Not According to Plan
I feel like all my photos of finished projects are taken in the late evening. It isn't because I feel it is the best time for photos, rather it is because we are usually finishing the project late Sunday evening. Does that happen to you? I mean the projects are getting done and most of the time you would not know the problems that occurred. For instance in the main image we ended up getting great looking broccoli even if it wasn’t every plant.
One recent example is trim. We did trim on 4 of our windows that we installed last year. We thought we had the process down; plastic for the garage floor, paint on hand, and the trim laid out ready for spraying. We then sprayed the first coat and it was splotchy. Turns out the nozzle wasn’t sized right for trim. So off to the big box store to try to find it. They had one that was close enough and we were able to finish painting, but of course now the drying meant installing later than planned.
Another example. I got the broccoli in the ground right on time and it was growing very well. But then rabbits figured out a way into the garden them and were systematically going down the rows. That meant I was working on an unexpected project to keep the little fiends out. What was interesting is that last year we had no issue even though the rabbits were running around the property.
Last example is that this last week western Washington state hit upper 90s for a couple of days and then finished off with a high of 104. For some areas of the country that is a Tuesday, but for the Northwest that is not normal. But we have a heat pump, so we were ready. Until we hit that 104 day and the heat pump was just pumping out hot air. Turns out heat pumps don’t like extended hot weather (seriously, isn’t that the point?). Regardless, that meant I was researching why my heat pump wasn’t working while sweating in 94 indoor temps. Turns out it was a $13 part, but even Amazon was going to take almost a week. In addition everybody else was calling HVAC people so there was nothing we could do. We did get the part and now I have 2 more on order.
Do I just complain a lot? Maybe, but I guess what I take out of this is that we are gaining skills as we do each project and are able to anticipate problems better. But there is always going to be the unexpected and when you are learning something new, there will be things you did not know about. My struggle is the back and forth about how much to plan and how much to just get started. Or a different way to say it, when is planning just procrastinating? How about you, how do you draw that line?