"A house is a hole in the ground you throw money into." My father-in-law likes to extend this expression to our boat, "A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into." Since houses and boats require maintenance and upkeep these sayings are certainly true. We're doing some of that maintenance on the house right now by putting on a steel roof. Well, Doug is putting it on; I'm just the ground pounder, which means I run after whatever he needs while he's on the roof. Any time we've done remodeling or general upkeep to our houses, Doug has done almost all of the work. His dad always helps when there's plumbing involved, and we bring in the experts when electricity enters the mix. About three years ago, we sided our house; I actually got to swing a hammer for that job. Mom and Dad and Ron came up for a couple of days to watch the progress. I literally mean, "watch" since they pulled up lawn chairs like they were watching a movie. This isn't typical, however, since up until that point they had all helped w/ whatever work we had going. Age and failing health had them watching from the sidelines that day, but Dad couldn't sit out completely as he did attach a couple pieces of siding. Looking back now, I can see that Mom wasn't feeling all that well even then since she was content to sit and watch while Doug and I climbed around on the scaffolding.
Mom sitting was always atypical. About 12 years ago when Doug and his dad were doing some work on our house near Des Moines, Mom was cleaning. The water had to be shut off for awhile since they were plumbing something, and Mom asked, "When will it be back on?". My father-in-law replied, "As soon as we're done." He loves to tell that story. Mom was always intense when it came to cleaning, and since Dad always did all the remodeling on their house, she was right there beside him as his ground pounder, sweeper-upper, and chief cook and baker. But she definitely knew what was going on and could converse like a pro when explaining what Dad was doing. She always impressed me w/ her knowledge of carpentry jargon, which probably had a lot to do w/ me wanting to be out w/ Dad helping him build things. She showed me that a woman can be knowledgeable about building and fixing, even if she doesn't actually do it. I don't know if she was ever jealous of me being outside holding boards for Dad rather than inside preparing meals w/ her. If she was, she never let on.
No comments:
Post a Comment