You mentioned it took an hour to figure out the chalk was gone. Honestly, that doesn't sound like a huge crisis. It's just some colored powder and a few paw prints. Animals get into things, it's what they do. Calling a raccoon a little bandit makes it seem more dramatic than it is. It's not like it ruined the slab, it just walked on it. Sometimes we make a big deal out of normal, silly animal behavior.

Totally agree with you. Rushing just sets you up for problems down the road. That extra minute to check things over is always worth it.

My brother used a dollar store tape measure on a deck project and the hook was so loose his cuts were off by a full inch. He spent more time fixing that than if he just used his old Stanley. Sometimes the cheap thing is fine for a one time use, but for actual work it just makes more problems.

Mean cliffhangers" lmao that's the perfect way to put it. You must have made so many people mad.

Oh man, that's a good one. I mean, I used to just jam my phone camera up there for a quick look, but a buddy told me to tape a little LED light to the handle. Total game changer for seeing those back corners.