Handy Cousins

Oh, my heck. We did make it to the end of school and have commenced enjoying the delight of summer…. a very, very windy summer, but summer break none-the-less.

The wind, often at 30 mph has taken a toll on the speed of our remodel, but as I sit here, we are moving forward and this is a very, very good thing. My Loving Spouse and I removed the cabinets along the wall that is to come down.

I do love demo! “Can I just whack something?”, is an often spoken sentence by me!

Yes, this did feel very good.

The wind, the wind, the wind has kept our crew a tad off kilter, but progress is being made which is exciting to us.

It is amazing to watch the ‘pros’ at work. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is how planned out and careful they are. They lack the the chainsaw welding mayhem, we (My Loving Spouse and I ) tend to dive in with.

As they often need to balance…

…both wind speed and the ability to stand upon little bits of wood. This father and son team work so well together, they are a treat to watch.

In the meantime, we talk to electricians and call every plumber in the book and then some. As fun as it is to watch professionals work, finding good workers is exhausting. (Note to young people, go into plumbing, you’ll never want for work!)

Thank God, literally for My Handy Cousin, who was calling. “Do you need help? What needs to be done? What are you doing at the end of June?” My Handy Cousin and His Handy Wife would be on their anniversary weekend and would be happy to come and help.

We had no well laid out plan, as everything depended upon the ‘wind’, but we always have jobs or projects to do, this year more than most.

We had hoped to use his knowledge and his roofing nailer to put the roof on, but ‘wind’…

Honestly, it is always a bit hard for us to accept help. We are grateful for it, but it is more in our nature to give rather than take. However, the accomplishments of a day and a half…were more than we could ever, ever do! My Loving Spouse said, “Your cousin is a bit like a Jack Russel terrier, you just mention something and he is on it!”

A porch light was installed, the laundry room sink was installed (for when we loose our kitchen sink), the lawn was mowed, seeded, a truck bed full of mulch added and fertilized.

Then the real fun began!

We knocked the wall down! My Handy Cousin is careful, methodical and has every tool in the book and then some. (Me, I just wanted to whack it down.) His way was safer and less messy, but I did get to push the big piece of wall down once he’d sawn and cut and muttered to himself. Yes, it was very rewarding and I was grinning from ear to ear.

We sat and had a cold beer and then a load of hay was delivered. We were all back on our feet unloading and stacking 75 bales of hay.

All of this weekend was a wonderful gift and fun to work together, and I can’t help but think what our mothers (sisters) would think of us now. The very best part? Sitting together in church on Sunday morning…and we are blessed.