Handrails and a Career Change

“It was raining hard in Livermore We needed one more handrail to make our night”

Have you ever asked yourself what you want to be when you grow up?

Almost sixteen years ago Elaine showed me a house in the foothills/mountains of Northern Colorado. To say this house was in disrepair would been an understatement.

The house was painted blue. Well, sort of. The part of the exterior of the house that actually had siding was painted blue. The roof needed to be replaced. SOME of the windows opened and closed, some did not. The deck (which was built on three sides of the house) had not been maintained. Elaine loved this house. Me? I liked it.

Elaine convinced me we could make the repairs. (I knew we could make the repairs, I was,after all, working in construction management at the time.) I wasn’t sure I wanted to make the repairs, but Elaine can be very convincing. We replaced the siding, windows and roof and moved in.

If you are new to reading Monner’s Mumblings, this house did not have a kitchen. Oh, it had sink, space for a refrigerator and a wood burning stove/oven. We eventually, built a kitchen. Did I mention it took six years? (Makes one wonder why I didn’t lose weight.)

That (construction language) deck. We painted it once, but to me it always looked like (construction language).

Living forty miles from the nearest city, finding contractors and repairmen to work on your house can be expensive. Fifteen years ago, that was no big deal. I could do most things by myself.

The deck has been really bothering me. I decided to redo the deck. With two teenagers (with no summer jobs) and their friends, this was going to be easy. Well, it would have been easy if the deck was on a lake in Nebraska!! Boy Twin has been in Nebraska with a friend twice (Two weeks each time.) Girl Twin is now in Nebraska for two weeks. (I know! I could have made them stay home and help, but I'm not that guy.)

I took a week off from my construction job to do some construction wok(at our house). Who does that? Elaine offered to help. Elaine and I discussed what we wanted the deck to look like. We started removing the handrails.

It didn’t take long to see the deck was taking shape. Elaine and I were working side by side.

And then Elaine said:

Elaine: This looks so nice. Me: Yes, I’m glad we are doing this. Elaine: I’m having so much fun! Me: Really? Elaine: I love working with you! Me: Really? Elaine: We should started a construction company! Me: Really?