Chasing Ideals

Ode to the back breaking work and the scarcely clad chaps who join me on this current venture. In these last weeks I have developed muscle on top of muscle (considering my initial state of being scrawny sue it can be difficult to note the change from a distance of more than a metre though I assure all 'tis there and 'tis menacing), a Carribean tan that any berry plucking islander would blush at, a repetative and exceedingly brutal number of hand injuries (the latest while cutting bread with blunt knife and nearly hacking off my left index finger and previous beauty sustained by snapping a hand saw and having the blade glide elegantly under one of my finger nails), and according to Floyd in Arizona my natural sweater continues to bloom on chest and midsection (when the back begins to sprout I will have to consider extreme action). Hopefully you faithful few have taken a look at the new pictures and seen the incredible (what a crock) progression that we sorry sods have made. My and other's expectation of a few weeks minimal labor followed by stiff round of drinks in celebration of standing wood has been replaced with notions of continued hard labor come winter with children dancing merrily about snowman while we sooth frostbitten lips and bolloxes.

One seeing the pictures should be aware of all of the punters involved. Myself (hopefully), Wiesiek, and Jonathon should be recognizable (in my new state perhaps I not) but then there are the now infamous others. The young chap taking part in the digging of a large hole (which contrary to what my genius youngest sister suggested is not the foundation for the house but a sheep-dip/acidic pool of danger and death to kill bugs in the wood) early on in the pictures is a lad from the nearby village who was summoned to lend a forearm. The chap pictured later on with exceedingly large moustache that woodland creatures could nest in and leathery tan from years of sun use and abuse is Wiesek's older brother. Even nearer the end fellow without facial hair and wearing blue cover-alls is our replacement carpenter while "el jefe" is away. Chap pictured in the head gear of a Nepalese goat herder is Marcin, a friend of the fam who was staying here for the last week with his wife Ania. He didn't help much with the home itself but lended his wood carving talent to the construction of two marvelous plaques to adorn the main house and previous guest apartment and he also butchered all plant life within a half mile radius with Wiesiek's weed-wacker. Last but most certainly not least is "el jefe" himself, the man with the plan, Pan Gonska our carpenter extraordinaire. He is pictured with glasses and blue/grey shirt in many of the intimate shots. Please enjoy this picture: http://www.lovablequirks.org/photos/photo.pl/Moe's%20Builders%20Inc/img_6024.jpg as a symbol of our taskmaster's fervor. His name written above translated to English is Mister Little Goose. He has taken part in the building of all Stebnicki (Wiesiek's family name) structures and no less in this case. He raised us each and all from the ashes of not knowing what the hell to do and spending our days constructing sheep dip and pulling large nails from planks of wood while grunting to now becoming a lean mean carpentarial machine and I myself learning an extensive Polish carpenter's vocabulary. From nailing and grunting to now the construction of walls and the creation of finely cut and chisseled wood, our goose is at the helm. I of course have never made a joke of his name, would never even consider such a barbaric action. Codswallop, I have come to refer to him always as goose; spoke openly in English of course so few understand of our goose being cooked, plucked, whatever else; and gotten everyone, in Polish or English, refering to the slim wood pieces used to connect the larger beams as our Goose-feathers as their name in Polish is feather. So there is the run down of our fantastic crew of wood specialists and those others who are a long way from knowing the first thing about it.

That's enough for today. The work beckons and the summer is running out of steam so all energy is necessary toward rapid progression.