Monday, 19 July 2004

Ahhhh...the land of dreams
What would I do if I came into a gazillion dollars? Obviously apart from the usual stuff, what about the rest of my time?

Well, if I wanted to completely check out of reality, I think I would have a French Shallop built. Then sail around the "Spanish Main" with a crew of well-meaning misfits and play pirate all day. Not actually DO anything. Just hang out and do whatever. And it would be cool 'cause I'd get to have a sword (hee, hee).

Another option would be to buy a nice, quiet little piece of the Caribbean. There'd be no tv, no phone, nothing. Just peace and quiet as I lay in a hammock with a cold fruity pina colada while being fanned by a tall, dark, and handsome non-English speaking "cabana boy". You know. The kind who would feed me peeled grapes and what-not.

As you can tell, a lot of thought has gone into both of these propositions.

Well, back to the land of dreams.

This weekend, I've decided it's about time to get off my lazy butt and finish the yard. My brother and I bought a place in December and, being winter, we weren't able to do anything to the yard until Spring. We discovered, after the snow melted, that the back steps weren't attached to the house. This became quite apparent to me as I stepped on the top step and slid down the side of the house.

Anyhow, we finally built a deck and managed to get one coat of stain on it before it started to rain for 3 weeks.

So now I have all of this yard work that I've made for myself, plus various other building projects. Ever notice how one project turns into twenty very quickly?

For instance, I have a cabinet that I built for all of my tools. Yeah, I have tools. When you're raised by your father, you learn about that kind of stuff.

Anyway, when I moved, I left the cabinet at my old place because there was nowhere to put it. A few weeks ago, my brother and I picked it up and brought it home. Instead of just setting it up, I decided that the best way to level it was take it apart. I had built it in 2 sections for easier moving.

We dug out an area in the grass and put down a cement sidewalk block so that it wouldn't be sitting on the bare ground. Of course, it has to be level. Then, I took the cabinet apart, washed it, put it back together and nailed a couple of skids on the bottom. Then, I sealed all of the joints. Of course, we had to re-adjust the hasp on the front so we could lock it.

After all of that, which took us about 3 hours, I decided that I wanted to put a roof on it. This thing is about 7 feet tall, 4 feet deep and 3 feet wide. So it's fairly large. Currently, it has a flat roof which means the rain sits on the top. I started building and ran out of nails. GREAT! JUST #$?/* GREAT!!!! So now I need nails. It's also been sitting in the sun for a couple of years, so it needs a new paint job. More paint to buy. Then, it started raining. Well, screw it. I was pooped anyway. We also built the deck that day.

Basically, a project that should have taken me 15 minutes is lasting a life time. It's like the time that I decided to refinish my parents old dining room table set. It took me 5 months. Next time, I'll have someone else do it.

Unfortunately, it was so hot out that all I did was cut the grass. I ended up spending the rest of the weekend sitting in front of the fan trying to stop from melting. So much for a productive weekend.

B

Posted by brookside10 at 4:01 AM MDT | Post Comment | Permalink
Updated: Monday, 19 July 2004 9:37 AM MDT

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