The Honest Courtesan

One of the reasons we’ve been going so much more slowly this year is that the roof project requires more hands-on work from Grace, but she’s not physically able to exert herself much or even stand for very long.  Last year, she was able to plan, direct, and advise while Chekhov and I did most of the work, but steel isn’t wood and it takes more specialized skills to deal with it.  So I recently suggested to her that if she could teach me basic welding technique, I will be able to get up on the roof to weld the trusses together while she directs from the ground.  Now, normally welding takes a while to learn, but I don’t need to understand theory, how to set up the machine, or anything other than basic MIG technique; she can set everything up, and all I need to do is climb up with the stinger and do the actual spark-throwing.  So here’s the result of my first lesson; I’ll get a bit more practice after I get back from my conference next week, then once Grace thinks I’m ready I can start putting the framework together, taking pictures periodically so she can inspect my work to ensure I don’t screw up too badly.  And yeah, there will be pictures, though I’ll make sure they aren’t unflattering.