I have used this photo before, but I don’t care. He was finishing the last bedroom floor. This was January 2022. He died in April. After this room he finished the floor in the laundry room. I am still amazed! But don’t you just love that smile?
Jim and I almost never hired anyone to do jobs around the house that we were able to accomplish by ourselves. We drywalled, painted, caulked and built. Most of the time, especially on Jim’s side of remodeling, he did a better, more thorough, job than anyone we could have hired. He resided our house in Lenexa with cement board siding and while doing so he installed a serious extra layer of insulation. That house is sealed up right!
In this house he took out walls and rebuilt closets, floored the whole basement and against my wishes drywalled some more! He did the heavy lifting and I did the finish work. He dug window wells for the egress windows he framed and installed in the lower level of our home.
I could literally go on and on. He built decks that could accommodate twice as much weight as would ever be required. He created stone patios, decorative walls, and sheds. There is a sturdy lean-to hidden amongst those gigantic yews that he built to house and protect my firewood.
I’m just telling you all of this so that you will understand just what a shock it is to my nervous system to hire strong and capable folks to do things for me. I have a tree guy. I have a plumber. I have an electrician. Oh! And if you need your garage door motor replaced I have the guy for you!
Right now, three swarthy men are in my front yard dealing with the acre of leaves that have so far fallen out of two gorgeous maples, as well as the oak leaves that blow over from across the street. Quite frankly right now they are having quite the row. They are searching for something in the remaining leaves. Oops!
Not the point! The point is that strong and capable men are clearing my lawn today. Not me. They are accomplishing in one hour with their young backs and gasoline powered machines what it would have taken me the rest of my natural life to finish and saving me loads of money on Tylenol.
Another group will arrive shortly (I hope) to finish the very lofty job of painting my eves, soffits, trim and fascia. They wrapped, taped and primed yesterday. Nice guys, thorough, smiling and not at all arguing with each other. I hope they finish today as presently I am able to exit my house from only one door and the view from most of my windows is oddly dim.
Also, yesterday a nice man came to flush my sprinkler system. Pipes froze last year even though I closed it down just as I had every other fall since we moved here!
The point is that I am, in my advanced age, discovering that I can no longer do it all myself. And that I am glad that I don’t have to. I always hated raking leaves!
Though I kind of miss the DIY of it all. I know the view from the top of my roof. I’ve been comfortable on high ladders and layers of scaffolding. I have been annoyed at painting yet another ceiling then found myself very satisfied at the result. I have stained and/or painted stairs. I have created invisibly patched drywall. I have caulked driveway seams and laid both stone and brick pathways.
I will continue to do some of those things. Jim was annoyingly right about the brick path in the back garden. I should have done a more professional job. A particular bend needs redoing. Easy enough and no ladders involved.
But I am content now to write a check or Venmo a payment. They get to work. I get to write. While I have been scribbling in my pink notebook, still in my robe with very little coffee remaining in my cup, my lawn has turned from a beautiful golden to a luscious green. The arguing guys have moved with their blowers and mowers to my neighbor’s property.
I am content.