11-06-08 23:56: Ardith Hinton to James Bradley, "Nature/Nurture...  1."

 AH> keep throwing clues at me, and eventually I'll get the
 AH> picture.  :-)

How about this picture. I attended a funeral for a fella five years older than
me. He died somewhere near the fourth, and the funeral was today. His mom lost
his elder brother about five years ago. Now the mom is left to focus on the
grand-kids. 

Life, eh?


 AH>  Are you doing this because it suits your style, because
 AH>  it's what you're accustomed to, or because you're still
 AH>  trying to please your grandfather??

 JB>  I'll let you know when I find out. 

 AH>           Okay.  I'm not always sure about these things myself....

Prudent questions - don't get me wrong - and they are ones I have tried to
answer to myself in some incarnation or another. The truth is, I really *don't*
know the answer. You do know how lit up I get over the topic of physical
exertion, so I doubt it's about to stop without protest.


 AH>           On the whole, you find it better for your mental
 AH> & physical health to keep active?  And maybe... just
 AH> maybe... the pain in your hip improves when you take on a
 AH> variety of construction projects & whatnot??  Makes sense
 AH> to me.  :-)

Well, the excursion always incites more pain and in more locations, so the
less-painful direction would be to do nothing. Jobs do pile up though, and I do
catch myself in "make work" situations too.

 
 AH>           I don't mind, if you don't!  I knew your father
 AH> had died but I wasn't sure who owns this property now or
 AH> whether you'd be expected to assume the role of landlord.

Worse... I've been getting the run-around from lending institutions to purchase
the property for almost the whole year. Yes, my timing sux, almost as much as
my income.

 AH> So I take it you constructed one fence for yourself, then
 AH> another as a favour to your Mom?  Seems to me the latter is
 AH> a business expense....  ;-)

We've agreed to call it "equity", and with the other improvements with my
material or manpower I've put into it, we hope to settle it within the purchase
price. Let's just say, it's been interesting.


 AH>           Yes, Dallas & I found it very satisfying when my mother
 AH> remarked that we had done a better job of refinishing a floor than
 AH> the professionals had done in her case.  I doubt most
 AH> people would be willing to pay for the hours it took to
 AH> remove every bit of grit, but IMHO we're justifiably proud
 AH> of our work.  :-)

I'll wager, you were proud - in the humblest meaning of the word - of your work
*before* she even saw it. 

 AH>           Heh.  When I was younger & people told me
 AH> something couldn't be done, I'd just go ahead & do it.  I
 AH> haven't changed much in that regard... [chuckle].

Specifically, dad installed a "cultured marble" sink in his
bathroom, and after
twenty years, its "culture" wasn't admirable. He tiled a
back-splash around it,
that followed the sinks built in back-splash. Nobody would cut out the old
"marble" sink, and drop in a new one, leaving the counter in
place. "It'll
crack the counter within months, if not while we cut. Here's our price for a
new vanity. You will have to remove the tiles yourself."

I drilled around twenty holes to multiply the points that can fail, and
finished it off with a file to send the points of failure figure through the
roof. That also distributes the stress through each cut, including the cuts
from the file.

  Give yourself another gold star....  :-))

It wouldn't have stuck, for all the dust!  I sure could have used the gas
masks I purchased later. Ah well... I'll have 'em for next time.


 AH>           I can relate.  As soon as I begin to think things are
 AH> settling nicely into a comfortable routine, I seem to attract the
 AH> attention of the gremlins who enjoy stirring up another
 AH> crisis.  That's why people knock on wood... the sound
 AH> allegedly frightens them.  If there's no wood nearby I
 AH> touch my forehead.  :-))

My forehead's too dense to sound like wood. 0-8*



... He does the work of 3 Men...Moe, Larry & Curly
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