it's good old fashioned steel... heavy. I limit myself to no more than two in each carry... but after a long day, I'm bitching out moving one at a time.
The hard part about this kind of job is that there's a lot of risk of dropping them, or worse, having them fall down... so as odd as it sounds, it's simply less stressful to just install them myself and risk someone not paying attention.
So I install these from 1 - 2 sections tall pretty smooth.
Then there are times when there's more of a pucker factor and I'm installing up to four tiers high... again, rocking these on my own.
Here we're keeping the pool table where it is and removing the jenky chandelier the builder installed and are installing a pair of more awesome'er chandeliers :)
I didn't play sports really other than the normal street stuff. So I have no context to what it feels like to put on a performance... but when I am installing these by myself, it truly feels like I'm putting on a performance for a paying crowd - especially if there is a customer watching.
The effort is worth the stress because the final look is way worth that effort!... and it's a hell of a workout! small, slow, balanced moments... again, pucker factor. :)
but worth it :)
The reason why the first road sign picture above is so funny to me is that my dumb ass thought it would be good to do two of these scaffolding installations in one day. Morning being the installation of the 4 tier I'm showing here and then the one above where it's 2 tiers high.
It's easier to stack a multi scaffolding day than to part it out.. only if i have the gas in my tank to keep up because of what it requires of me to do that kind of work solo. On this day, the first time ever stacking two jobs in one day... (not happening again by the way haha) after I got home that night my shoulder had a nice cold pain inside. There wasn't a moment that day where I was like, oh shit.. yeah, I'm going to feel that tomorrow.. that didn't sound good... nope. Just when I was done, it kinda hurt.
These past few months have been exhausting, but a good ok kind, just demanding.. many times I'm like - I'm going to take today off... call out sick and just be home for one day... then I tell myself - nah... I'll take tomorrow off.
The cycle continues... it's always tomorrow..
So with a dull pain I decided to keep after it like I normally do. Not a macho, gonna push through. No, just slow and steady - like GP would say.
Well... the level of effort and the commitments I put on myself, the shoulder showed up and said nope! like having your brakes on your car be like "HEY BRO! NOW IS THE TIME TO CHANGE THEM!!"... so was my shoulder.
I got to the point where I couldn't sleep, couldn't even cut food for dinner... so LAME!.. all the while I feel so bad for the commitments of other's I've set forth. But the grownup inside tells me that if I simply ignore this I am going to put myself in a spot where I can't do anything for a lot longer.
After talking to the right people it turns out I tore my rotator cuff. awesome!... Thankfully it does not need surgery... dude it hurt bad.. the remedy to the issue was to take tomorrow off, and the next tomorrow, and, and. So begrudgingly I contacted 2 weeks worth of customers and told them what happened and they all were really nice about it.
I'm just super happy that I also have a desk job! hahahah!!! so I've been in catch up mode, office junky, taking care of all things..and my shoulder is coming around. it's nice. it's also really nice to be home in civilian clothes though... even though I'm pounding on the keyboard. haha :)
So, the road sign, shoulder work ahead, sidewalk closed... hahah! yup!
now, no shoulder work ahead, and the gud work is closed. :)
The universe has a weird way of reminding you and telling you what's up.
I'm happy I listened. :)
The work made for some pretty cool pictures though! hahah :)
And man!!! In an effort to keep a theme going, I found these AMAZING construction equipment pictures that were hella perfect for a weekly "shoulder work ahead" picture :)
I just couldn't decide on which was my favorite! hahah
Have a grateful weekend friend! :)
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