Don’t you love the English language? How words can sound the same yet are spelled differently: bear/bare, deer/dear, hi/high? How words are spelled the same yet have different definitions: mean, foot, pet? Let me not even get started on is red/read or maybe read/read.

Over the last two weeks, the Planner welded the roofs together, boxes corners to the framework, the framework uprights and their transfer points to the boxes bottoms, windows and door frames, and the base layer of the floor support beam. In doing so, he took two adjoined boxes creating one joined and fully sealed Dwelling Box.

And weld might be an understatement.

How about boxes of welding rods were used to stich together miles and miles of seams. Okay, fine. Maybe not miles but hundreds and hundreds of feet. Roof is 40 foot with two sides taking more than one pass to complete. Uprights are 12 inches across with their transfer points 6″ per side. Windows are 42″x42″ and a 42″x24″. Open floor between TV nook and Pantry. Base layer support beam is 20′. Door is a standard 36×80.

Still don’t believe me. Let us add the miles and miles of welding together. For arguments sake, I will err of the side of less if for no other reason than to emphasis my point.

One roof 40′ flat bar, two sides, more than two passes in wider areas. Cautionary Count: 1080″

Four 12″ framework uprights and their two 6″ transfer points (both sides). Cautionary Count: 144″

Five windows 42″x42″ and one window 42″x24″. Cautionary Count: 965″

Open floor exposed between joining flat bar, one spot weld. Cautionary Count: 18″

Support beam 20′ base plate, two sides. Cautionary Count: 40″

Door is standard 36″X80″. Cautionary Count: 195″

Total welding count: 2432″. Approximately 200 feet of welding.

Then there were the the odd and ends welds. Like the hole in the end wall that needed welding. In fact the only area not welded, that was originally going to be fully welded, were the box sides, saving about 40′ of additional welding.

And in case you are wondering what the Kid and I did while the Planner welded? Well, it’s hard to say. The Kid did kid things like build forts over a hammock and dig in the dirt. Take pictures of the chickens trying to cool themselves from the hot summer heat. Go to school. Sweet, cool air conditioned school.

Me on the other hand, with exception to the roof work, I never left the Planner alone. I was there to pass welding rods and rehydration drinks, move chairs, ladders, and crawling boards, rearrange leads. I was there to offer moral support, make butt pads from a resale shop purchase of a man blue jeans size 42 sewn closed and stuffed with a towel, and be proposed to.

Yup. Proposed. As in marriage. Bet you didn’t know the Planner had it in him. Well he did. Literally. Sitting for hours under the box welding the support beam base the Planner kept getting pinched in the leg. Finally having rubbed a hole in the leg, the Planner discovered the source. My long lost wedding ring! It has been missing for over a year! And yes, he really did ask me to marry him all over again. Love him! LOVE. HIM.

Two weeks, ten to be exact of welding. The other two days were spent on removing more interior wall and creating 3/4″ OSB window covers. It is still hurricane season and we need to be ready at a moments notice. Two weeks of very hot, dry weather. Two weeks of very long, hard days. Two weeks of very monotonous, back breaking work. I think the Planner deserves a break.

Guess what? He’s gonna get one to because there is a disturbance in the Gulf. The adjoined boxes are now joined with windows covered up and the door plastic draped out the front. Bring on the rain!