Hitting the Wall

July 10, 2010
Yesterday, after two months of long sub-arctic days of aggressive construction with only one partial day off for a kidney stone, I hit the proverbial wall. I was on the roof putting up plywood sheeting. This is a very steep 45˚ 12/12 pitch roof. Muscles one doesn’t realize they have are engaged. One cannot relax up there. The distance to the ground is almost twenty feet. I was tied off in a safety harness left by Kent just in case I slipped walking on the 1.5 inch cleats. That way in a worst case scenario I would only fall a few feet before the rope caught me. The whole roof was finished other than three full sheets and two half sheets of plywood when it happened. I simply was out of energy. I tried resting a few minutes on the steep pitch, which is impossible, so I made my way to the side dormer and squeezed through into the loft. I felt drained and jittery. I sat down a while and my energy did not return. So I pulled the plug on myself. Rain was expected that night and I had hoped to get the building “dry” and was disappointed, but realized to go back up was out of the question for me. I would be risking injury. Then my neighbor who is eighty (83!) said to get the building dry was extremely important at that point and wanted me to give him the harness. I resisted. Another neighbor said the spry old guy could definitely do the last few sheets. He went up like a monkey, tied off up top, and completed the nailing. The next morning I saw him splitting wood and he commented his legs felt like jello. After my earlier five hours on muscle alert at the same task I knew exactly what he meant. I ache in places I didn’t know I had. I feel like every muscle needs a vacation. Gratefully at the end of the day plastic is pulled over the sheeting and the building is somewhat dry except for a few spots where the plastic tore a little. The next high altitude circus act will be to complete the dormer joists and sheet them, then install underlay and the metal roof. I’m not looking forward to either task at the moment. In a few days I trust I will be feeling stronger.