The final days

The final few days of project were bittersweet. While I think we are all ready and excited for the shed to be complete and finally fully functional, it is sad that project is coming to an end. The last few days were quite busy as we needed to finish before the end of project. We rushed to Lowe's a couple of times the last few days to pick up more wood for trim, more screws (I'm pretty sure we are way over 2,000 screws used at this point), and hinges for the door and windows. After this, we painted all the trim asparagus green (as seen in the picture below), and put the trim all around the windows after being cut. We also put the green trim on the back of the shed, which was actually very time consuming and difficult to work that high in the air for so long, and then finally put the windows on hinges and put them all in place. The shed is now totally complete (although in the picture the shed doesn't have a door), except for the fact the roof does not have shingles yet. The reason for this was that Wyatt's dad could not find the  exact shingles he wanted for the roof yet, so when he orders them and they come in over the summer, we are all going to go back one final time and finish the shed! It was a great project, and was really a great feeling when we finished everything we possibly could have (also relieving that no one every got seriously hurt!).

Putting the Trim on

After a day spend painting, it was time to put the trim onto the shed. This was a fun thing to do and the green finally began to give the shed some color.  With a black stain, the green from the trim made the shed look extremely interesting.  After realizing that some measurements were a bit off, we spent a little bit longer than we should re cutting the trim to fit the right amount of area.  This was the first time in the project that we used nails instead of screws.  Honestly, coming into this project I could not explain the difference between a nail and a screw.  While this is very sad, it is due to my lack of exposure to building.  One of the greatest parts about this project is the learning the terminology and what is what.  It is impossible to quantify the amount that I have learned from this project.  I now understand different types of wood to use, the different types of saws, and different kinds of nails screws and bolts.  This was ultimately what I wanted to get out of the project.  While the shed looks awesome, it was amazing to learn as much as I did throughout the project.

Trim

After getting the T-111 sidewalls up and the rafters, it was time to think about the touching up of the shed.  While this is not as exciting as spending a day putting up rafters, or building walls, it is something that is essential to building the shed.  After discussing with his parents, they decided on a kermit frog green for the paint color.  As Zach and I went to Lowes to buy 3 gallons of paint, it was very interesting how they created the distinct color that we wanted.  They did this through mixing different oils and mixing the paint thoroughly to get what they call an asparagus green. After getting back, we measured the amount of trim needed for each side and cut the wood before painting it.  The measurements were a bit tedious, but it made more sense to measure and cut before actually doing the panting.  Unlike the past where we had 2 people painting, we had everyone paint and it went a lot faster and was a more efficient process.  Our company combined with Summer Hits of the 1990's on Pandora made it a lot more fun to paint.  Music has been essential to the project.  Spending endless amount of time outside working, music makes the working a lot more enjoyable for the project.  We alternate pandora stations and have speakers that work great for outside.

Concluding My Project

As my project concludes, I guess I do finally need to answer my essential question. My essential questions was “ What are the similarities and differences when medically treating nonverbally communicating patients, such a young children and animals?”

            While I was at Pediatrics of Akron, I gave surveys that evaluated communication to all willing parents and an online survey to the willing physicians. Then while I was at the vets office, the veterinarians and vet techs took a survey that explained communication at their office as well that allowed for an evaluation of communication. These surveys allow for me to answer my essential question and evaluate the effectiveness of the communication in both offices that I spent my time in during my project.

            During my project I learned that at Pediatrics of Akron, their communication with patients, both verbal and nonverbal, is amazing. Everyone I met during my time there loved the doctors and when they found out what my question was for my project, they adored talking about their love for the practice and the doctors and their ability to communicate. On a more personal note, even I can say personally say that this practice communicates amazingly because my pediatrician is actually a part of the Pediatrics of Akron practice.

            While I was not allowed to physically ask the owners of the animals at the vet, I was able to observe and ask the vets about their communication while also hearing the owners’ opinions just by being near the waiting room, as well as being a pet owner at this specific clinic myself.

            While there were some issues with my project, I did really enjoy my project and am very glad to have had this experience.

Cookies on Cookies

        Today was my last day at Luna and being honest I am happy that project is over.  I'm very excited to graduate but by the end of my project I was kind of unsatisfied with what I decided to do.  I went into project thinking that Kasey and I would do a mix of baking and marketing and would also meet some cool new people along the way.  However, this was not the case.  We did not do any marketing at all and not all of the employees were very friendly.  I understand that it is frustrating to deal with the "new people" at your job.  I experienced it when I worked at Tommy's.  However, it is no excuse to be rude to new people because they are slow and still learning.  This kind of hurt my feelings.  I know it sounds corny but most of the employees made Kasey and I feel very hurt in the way that they acted around us and towards us.  It was not so much what they said/did to us but more of what they said behind our backs.  I didn't know these people very well so I should not have taken it so seriously.  But I also think that this is an even better reason that people should not be talking about us, because they barely knew us.
        On a more positive note today I got to do something completely new, pop popcorn for caramel corn.  Bridget bought this tiny machine that she thought would be a lot bigger to pop the popcorn.  So it took me all day to pop all the popcorn needed.  But I got it done and helped decorate some cookies along the way.  The picture below is of the sun cookies I decorated.

Friday

Thursday and Friday were quite difficult days. After building all the rafters on Wednesday, we put all the rafters up on top of the shed. This may seem pretty easy, but being on a ladder for three or four hours without much of a break is very, very terrifying and quite difficult. The four of us had to lift all the rafters, place them all 16 inches apart, make sure they were all level, cut a couple more pieces to fix any small mistakes we made, and then screw in the rafters, which are more than 8 feet of the ground. While tensions flared quite a bit (especially on Friday during the Lowe's trip), we eventually completed all our tasks. We also put screens in the window, began painting a couple things, and really just set ourselves up for the final week. Also, at Lowe's, we bought all the trim that we are going to paint green and then place around the windows, doors, on top of the shed (below the roof), as it just adds some contrast to the mostly dark shed. The picture below is a picture of all the rafters on the roof.

Slow Monday

            Today was a rather slow day at the Barberton Veterinary Hospital. There was only one doctor at the hospital because they have another office and so there were not many patients seen today. It was mostly routine exams and blood work for dogs. The office was really slow and there were very few patients probably because it was a Monday but it was still very interesting because there was a good balance between sick and well visits.

            One of the cutest dogs came in today. It was a Rottweiler that seemed pretty terrifying every time it barked but was actually so sweet. Apparently she only barks when she wants attention. She was the sweetest thing and was so excited to see everyone.

            A pre-vet student began shadowing Dr. Terihay, the only doctor that was at the office, today which made things a little different, busy, and awkward. I learned a lot more about veterinary medicine through eavesdropping on conversations between them but there were a lot of people in a small office with a lot of free time and so it was very different from the past couple of days at the vet. Thankfully the adorable animals and nice personalities of the people make up for the abnormal situation of today.