My booster shot kicked my ass. My first two vaccinations were both Pfizer and i hardly noticed them, but this Moderna booster was a doozy. I was thrown when the nurse asked which shot i wanted as i didn’t think we had a choice. I shrugged and said Pfizer. We had a little chat about it and she said that everyone is offered a choice now, but Moderna is recommended. Sure, i’ll have Moderna then. I want as much immunity as i can get and i trust the science. Bad idea. I was fine during the day and worked a full day, had dinner with Sarah and we watched a bit of TV. I started to fade a bit earlier than usual but no big deal. I took a painkiller and went to bed at pretty much the usual time. A few hours later i woke up shivering. Not just a little shiver where you pull the covers up and curl up and get warm again. I was way past that. I actually had the covers right over my head and had both quilts on. My teeth were chattering and i was shivering with my entire body. Sarah and i haven’t slept in the same bed in years because of my snoring and insomnia but i was scared i was going to wake her up in the next room with my chattering teeth. I don’t know how long it took for me to steel myself to get up and get another pill but eventually i did. I was shaking the entire time and it was one of the toughest things i have ever done.
I must have still been feverish on Saturday because i decided to tackle a little side job. One of the recommendations from the energy auditor was that we add more insulation to the half walls in our attic. When we moved in they had a thin layer of paper backed insulation from god knows when so i added 2×2’s and put in some modern fibreglass insulation. The auditor recommended more. Since i have a ton of spare lumber right now, and a bunch of insulation that has come out of the basement i figured i would take the opportunity to bang up a second wall and more insulation. This will give us 8″ of insulation up there.
I started by rigging up some old plant lights of Sarah’s by screwing them into the rafters and connecting them to a powerbar by the entrance. I also used some left over plywood shelving as decking so i could move across the rafters easier. I was going to build the wall sections downstairs but realized that the geometry won’t work to get them through the attic door. I ended up doing my cutting and marking downstairs then loading it all and assembling in the attic. This was ridiculous but i figured it out in the end.
Because of the cramped space and sloping ceiling i started by laying the sill piece roughly in position along the existing half wall. I then laid the top piece down and setup the joists running from it perpendicularly. I nailed in each stud to the top piece then had to slide the top piece up the existing wall and make sure the bottom of the studs didn’t go through the bedroom ceiling. It was a hell of a job but eventually i got it into position and the bottom of the joists lined up with my marks on the sill. I am lousy at toenailing so i used deck screws to attach the joists to the sill, the sill to the floor joists, and the top to the rafters. I then unpacked a bag of insulation from the basement and cut the pieces to fit and used some more salvage trim to hold it in place.
I managed 8 feet and was a wreck. I learned a lot though so i expect it to go easier for the rest:
- Don’t do an 8 ft section. This is good because i don’t have many 8 ft pieces but it will also be lighter when i try to lift my wall section
- Use 24″ centres. This isn’t load bearing or structural in any way. Fewer studs make it lighter to slide into position.
- Don’t do it the day after a booster shot and a lousy nights sleep with the worst ever chills.
Sunday was Sarah’s day off and since the weather was fine and we had gotten our act together, we went out to Reifel to check out the winter birds. Always a good time and a nice break.
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