3 Musketeers

I desperately needed to go grocery shopping today, so I stopped by the house on the way to Safeway to see what was going on. As I pulled into my neighbor Alison's driveway, she came out to say hello -- she works from home, like me. I asked her if she wanted to take a quick tour of our house, so she walked over with me. Her house was the twin of mine -- with a nearly identical floor plan -- so they can especially appreciate all the changes we're making.

As we walked through the house, I figured everyone must have gone to lunch. Paul was working on the main level of the house, and we encountered a plumber on the second floor, but that was it. Just as Alison was about to head home, Rob suddenly appeared out of nowhere, so I introduced them and we chatted briefly. After Alison left, Rob told me that I had just missed a great photo op -- he and John had been working on a scaffolding on the side of the house installing the insulated sheathing over the fire-resistant material. Neither of them is fond of heights so they were happy to be back on the ground.

They were ready for a break, and it was a beautiful day, so I talked with the guys for a bit while they enjoyed their lunch on the front stairs. This gave me the perfect opportunity to take a photo. That's Paul and Rob in the back, and John sitting on the cooler in front. These three are the core of our renovation crew and are there 5 days a week.
While we were outside, at least half a dozen different guys came out of the house -- none of whom I had seen during my tour with Alison. I commented on this "clown car" effect, and Rob explained that they had all been working down in the basement -- which is the one place we hadn't gone.

Rob's eye injury came up and the three of them started sharing stories about other work and tool-related injuries they had sustained or witnessed. Talk about heebie-jeebies! By the time that conversation wound down, I think all three of them were considering wearing full body armor to work. I was especially wigged out by the story of the guy who accidentally nailed his hand to the deck he was building. He was by himself with no cell phone and could not reach any tools with which to free himself, so he remained trapped there until one of the Steves found him. Yikes!

After that, I was ready to get the heck away from all those power tools (and the accident-prone men who wield them), so I took one last photo and headed to the store.