Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Thoughts on future construction logistics


A very small amount of free time over the last six months has yielded no new progress on the House Sculpture. But that was to be expected, as the birth of my baby boy, Oscar, has shifted my focus away from the project. Soon however I hope to combine the great loves of my life and work on the house as my new little family lives within. There will likely be some challenges to overcome. For now my initial goal is to simply get my wife Sarah, Baby Oscar and three cats up to the great North woods of Maine. After some thought my best option in getting there, not only with the family but with tools and supplies, was to put a cap on the bed of my Dodge pickup so that the cats could ride in the back along with tools and household items from our last apartment in Wellfleet. We recently moved into a house in North Truro that we share with the owner, a friendly woman named Mary. She happened to have a truck canopy in her backyard slowing becoming enveloped in weeds and was happy to get rid of it. As luck would have it, the cap fit the bed of my truck and I wasted no time installing the relic and filling the bed with the next load of junk bound for Maine. I left some room for the cat carriers and some of Oscar's stuff including a little crib called a co-sleeper.
My last two trips to Monroe where very short and only meant for checking on the property and doing whatever maintenance needed doing. This will be the first trip since May when I will make further progress on the house. How much progress is a question that lurks in my mind. There is a lot to do! I am very quick and focused in the way that I work alone. Having a little clan to care for will likely slow me down a bit... this is a big step for me so I have to look at it all in the larger context of what this project means to me and how I wish it to develop as it integrates a family to fulfill its function. Working by myself is great; quick and efficient, but only for a short time. Without my wife and little boy around the work loses meaning. In past years I could only stay engrossed in my work for so long, usually a week, before I would become heavily laden with loneliness and thoughts of oblivion. Up till now I was preparing a shelter for my family which really did not quite exist until recently. Now a great milestone of my adult life has been crossed and an inevitable new perspective has presented itself. I have a clan and a great instinct to care for and protect it! Even though the house is not finished it can support us all in relative comfort. Having them there should help me stay focused and avoid downward spirals of loneliness. I know that I would miss my little Oscar terribly! I believe they will also be helpful in identifying points of discomfort and other functional aspects. This first trip should be interesting. There will be lots of family there. Our plan is to arrive early in November (6 or 7). My parents are flying in from Oregon and will meet up with us on the 8th and stay nearby in a motel for about 5 days. They are looking forward to meeting Oscar and will be a big help taking care of everybody as we get some work done!