What else did i do this weekend? Well, i'm so glad you asked, because i did not go to the home team football game, as i noted that i wouldn't a couple of days ago. And i'm glad, because i had more fun with what i did do.
On Saturday, i learned how to put siding on a house!
It's not nearly as hard as it looks, as long as you measure accurately.
Measure out a piece of siding:
 |
| Those boards of siding are long! |
Cut:
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| Measure twice, mark well, cut once. |
Measure up the wall in increments of 7", and nail it on:
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| Be careful on the ladder and don't drop the hammer! |
Also, i painted, and banged my finger really well with a hammer (you should see the lovely purple bruise! wait, no, you shouldn't!), and i had the best home made tortillas i've ever eaten at the build site, standing around with friends and ignoring the primer and other heaven-knows-what on our hands.
We only have one more weekend of work, not this coming up weekend, but the one after. By then the plumbing and electric and HVAC and drywall and inspections will be done, so we will just paint and hang cabinets and finish stuff out.
Then comes the dedication, and after all the paperwork is done the homeowner (who is the lady who taught me to hang the siding) can move in with her children, and we will have the "pounding," where you bring staple foods for the pantry and cleaning supplies and paper goods (so named because way back when you welcomed people into their new home by supplying things that were sold by the pound, like flour and sugar and beans and nails and soap and etc.).
There's so much to look forward to!
Today is:
Armed Forces Day -- Egypt
Child Health Day -- US
Earthquake Remembrance Day -- Turkmenistan
Face Your Fears Day -- Stephen Hughes(hityourstride.com) encourages you to use this as a day to try to do something you've always been afraid to do
Festival of the Other Five Toes -- Fairy Calendar
Garlic Lovers Day -- internet generated, unofficial, and delicious
Ivy Day -- Ireland (death anniversary of Irish nationalist leader and Home Rule advocate Charles Stewart Parnell)
Jackie Mayer Rehab Day -- Sandusky, OH, US (anniversary of renaming the local rehab hospital after Sandusky's "favorite daughter", Jackie Mayer, Miss America 1963 and stroke survivor, now advocating on behalf of stroke survivors)
Mad Hatter Day -- US (second crazy day in the year, to balance April Fool's Day, and based on the 10/6 on the Mad Hatter's hat in Tenniel's drawing; in English-speaking countries where the day preceeds the month in notation, it is celebrated on June 10)
National German-American Day -- US (anniversary of the disembarking of the first German immigrants to Pennsylvania in 1683)
German Pioneer Day -- Pennsylvania
National Noodle Day
National Physician's Assistant Day -- US (anniversary of the first graduating class of physician assistants from Duke University on this day in 1967
Nobel Conference 51 -- Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN, US (annual two-day science symposium)
St. Faith's Day (Patron of pilgrims, prisoners, soldiers)
St. Bruno's Day (Founder of the Carthusian Monks; Patron against demonic possession)
Tishreen Liberation War Day -- Syria
Anniversaries Today:
Elizabeth Taylor marries Larry Fortensky, 1991
American Library Association founded in 1876
Birthdays Today:
Jimmy Sisto, 1974
Elisabeth Shue, 1963
David Zucker, 1947
Britt Ekland, 1942
Thor Heyerdahl, 1912
Carole Lombard, 1908
Janet Gaynor, 1906
Helen Wills Moody, 1905
Florence Seibert, 1897
Le Corbusier, 1887
Karol Szymanowski, 1882
George Westinghouse, 1846
Jenny Lind, 1820
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"(TV), 2000
"The Gin Game"(Play), 1977
"I Hear a Symphony"(Supremes single release), 1965
"The Mousetrap"(Mystery play), 1952 (still being performed)
The Jazz Singer(Film, the first "talkie"), 1927
Today in History:
The Cimbri inflict the heaviest defeat on the Roman Republic army of Gnaeus Mallius Maximus in the Battle of Arausio, BC105
Founding of Germantown, Pennsylvania by 13 Mennonite families from Germany, 1683
The Americans and French begin the siege of Cornwallis at Yorktown, which becomes the last battle of the American Revolutionary War, 1781
Benjamin Hanks patents a self-winding clock, 1783
Louis XVI accedes to the demands of the women of Paris and returns to that city, 1789
Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead begins shortly after midnight, leads to 53 deaths and hundreds of injuries, 1854
The American Chess Association is organized and holds the first major US chess tournament, in NYC, 1857
The American Library Association is organized in Philadelphia, 1876
Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture, 1889
Nabisco Foods debuts its Cream of Wheat, 1893
Beatrix Van Rijk becomes the first licensed Dutch woman pilot, 1911
Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent talking movie, 1927
Egypt launches a coordinated attack against Israel to reclaim land lost in the Six Day War, 1973
Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom, 1976
Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House, 1979
President of Egypt, Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated, 1981
51 Pegasi is discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it, 1995
Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe, 2007
