Friday was an easy day and a fun day. Had to tear out 125 feet of Bruce wax wire brush on top of a 70-year-old, 1½ Qtr white oak rich with history. Now if that is not dumb? Cover a floor with more floor. We were able to remove the floor with no real pain and just full-trowl the floor to fill the nail holes. The homeowners like the look and they love the stain we picked to make it look "old."
Now this was the fun part ... I am in my late 40s and my workers Joey and Ethan are in their 20s, so I get the "you're old" thing all the time. But Friday we found a workout bench in the home we are working in. Big E, as we call him, is 6 foot 5 inches tall and 285 lbs. Joey is 6 foot 1 inch and 198 lbs-to say it in nice terms, they are big boys!
The max weight with the bar is 300 lbs, and they said that they could lift this tall day long. With a little warm up Big E lifted it and did 7 reps like it was nothing. (His max is 405, about five times.) Joey lifted it and pressed it up one time like it was nothing … that is right, then it was my time to show them that the old man still had some kick. I started with 205 then worked my way to 275. What next? Yes! I did the 300 lbs! But I am not going to lie, it was with a little spotter help, but I did it. NOW WHO IS THE OLD DOG?
I sure was glad to see the homeowner only had 300 lbs, no way my body could have lifted any more. Just to lift 200 lbs made me feel good, but to hit the 300 lbs made me feel like a young man again. Will I try it again? No way!
Today we were just working at a good pace and making great progress on the floor. It was a good day with nothing to report other than we got the stain on and are ready to put a build coat on in the AM. It is good to laugh with the guys as you work your tail off. Big E is a good edger man now; the down side is that he is going back to school in a week. He does not have class on Friday's so I hope to work him when we can. Overall, just a fun day doing what we are blessed to do … sand and finish floors.
