Making haste slowly

That's Ken and Nathaniel -- aka Dogman and Bowleg -- outside the big guest room dormer. Brantley and I were inside cutting the siding, window trim and frieze boards (don't ask) that they were nailing up.

Mr. B was in a mentoring mood. First I was marking the HardiPlank from the pattern -- actually working the pencil. The detail work with the electric scissors was far safer in his capable hands. But then he turned me loose with the miter saw a few times, and I initialed the back of the first board I cut, for the benefit of future architectural anthropologists.

The heat was getting to all of us by late afternoon, and Ref blew the whistle when we all started making little mistakes at once. "We'll finish this tomorrow," he said. "It's better to stop now and do it right when we're fresh."

I told him that the Romans had the right phrase for what we needed to do: Festina lente -- Make haste slowly.