High gear

"I am ready to get this into high gear now," Ref said bright and early Monday. "This is, what? The 17th? So we've got 10, 12 days. . . ."

Maybe that's why Ken had the nail gun in one hand and a hammer in the other -- but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Ref's target is to have the trades wrapped up by the end of the month, so he can get into the finish work, which is why he was cracking the whip. Roof man Dan should be on the case tomorrow. Ditto Kenny and George for the HVAC. Then Denny and Steve can finish the electrical, and the subfloors can go in like they should have in the first place, and the insulation can go up, and paneling, and drywall, and. . . .

It's a long list. But Ref had seen Ken working another job in town -- he's from up near Arcadia -- and spotted him on the road out of town even earlier Monday, hailed him, and persuaded him to sign on.

Of course I wondered if Ken knew what he'd gotten into, but it sure looked as if he'd used a saw and hammer before. Here he and Mr. B are finishing up the north wall with HardiPlank.

Up on the porch, Nathaniel was scraping ceiling planks, then sanding off the old layers of gummy exterior latex. Sure enough, one of the underlayers was sky blue -- the very color Ref and the painter had suggested for that ceiling and the soffits to trick bees and birds out of nesting there.

I looked at those paint patches -- listened to nail guns and compressors, saws and sanders -- and heard Ella over my shoulder:

Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see . . .