No such thing

Another little mini-drama production from the cottage at Sundown Road.  Our characters are intent on finally following through with a plan to cut through the floor of the upper story of the house to allow warm air from the bedroom (the basement/ downstairs), which has the sole heater for the house, to flow directly and more efficiently up to the upper story.

Scene 1: This morning, around 8:30 a.m., finishing coffee while wearing down jackets and wool hats:

Noah:  Before you go to work, how about we quickly punch that hole through the floor for the warm air vent?

Mary:  Hmm, I was thinking of doing that this evening, maybe.  It's kind of a big project, isn't it?  I do need to get some SimBio stuff done today.

Noah:  No, it's just a simple little project.  It won't take long.

Mary:  Well, I guess.  But there's no such thing as a little project.

...........................................
Scene 2:  fast-forward montage of measuring, remeasuring, debating, fetching tools, and drilling a pilot hole to confirm that location #1 will not work for placing a heating vent.  characters encounter obstacles including poorly located access points, floor beams, stripped screws, and overall strange house design.
...........................................

Scene 3:  Mary perched on a windowsill, Noah crouched with one foot on bed, one on nightstand, finally having found suitable location, drilling through the subfloor and flooring commences in a rain of woodchips and sawdust.

...........................................

Scene 4:  11:00, Mary leaves for office, Noah commenced drilling, cutting, fitting vent cover to hole. One broken jigsaw blade.

...........................................

Scene 5:  Trip to Lowe's for larger vent cover to accommodate accidentally too-long cut on one side.  Turns out jigsaw was better for some cuts than the skillsaw.

...........................................

Scene 6:  4:00
Noah:  Well, it's all in and fitted.  Now I'll just take the rest of the day to build the box around the sides.

[editor note:  this is to make a chute straight up through the space between downstairs ceiling and upstairs floor, so warm air doesn't fill entire sub-floor space.  again, strange house design).


...........................................

I stand confirmed:  there is no such thing as a small project.  

We can laugh at it, mostly, but we have had way too many projects like this lately, with little setbacks adding up to big frustration and projects that go on and on.  I'll admit, though, I'm glad we didn't start this one in the evening after all; it would have been another very very late night.