November 16, 2006
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Singin' the So Slow Blues
Definitely time to change our tune. The gypsy reel is great, but we haven't had that sort of activity on the jobsite in some time now.
Several factors have contributed to the change:
1. Bob's shift from employees to subcontractors. Between California's exorbitant workers' comp insurance and the delays he's endured on this project (which he's tried to keep as his main focus all this time), it became too expensive to keep a whole crew on payroll. Many of them he just laid off. Others he laid off and immediately re-hired as independent contractors. That worked very well at first (see gypsy post). But the problem with turning employees into subs is that they find other jobs if you don't keep them busy.They did. Despite the downturn in the housing market, the construction industry seems to be booming, if the unavailability of subs is any indication!
2. Windows. I don't know if this is Bob's fault or Milgard's or Murphy's, but "the best laid plans... oft go awry." And "awry" is a nice word for this one.
awry: c.1375, "crooked, askew," from a- (1) "on" + wry (q.v.).
wry (adj.): c.1523, "distorted, somewhat twisted," from obs. verb wry "to contort, to twist or turn," from O.E. wrigian "to turn, bend, move, go," from P.Gmc. *wrig- (cf. O.Fris. wrigia "to bend," M.L.G. wrich "turned, twisted"), from PIE *wreik- "to turn" (cf. Gk. rhoikos "crooked," Lith. raisas "paralysed"), from base *wer- "to turn, bend" (see versus). Of words, thoughts, etc., from 1599. The original sense is in awry.Yes, our original plans for manufacture and delivery and installation of our windows has been contorted, twisted, turned like a pretzel, to the point of paralysis for a while there. Bob had to start over with them and finally has a new delivery date for the last ones: seven weeks from now! (between Christmas and New Years? How likely is that deadline to be met?) Milgard has "wreik-ed" havoc on us with these delays. Two of the next three big steps can't begin until the windows are installed (stucco and drywall). The third next-big-step we're going ahead with though it will be out of order: the finished roof is going on ASAP.
Meanwhile, we're singin' the "Goin' So Slow" blues. Bob and I are personally putting time in onsite, and I may recruit some friends to help us, as we tackle all the little but important "pick-up carpentry" that was left undone by our carpentry subcontractors. Plus we'll be installing the standard windows one by one. I'm done installing the locksets for the two doors installed now, except for a couple of cosmetic details.
The song itself is actually called "So Low Blues", performed by Sandy Owen, a master of ragtime and stride piano (and blues too, IMO). You can find it on his album Boogie Woogie Rhythm and Blues. That's Paul Carman on tenor sax.
I think I'll break out my old harmonica and join them.
