The work has begun

The holidays are a great time of the year to take time off of "work." By "work" I mean the kind where people pay you to do things. I took time off of that stuff starting today but didn't get out of doing work.

We officially began the process of finishing our basement today. The first thing: rough plumbing. I don't know why, but for some reason contractors are under no obligation to think when they rough in a basement on a house they are building. There are pipes and things in the oddest places and configurations. Who has to deal with that? Me.

I rented a 65 lb. jackhammer today and spent about 2.5 hours creating this pile of rubble. This is from my basement floor so the plumber I'm hiring can come in and re-arrange the pipes, drains, and vents. I am glad to finally get this project started, but I was fairly tired this evening.

The jackhammer wasn't good on my wrist, either. When I was 14, and before hand-eye-foot coordination was a part of my nature (because I'm a model of coordination now...), I tripped on some uneven cement and broke my right wrist. I was in a cast for 4 weeks, so luckily it happened during the summer and not during basketball season.

Last Saturday I was unloading our trebuchet from the back of a large trailer. I had to lift up on the tongue of the trailer so the other guys could more easily slide the trebuchet off. Well, in that process, my grip changed and I dropped the trailer. Like an idiot, I tried to catch it and my right wrist took the full brunt of the weight. It hurt pretty bad and I iced it for hours after the incident. It didn't really swell up and I still had mobility, so I felt pretty good about things. It was still very tender to the touch, though.

After spending a few hours lugging a large jackhammer around, though, my wrist started hurting pretty bad. And the bruising came out in full force. I can't get a picture to give it justice, but the bruise is bigger in diameter than a softball. I hope bruising is all that's wrong with this fella. I ain't interested in any broken bones.

I'll be happy when this basement is finished.