Everyone knows the definition of Sweat Equity (and if you don’t, click here). Looking back on the past 6 weeks, I have come up with a new term for what is going on at my house : Stress Equity. This past week has been wonderful because there is no forecast for rain or wind and the weather has been exceedingly calm. This great weather further contrasts the past 6 weeks’ misery. Looking at the past 6 weeks from a believer’s standpoint brings to mind yet another term : Mercy Equity with mercy being defined as “Not getting what I deserve”* . What fool would pull the roof off before the rainy season and still live in the house? God has been merciful to my family in these past months by a relatively dry and calm winter, and when it did rain / blow, damage was temporary and family and friends were quick to help. * I had originally thought to use the term ‘Grace Equity’ but from our pastor at Reality Carpinteria, I heard the following definitions : Grace = ‘Getting what I don’t deserve’ and Mercy = ‘Not getting what I do deserve’.

We put up the last of the exterior walls onto the second floor this weekend. On Friday, Greg came and laid out the last of the walls. Mark worked on putting up the shear walls. Saturday, Linda came with Mark and we all worked on shear paneling and strapping. We used up all the 2×6 studs that had been purchased, and all of the 1/2″ plywood is on the second floor. We must be getting close: we are using up the lumber. We still have a lot of wood left. Most of it is really long pieces (14′, 16′, 20′, 22′). I don’t know where we are going to use all these pieces. I took some panorama shots of the interior. I am still learning about how to do this as you can see by the jagged edges and the hole in the middle of one. In the south looking photo, Pop is hanging a small swing in the header of the slider door to his balcony. And in the north looking one, Max is swinging on a different swing Pop made for him.

Looking North (to the mountains) from the top of the stairs
(size = 4594 x 1526)

Looking South (to the beach) From The Guest Sleeping Room
(size = 2388 x 896)

Click on the above pictures to see the full sized image. They are very large. The link will open the picture into a new window. If you are using IE, you can see the full sized image. In the new window, move your mouse over the lower right hand corner of the picture and a button with 4 diagonal arrows will show up. Click on that button and the image will show regular size. You can then use the scroll bars to see the closer image.