collinsmom and I were out in the holler, putting up the metal shed from the kit. The instructions warned that once one finished the base and started assembling the actual shed, the whole job must be done in one swell foop -- the reason being, a half-finished metal shed will catch the wind (if any) and wreck itself. We worked on this sucker for a good eight hours. The rain spattered off and on, but mostly held off until we got the roof almost completed. We were exhausted when we were done. Luckily,
siege called up a couple of friends, who appeared just at dusk with some leftover pizza and some cold drinks. I remarked on our lunch break that we couldn't have done this thirty years ago. Working that close together on such a frustrating project would have led to either murder or divorce. But we are at least used to each other after all these years, and gripes are not felt personally. At one point, collinsmom said, "Go and ahead and cuss; it'll make you feel better." To which I replied that I was already over my quota for bad words. I don't have a picture of the finished shed yet, since the light was failing when we were wrapping things up. And it's rained steadily all day today, so I mostly napped this afternoon. But here is a picture of me wrestling with the stubbornness of matter, a demi-urge of home improvement.
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Some assembly required |
