Seriously, Mexico?

Even when you love your job and the people you work with, sometimes you have one of those days. Some people call it a case of the Mondays and some people call it waking up on the wrong side of the bed. It was not a Monday and what I sleep on in my trailer can hardly be considered a bed, but the last time I was in the field I was just not my normal self for a day. I was a little bit irritable and short tempered. I did my best not to let it show on the outside, which sometimes makes it even harder on the inside. Sometimes when I'm feeling like this, I find it is best to make myself available to the people around me, but busy myself with something that requires a little bit of focus. On this particular day a door needed to be installed in the house we were building, and this fit the bill as the project I needed. I went to work getting my measurements down and my hinges set on the door. Then, I went to install the door in the frame and I had a slight issue:

(My vocabulary is not expansive enough to express my disappointment. Well, it is, but we keep it family friendly here.)

In the above picture, my friend Mary holds the heads to five screws in her hand. The problems with these heads is that they're no longer attached to their appropriate screws. As I was installing them, the heads came off, but left the screws buried in the door and frame. This meant I had to move the location of my hinges and reinstall them. Fortunately, additional screws came in the hardware packaging (this never, ever happens), so I was able to use the additional screws to get the door installed.

This was not a terrible ordeal, but enough to frustrate and irritate me considerably. It is not uncommon that the building materials we receive from our supplier leave a little something to be desired. This is never a big deal, often just a small inconvenience like this situation. Was the door was set properly and I was happy with it, I was very nearly over it. Then this happened:

(Can you tell what's wrong with this door?)

(Possibly the coolest, most artsy photo I have ever taken. Not sure how this happened.)

The problem with this door is there is no hole for the bolt to the door knob. Having already been frustrated with my materials earlier in the day, I sort of reached a breaking point when I saw that the door I had put up was not ready for a lock. I took a little time to myself, recovered and ultimately ended up using a drill and chisel in combination to make the hole. Not the prettiest solution, but it worked.

In the end, everything worked out alright, and I got a good laugh at how pathetically I used a chisel and drill to fashion a whole for the bolt. Just the same, I feel the need to say, "Seriously, Mexico?"

Adelante!

-Clint