I hereby declare V-Day

Frank said it's coming early Friday, when the last few boards go up on a small section of dormer in the upstairs guest bath. Kurt said we might as well declare it today.

I figured the end of the month was a good point, so I made the official call: V-Day, the last of the v-groove boards going up.

The two worked up huge sweats to get it done Thursday -- here you can see Frank nailing in a plank at the head of the stairs, with Mr. B and Kurt running wood up to him.

Arnold, meanwhile, was perfecting the trims in the den. He was happy with them -- and I was delighted, both with the results and with all the thought he'd given to them.

I'm not sure you can appreciate it from the picture, but he found an elegant fancy-cut solution to the transition from the angle of the ceiling to the straight line at the top of the wall. I told him it was something I'd be happy to see every time I look up from my easy chair on the opposite wall in the next 20 years, and he seemed pleased to hear that.

At the end of the day, while the sun was lighting up the whole stairwell through our serendipitous light shaft, Frank said he really needed a hot shower and a cold Bud Lite. So I made the formal declaration: V-Day indeed, a really productive one. I said, "Say 'Amen,' somebody!"

And the chorus arose: "Amen" and "Amen."