Day Labor
Tomorrow I will start my day by driving over to Home Depot in San Marcos and hiring two day laborers to help me advance the ball on my Hobbit House project. Today, Handy Brad came over for an hour or so and we discussed what had to happen next. He thought we were going to carry the wall frames down and attach them to the railroad tie foundation. I knew that would probably not happen once he hefted the frames and figured out just how heavy they were. In addition, I told him to bring over his industrial-grade drill so that we could put a few more rebar stakes and lag bolts into the foundation for strength. That’s what we spent our morning doing to good purpose because now those foundations are very much ready for the wall frames. But Handy Brad and I are in full agreement that carrying those frames down to the site is not work for old retired guys like us and that it is better left to the strong-backed day laborers that wait outside Home Depot, hoping for a day’s work and a day’s wages.
In addition to that, yesterday I bought 30 16”x16” concrete pavers for the Hobbit House floor. My estimate is that at 25 pounds per block, I loaded and unloaded 750 pounds into my power cart. The capacity of that cart is….750 pounds. Once I decided that I needed two day laborers for the wall frames, I decided that I could fill out their day by having them lay the floor pavers. I assumed that the cart was too heavy to take down the hill, but I figured I would take the cart into the garden and then let the laborers hump the pavers downhill, since it is only about thirty or so yards. But then this afternoon I went to Home Depot and bought the necessary sand (160 pounds worth) to lay the pavers as well as a few other items I need to move to the next step in my construction. I figured that since I wasn’t planning to drive the cart downhill, I would simply overload it with the sand for the short ride into the garden. I actually asked Kim tongue-in-cheek whether I had overloaded the cart.
Almost on cue, as I put one last brick on the cart and tried to turn it around, it dumped itself and the half-ton of materials on my driveway. Luckily, it didn’t have too far to fall so only two pavers broke (and not so badly that they can’t be used), but I got the pleasure of having to stack 1,000 pounds of heavy building materials on the driveway one more time for the day, knowing that the day laborers would have something to do first thing in the morning. Given the very paced manner of my work and Handy Brad’s super-diligent way of doing everything, I am always surprised at how quickly healthy young day laborers can do what would take me all day to do. They are hard-working guys who want to make a good impression so that they will find more work in the future for their good efforts. I know that carrying down three wood forms and screwing them into the now-solid foundation would not take so very long, so having a half-ton of flooring materials on the driveway to carry down and lay is easy to rationalize as a good thing.
In addition to those two tasks, I was forced to purchase the ice plant succulents for my green-roof earlier than I had hoped. I have to pick up 50 17”x17” flats tomorrow afternoon. I figure I will have the day laborers take them down to the lower hillside where I will “store” them for the next few weeks until I can take delivery of the cedar log flared posts for the front porch of the Hobbit house. I expect those in a few weeks and that will allow me to use the time to finish cutting the curved beams for the roof before I can finish planking the roof and then have my newfound copper craftsman make the planting tray for the succulents on the roof. As you can tell, I’m in full project management mode, thinking about everything in terms of scheduling the work that needs to be finished to get this project to completion on time.
Between the wall frames up moment and the roofing moment, I have sheathing, and stucco prep and stuccoing to do. While everything will likely be done by me or Handy Brad until the roof is ready to go on, I will be ready for my third day laborer day for the roofing detail since neither Handy Brad nor I particularly like ladder work, even if it is only six feet high. I am very proud of how this project is going. I like that I’m doing so much of it myself and on my own horsepower. I also like that I know enough about what Handy Brad and I can and cannot do to efficiently schedule my day laborer days and limit it to what I expect will be four days of labor (one foundation day, one wall and floor day, one roof day and one rooftop succulent garden day). This Hobbit House will truly be a product of my daughter Carolyn’s suggestion, my imagination and organization, Handy Brad and Carpenter Dave’s advice, and the strong backs and muscle of my day laborers.
Several days ago I referred to my laborers as the Mexicans and Kim took exception to my use of that term for the day laborers. I understand why she feels I should not refer to them as Mexicans, because to many people that is like referring to them as a species unto themselves and apart from the us who are homeowners. But that is not how I feel about them. I make sure to get to know them all by name and to talk to them in as much Spanish as I can manage. In the case of many of them, my Spanish is the only thing that keeps us communicating. I pick them up and drop them off in my Tesla, just as I would any friend who needed a ride. I run out and buy us all lunch, the same lunch that we all eat, and I invite them to eat it with me on our patio in the shade of our palapa. We talk about things of mutual interest. Sometimes we talk about politics, but mostly about more everyday things. I especially like telling them that my half-brother is a soccer announcer in Mexico City for Televisa Azteca. When I go further to say that it is Andre Marin, a name they all recognize, I feel we have a bond and a connection by virtue of my own personal connections to Latin America. I usually don’t bother telling them that I lived in Costa Rica and Venezuela because I always think they will wonder why I don’t speak better Spanish than I do. But I enjoy interacting with them whether they are Mexicans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans or Americans (many of them have lived their whole lives here and are actually Dreamers by the current proper definition). I will listen to Kim and only refer to them as day laborers from now on, but to me, in my heart, and in the most sympathetic manner, they will always be Mexicans to me. And to me, that’s a good thing.