Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Another project


 Tim was up at 6:30 this morning, and raring to go. "Get up! Time to get up!" Just as excited as a child on Christmas morning. 

I did get up, but I wasn't all wound up and raring to go like he was. We had a big pile of wood waiting for us in Grand Valley, fresh from Levi's saw mill. We were adding on a 24 by 12 lean-to on the side of the garage. Tim had cemented in the four support beams on Saturday but we needed to  complete the cover for it, building the framework and putting up 13 beams, one end of which attached the the garage, and the other end fit onto the support framework. 

Tim and I usually work well together, really, but the one thing that really bothers me is that he has a plan in his head, one that I can't see, so I have to wait to see what he's doing. Unfortunately, he is a thinker, and so he spends a lot of time second guessing himself and measuring twice, cutting once, etc. while I stand there trying to figure out what the vision is. 

By lunch time, we had six boards up. 

Totally not kidding. 

Six. 

So, I began getting impatient like I do. Despite my vow of patience, despite my vows to go weed something if I was getting irritated (for the record, I did get some weeding done), I found myself saying things like, "Tim. I don't understand why you just have to do things the hard way, every time." He snapped back, "Well, what's your plan, then?!"

Honestly. You never see the married people on television fixer-upper shows bickering. We've never once just quietly done a project without some irritated bickering and snapping. I guess it's safe to assume that DIY television won't come knocking on our door anytime soon. 

Tim did incorporate a couple of my ideas into cutting the beams and attaching the hangers.  I carried the finished beams over to the building and set them where they would eventually be mounted. Even he had to admit that things were going much faster. We had all the beams up by 2:30. I pushed the 4 by 8 sheets of plywood up a ladder to where Tim was waiting to grab the end and shift them into place on the roof. He hammered, while I hauled out another sheet and started up the ladder. By 4, we were installing the fascia.

We drove into town to get supper at a fast food place, (I was dirty and sweaty and not fit for anything else). and then got back to it, installing the drip edge, the rolled roofing,  and the flashing. By 6:30, we  were done. We gathered up the debris and we gathered up the tools and put everything away. 

We drove home in contented silence. We were both bone tired and aching but very proud that we'd gotten it done. All of it. For all the snapping and bickering, we really do work well together. 

Tim said, "That's what happens when you are retired. You work sunup to sundown."

"No, we don't," I said firmly. 

LATE EDIT (specifically for Han Dylan) We added this structure to the side of a 24 x 24 ft garage. It will hold 3 tractors backed in to 3 bays. 

34 comments:

  1. You guys are awesome to accomplish that in one day. Who doesn't bicker when they work together?

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  2. LOL! Glad you two survived that project. Nice that Tim incorporated a couple of your suggestions. Maybe ask him to do a rough sketch for a project. (Bet the cats didn't bother you.) Linda in Kansas

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    1. The cats live in town. This is the spot where we intend to build our next house and peacefully live out our days. The cats are welcome to come along, if they like.

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  3. Congrats on getting the project done and that is quite the task to complete in one day. Mrs. Shife and I work well together but there are some things that are better completed with one of us doing it solo.

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    1. It was a big job, but I wanted to finish the lion's share of it, instead of waking up this morning knowing that we have another hard day in front of us. That was Tim's original plan too.

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  4. Yes, much the same here and like you, we get it right in the end. It does sound like a pretty big day.

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    1. Don't you wonder at all the editing that must be involved in those DIY programs? You never hear one cross word.

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  5. I think you have just described marriage Debby but satisfaction reigned at the end of a job well done.

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    1. I suppose that's right. If only we could fast forward through the aggravations!

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  6. Bickering seems perfectly normal to me. Our marriage is still surviving after forty years of it!

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    1. Perhaps bickering is the secret to a long marriage.

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  7. How patient you are. wish I had someone to do projects with you are lucky xx

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    1. I wish I were more patient. One of my biggest aggravations with him is when we are handling a large piece of lumber and he tosses his end with out telling me he's going to do so. Yesterday, I was on one side of a board and he was on the other. Without warning, he gave his end a mighty jerk and just about knocked me out of the dumptruck. Things got kind of loud there for a minute.

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  8. That is why I prefer to do projects like that by myself. I have the vision which my wife can't see and so if I just do it, albeit much slower than with two, it saves on any bickering.

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    1. This was a two person job. He couldn't have done it without help.

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  9. I am not a Han Dylan (or handyman, thanks autocorrect), I think largely because I can’t picture in my head what isn’t there. Sounds like your guy can. I can’t even really picture what you are doing from your description. Mind you, I don’t try very hard because that is not the important point. When i see what handy guys or gals do, it always makes sense, but it seems that I have to actually see it.

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    1. Han Dylan made me laugh out loud, since I have a Dylan of my own...although he's pretty handy.

      Post amended with a picture.

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  10. Wow! Job well done! Good for you, Debby!

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  11. We have a similar project that we had hoped to do this year, but a new roof took priority. If nothing else takes priority next year, we hope to cover part of our driveway in front of our kitchen to make a covered patio. We are using a pop-up canopy there now. Something permanent would be nice, though.

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    1. New roofs DO take priority, that's for sure. Not much help to have a covered patio if you're getting rained on in the house!

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  12. At least you have a good sense of WHY the bickering sets in in those situations -- that Tim envisions something you can't see. I guess it's natural to quibble when you're working together on a complex project. Dave and I have never built anything together but we often disagree about how to deal with the garden, so I know what you mean.

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    1. After 25 years, i began to figure things out. That should make the next 25 years a bit easier!

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  13. We don't work well together either. I'm not a patient woman, my husband is a perfectionist who dithers. He not only dithers, he takes forever to get around to projects because they have to be perfect. Good enough is not in is wheelhouse.

    Glad there was no bloodshed and you got the work done:)

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    1. I think our projects go quicker with two minds tackling things. I can't say that Tim is a perfectionist, but he is a machinist. They're sticklers for measurements.

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  14. I am 99.99% certain there is a LOT of editing in all those reality shows.

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  15. Replies
    1. We're headed back out there today. I will remember it today.

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  16. Teamwork getting there in the end...though warning shouts could be improved!!
    An impressive and very useful structure

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    1. oh GZ! I read that as warning SHOTS! We have not reached that point yet!

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  17. A home reno/building/design show here called The Block seems to pick those couples that will bicker the most!

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