The Last Fixer-Upper

No, this is not our new house. . .





This is the "workshop", one of four outbuildings on our place; our compound, ranch, spread, or "bikey commune" (See Team Velveeta 17 April 2007). This building was chosen because of the combination of 7.5' ceilings, electric, concrete floor, and heat. The other buildings either have sloping ceilings that challenge my 6' clearance requirement, flammable wood floors (can't be too careful), or most importantly: no source of heat. Having spent the end of last winter in an unheated small garage with an extension cord sawing, sanding and staining an entire one-story dwelling's worth of trim, this is the height of luxury. And from that point, "luxury" becomes a flexible term. From the "luxurious" light pink walls, with delightful salmon/lavender window trim. To the short plank I nailed up which is holding up a section of acoustic tile,which had been sagging from a leak in the roof and rodent romping. And the small number of outlets that measure only 5 volts, instead of something closer to say, 110? Why is this "Luxury"? Because over the years my wife and I have moved into actual houses in similar condition, while we fixed them up. Because 100' away is a house in live-in condition, with covers on all the light switches, and trim around all the doors. Actual flooring, not painted plywood. Now maybe none of this has been updated in 30 years, and maybe my wife finds that era's colors of brown and orange less soothing, but we only have to work on it if we want to! I'm not saying we don't need a new roof in a year or two, or that the hot water heater doesn't bang away like a bowling ball in a cement mixer, but at this single point in time, nothing is broken! And a lot of the house is quite nice, and amazingly well insulated. No chance of replacing a section of flooring, and finding rot all the way through the floor joists. Not here. I have informally dubbed this compound "The Last Fixer-Upper". I now formally retire from living in a house while I'm working on it, always managing to get most of it fixed up just before moving to another house, or another state entirely. From dragging over friends and family to share in the fun, and opportunity to put more miles on their reciprocating saws and wallboard equipment. Why do they do it? Because they're good people. And, of course, it's so much nicer to help out when it's someone else's house. But my oft-repeated bit of Asian wisdom "when a man finishes his house, he dies" comes to mind. That could be a metaphor, but I'm not taking any chances (Of course, with respect to that proverb, Sisyphus must of been around for quite a while. You can't be too careful). In the meantime there are plans for expanding porches, re-building the woodshed, taking out carpet and putting a wood floor in the living room. But for now, I'll throw some more wood in the stove, watch the thermometer creep up to 60 F (while it's 25 outside) and saw, stand, and stain to my heart's content.