Officer on deck

The storm was brewing first-thing Tuesday, and I don't just mean Ernesto.

I think Shawn was feeling the time pressure of the job he's doing here for his brother, Ref, as well as the demands of everything going on back home. He's got a huge contract bid due on Monday, and so many things he wants to finish here before then. . . .

One key objective is the deck -- though the pool guy didn't show up to move his test gauge and the gas guy didn't show up to run his line. The plumbing contractor did show up, and agreed to dig the trench he needs to clear the deck by hand, and instantly dispatched a guy to reroute a pipe that was blockading yet another sub, the HVAC guy.

Of course, Shawn's band -- I think of them as the Macon All-Stars -- were jammin' to meet the need.

Uncle Arnold (in the green shirt) was working to order, as ever: measuring, cutting, measuring. (He's going to be doing a lot of that in the next few days as the deck boards get cut.)

Kurt and our carpenter Michael (just below) were setting the sliding doors between the den and bedroom, and between the den and big room. And the rest were hopping to set supports, nail in braces and get the deck pitched just right, so rainwater would slide to the edge of the lot; and to secure all the windows that had been placed, but not fully screwed in.

Mid-morning, Shawn let go before Ernesto did. I'm not sure what set it off, but I heard it from the front porch and decided not to venture closer. He was delivering a vivid message to the group out back, and it had the rolling cadence and volume of a beautifully paced sermon, offered up from the thunderous depths of the soul and seemingly predicting the end of something.

Whatever the principle of general carpentry involved, when it was over, I thought, "Here endeth the lesson for the day."

The lesson ended, but the work continued until early afternoon: The skies were starting to unload rhythmically, and the wind had pitched up to the extent that they guys felt it prudent to board up. I swung up as the crew was leaving, and squeezed into the house through the laundry space just to check. The roof leaks from last week seemed to be plugged -- yes! -- and there were no new ones. Progress.