The ever-helpful Mr. Skellie

It's been a busy 4th of July weekend so far. The add-on to the shed is starting in earnest! Mr. Skellie came out to the garden with me to see if there were any summer squash and we hit pay dirt! Looks like there's more squash bread and squash casserole in my future...but that's okay, I really like both of those. So after Mr. Skellie helped me haul in the harvest and wash off the dirt, he struck a pose

then went back outside to see if he could give Bill a hand. Bill brought home stacks of wood yesterday and started laying out the foundation.

 Today he's running all the joists

and Mr. Skellie was just making sure they will hold the weight of the floor. He had to have his tunes with him too.

Bill looked at using joist hangers, but at almost $5 apiece, he remembered the old way before joist hangers. He had some scrap wood in his shop and cut it to size to make joist ledges.

Then he notched each joist as he installed it and saved himself $150! Mr. Skellie was very proud of him. He said he would keep an eye on the jigsaw for Bill and that I could go in and make more squash bread...

I think he's a little bit male chauvinist don't you? It's pretty warm out today, so I told him to be careful out in the sun. Since he doesn't sweat, he's susceptible to heat stroke and he didn't like having to sit in the sink in cold water last time. Once all the joists were in place, Mr. Skellie helped hold the tape measure while Bill measured diagonally to see if the whole thing was square.

It was perfect! Mr. Skellie gave a whoop and high fived Bill. I left them to it and went back into the kitchen...I don't really mind, I have the air conditioning while I watch them work through the window. Ahh, think it's time for another glass of sweet tea...
Oh, the recipe for squash casserole uses 6 summer squash, so if you have an abundance, it's a great recipe and tastes good too. Here's a link to it if you would like to try it. Southern Baked Yellow Squash  I used Panko crumbs instead of bread crumbs for a little more crunch.  (Oh, in case you're wondering, 2 summer squash equal 1 pound...and you can always throw in another small one if you have a lot of them) Hope you are all enjoying the weekend, have a great day!