Weekly Update: 8.17.24
Black to gold. White to silver. Ground to green. I repeated the DIY mantra as I clipped wires, wound hooks, and tightened terminals. My dad looked over my shoulder, supervising my first outlet installation. Minutes later, I sat in front of a completed outlet. I did it.
We have officially entered the final phase of the wiring project -- outlets. On Saturday, we made a trip to Springfield to pick up all of the outlets as well as a few more boxes from Menards. When we arrived at home, we realized one style of box wasn't actually going to work for our project, so we ordered a few more from Lowe's. Menards' prices tend to be better, so we always shop there when we go to Springfield. When we need to order something, we often choose Lowe's, since we get free shipping with their rewards card.
We finished running our Romex on Monday and Tuesday. When we were finished, our dad gave Levi, Grace, and I a lesson in wiring outlets. I was slightly overwhelmed and confused, but after actually doing it -- the process started to make sense. I also watched a few videos from The Excellent Laborer on YouTube. Levi introduced us to his channel, and those videos have been a God-send. After watching a few videos and working through a few outlets, I started to relax. Grace did as well. By the end of the week, the three of us were half done with the bunkhouse, working our way from room to room wiring outlets and light switches. In many places, we were even adding pigtails.
In the garden, Bonnie-Jean and Erin have been busy combating pests -- blister beetles, horn worms, squash bugs, and blossom end rot. Chloe and Eilley Mae have been helping when the weather and their school work allows. Overall, their efforts have been successful, as the meals of squash and snacks of refrigerator pickles testify.
The rest of the week has been uneventful. While we've had hotter days this week, we've also had more rain -- which has been a blessing. It's made things greener and less dusty. We've had a few storms, but nothing severe. We enjoyed listening to the rain on our metal roof while we worked on the bunkhouse. When the hot, sunny afternoons returned, we did pool maintenance or worked in the shade of the woods.
At the beginning of August, we did a rough estimate of when we would be ready for the electric to be hooked up in our house. We thought we would be ready by the first part of September. After this week, I feel like we are on schedule to be done on time -- or even early. As we are wiring our way around the house, I am counting down the days until we can start on our insulation, then turn our attention to finishing work. This bunkhouse has been such an adventure, and I'm so looking forward to the final stages. In the meantime, life has been good, and we are thankful.
