A house divided. With the Doubter inside the Dwelling trying to recover from the not flu (apparently he does not have the flu only all the flu systems, not covid as they tested him, and will cure in 7-10 days), the remaining residents are working on various projects without bothering the Doubter’s space. Giving space to a sick patient when the patient is in the only room with air conditioner, the kitchen, the bathroom is very difficult.

Everybody did what they could do. The Planner and the Kid worked on installing the air conditioner condenser unit for the Dwelling. This kept them outside most of the time. I worked on first cutting trim board nail beds. On that very first day when it took four hours to lay down the intial row of shiplap, the baseboards were one of the reasons for the delay. With the width of the boards and the height of the ceiling there was a remaining gap too big to leave and too small to fill with a split shiplap. After much debate and many various sized sample trim pieces cut and placed, it was decided to leave the gap at the bottom, fill in needed gaps with spaces, and cover with three inch baseboard trim.

Wanting to throw away the remaining shiplap drops, the trim spacers were cut to size and installed. Dozens and dozens of spacers yet a trash can was filled with shiplap bits. As these are primed, they cannot be burned. Nor does anyone want to stand in front of the BBQ pit to burn these. It is summer and hot enough. Whenever the Doubter was felling well enough to handle the air compressor, I would install trim spacers. The spacers are nailed, twice, to the 2×4 framework and will offer a place to nail the trim baseboard at the bottom.

There is no way to state the next sentence that does not sound ugly but trust me when I am not being ugly. It is just a fact. The Doubter has returned home. After being cooped up for more than ten days in a house that is not is house, in a bed that is not his bed, and in a chair that is not his chair, the Doubter woke up the first Saturday of the month and stated he was well enough to drive. He is not well but he can make it home. He can take a nap along the way or two even, if needed. Bye. Thank you. Sorry you are sick. Oh good god ya’ll we made it. Before you can even think about it, I will jump the fun and tell you. Yes, we did ABSOLUTELY nothing for the remaining portion of the day. Nothing. The whole house and all of its occupants needed to decompress.

Sunday, on the other hand, was back to work. Walls to paint, walls to caulk, and wall outlet covers to install.

By the following Saturday inside air conditioner brackets had been installed and drain holes and been drilled into the wall. Drilling a hole from inside to middle and outside to middle and hoping against hopes the two holes meet correctly was nerve wracking. We measured and measured and then measured again.

Sunday mid day the Dwelling was functioning with its very first mini-split unit. So quiet, so efficient, so cold.

Two weeks later (the second day in August if being honest) the Kid Box was climate controlled, too. Installing the units were exactly the same expect the Kid Box had only the one inside hole drilled as the second hole to the outside world was drilled straight through the floor of the box. AC units installed and fully functioning keeping temperaments at bay and rooms cooled. Not a moment too soon.