Best-laid plans edition. Still, progress, and more ahead tomorrow.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Today was proof positive that best-laid plans have nothing to do with anything, even when you have the funds to back it up.

We down one man on the crew today; Clarence had another commitment. Since he's heading up the plasterwork, that meant that Tony and Clarence mostly had to occupy themselves with other things. [Clarence is a master mason, but Tony is too, I think; unfortunately, his back can't handle a lot of the associated work with leading on the plastering itself. Carlos doesn't have the experience yet to run it.]

So they went upstairs and began prep work for the window and door casing. They began with the doors, which you can see above; the "standard sizes" are not actually so standard after all, and they wound up with extra space. So today the guys furred in the doorsill areas, installing a frame all the way around each opening. It's Tony's beautiful saw work.

For us, everything was a zoo; absolutely nothing went as planned, and we got diverted and detoured and derailed all the way along. I got one actual thin accomplished today, beyond the barest minimum of the usual stuff. Tomorrow promises more absurdity, but I'm still hoping for the best.

In the meantime, the guys are glad to be back at work (with the Structo-Lite and other materials they need for the week!); Clarence is supposed to be back tomorrow and plastering will recommence. It looks as though they're only going to need a second coat across the board, which saves us on both time and money, so they may be ready to turn their attention to the exterior plasterwork sooner than anticipated. And for now, thanks to so many of you, they can keep at it.

But as I said last night, even so, we need to keep pushing link shares. The water heater will be well over $1,000; the septic system, $7,000. both will need to be put in all too soon. So please continue to share the links:

• Wings's PayPal account, for donations to the house fund. [I said that last yesterday's donations totaled somewhere in the neighborhood of $3K, and taking that as a floor put us at $7,300 total raised on this stage's goal of $30K, with something under $23K left yet to raise. We've since had an additional $200 donated, so I'm going to guess at a flat $7,500, which leaves a balance of $22,500.] If that link doesn't work, it's tied to his e-mail address: wingsoftaos [at] newmex [dot] com. Also, that link? It's a direct one now, rather than via the "Donate" button, so it should work better.
• His Web site, for sales (always preferable, and the base upon which the whole project hinges anyway, along with paying our day-to-day living expenses) — and just by the way, he's got some really incredible new works up now.
• Our Amazon wishlist, which contains Lowe's cards that will allow us to purchase some materials more cheaply than here in town, and also allow us to divert the extra funds to labor costs.

I will have to be scarce most of the week; tomorrow's schedule is already wrecked, and so is Thursday's. We'll see what happens in between. In the meantime, all of you who have helped us so very much have our love and gratitude.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.