Gotta Get My Ass In Gear!

Winters here are very mild compared to where I grew up, and quite variable. A month ago I was huddled in the lair worried about whether my fuel supply would outlast the cold snap. Now it's late January and looking like spring, and I'm getting antsy about all the work I need to do to get ready for construction of La Casa Del Joel. Hell, if I'd played my cards right I could have had the shell up last year; if I don't get going on it now I'll never live it down.

Which brings me back to this ginormous stack of 2X12 lumber sitting under the barn's porch. It's been there so long it's become part of the scenery, and that's always a bad sign. When I got a big load of previously-owned 2X4s and 2X6s, I had them all de-nailed and stored within two weeks. These have been sitting here since early summer, and I need to get'em done; they're my concrete forms and my floor at least. There's a boatload of lumber here. But getting the nails out is a bitch - I don't know if the wood's really hard or if the previous builders just used cheap-ass nails, but I keep pulling the heads off. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't need these boards first, but then I guess we'll just call it incentive. Gotta get back in the swing of things, that's for sure.