Tuesday, August 11, 2009

A New Covering For the House and Appreciation for Men In Our Lives

A friend and I were talking via email this morning about men. No, not maliciously. In fact we were appreciating the fact that men are "doers" in the sense that they like fixing, putting together, taking apart, inventing, etc. I'm highly appreciative of men. What sparked the topic was watching my 13-yr-old grandson this past weekend do the "man" thing of using an electric drill/screwdriver to take apart an old computer desk and help construct the new one. He was fully intent upon his task and wanted absolutely no help. "Help" is translated "Interference" by a man intent upon doing his job. So I backed off and went off to run the vacuum instead. No man would touch a vacuum unless under extreme duress. I'm hoping this grandson continues to learn and do.

My own man is a doer...he pays close attention to the lawn, the cars, the watering of the garden. And, yes, he also pays close attention to the garbage. We've been married a long time and in all those years I'll bet he's forgotten garbage night only once or twice. He also knows how to cook a pretty decent meal but he pretends ignorance in the kitchen. Sneaky guy, that man. (I say that very kindly...after all, he did save me a slice of that peach pie!)

Today's photo shows four young men who are currently atop our house. They are removing three layers of old shingles in prep for new ones. Fortunately for them the day is lovely, neither too hot nor too cold.

Our old shingles were getting a few curled up edges...well, a LOT of curled up edges. By the end of the week these four will have a new roof in place.

I'm glad it's them doing the job and not me. However, I do know how to apply shingles...I helped do that once on an old steep-roofed house...in a past life. I did that in spite of the fact that I was three months pregnant. Oh, Foolish Woman! Climbing up the ladder to access the roof wasn't too bad, but it took a bit of nerve to step OFF the roof and onto the ladder to go down. Somehow that freaked me a bit and I moved slowly and carefully every time.

Then, to continue in my Foolish Woman phase, we went canoeing. In Canada. Canoeing out wasn't so bad. Canoeing back we were met with high winds and heavy waves. My poor baby survived both roof and canoe! For which I am extremely grateful. I bet she didn't know she was atop a roof and paddling across a wind-tossed lake before she was born. She does now. Or at least as soon as she reads this.
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6 comments:

Denise said...

I am grateful to my husband for sticking by me this past year and putting into practice "in sickness and in health". He did things I'd never imagine him doing for me.

Debby said...

I'm grateful to my husband for the 'in sickness and in health' stuff, but he's also a great auto mechanic, and a dandy hunter, can fix anything around the house. I find it interesting that after a lifetime of working hard at jobs not normally associated with women, my life has fallen into such a traditional, comfortable pattern.

Elle Bee said...

I'm so glad men do the "on top of the house" work! I'm afraid of heights. And sometimes electric drills for that matter. The division of labor works nicely for me!

Jana said...

wow you are an adventeress!!! I need some more doers around here...we are all thinkers...haha!

Mrs. Spit said...

I started demoing a dinning room, with my husband when I was 10 weeks pregnant. Crazy. . .

I adore how handy Mr. Spit is. (I'm not at all handy, so this is important.)

Laurie M. said...

We do all that crazy stuff in our youth. It's a wonder any of survived, let alone our children.

I'm the mechanically inclined one in our house. My Paul is a mental giant, but not a mechanical one. So those sorts of things tend to fall to me or a repairman. (When I was younger, I enjoyed the challenge of doing it myself. Not so much anymore.) But Paul has taken over the mowing, watering, garbage, and even the cat box. And that's all that really matters to me.