there were people...

...at my house when I got home from travels on Saturday night. Knowing they were coming for the weekend made me somewhat reluctant to go away, but the plans had been laid, so I left, knowing some of my favorite folks would be coming into town. Here, waiting when I did return.

This amusing guy loves to tinker, enjoys doing things that keep him busy. Reminds me for the world of my dad, who could find the most things to do, just a thousand little 'honey-do' odd jobs that are forever popping up and need attention. In the way there always seems to be, for a homemaker, a button that needs sewing on, or hem in need of repair, or a pocket with a hole that surreptitiously leaks all your change out. This guy can  find things like drains that need un-plugging, or door knobs that need tightening or squeaky hinges that need a squirt of WD40. Stuff that you did not even know needed attention

When I got back to the house on Saturday I discovered my wheelbarrow completely disassembled. In a multitude of pieces lying in the floor in the workshop/store room. He had done a little repair on the wheelbarrow back earlier in the year, and apparently decided it needed an overhaul. So he took it apart and painted all the rusty metal: forks, supports, wheel. Spraying all the moving parts with lubricant, and has put it back together. Nice and sparkly, good as new.

Funny wheelbarrow story: you cannot do the right thing when deciding what to buy. I had one for years that had wooden forks, those two long pieces that go under the bowl/barrow part, that you lift by the ends/handles to take the tool where you need for transporting a load. Left it outdoors, propped up against the house, thinking I was doing the right thing, where it was somewhat protected from the weather by a wide roof overhang. But over time the termites got into the ends of the wood, and eventually made the thing useless. I took it to my smart, handy, clever dad who rebuilt the ends of the wood, where the forks come together over the wheel, and I continued to use it for a number of years.

When it finally rusted out, and I was pondering what to replace it with, discovering lots of options, comparing types of bowls: plastic versus metal. Then looking at different types of forks: wood versus metal. And types of wheels: pneumatic versus solid rubber. And of course costs. Finally deciding to go with metal and a hard, heavy duty plastic bowl.

One of the first things I did was use a saw and cut into the plastic bowl, accidently of course, but still.... arrggghhh. When I laid something over the bowl to use it as a support base to have a steady surface to trim a piece wood.... and sliced into the upper edge of the wheelbarrow with the saber saw, in addition to chewing through the wood...