Great pleasures from little things

Found this series of photos on an old hard drive. Gives an idea of just how excited this man gets about next-to-nothing. And he's wearing his favorite outfit for projects around the house. A typical day in our home, but this time I got out the camera. It does not get better than this, my friends.

Here is the day that saw our home become blessed with the four-way chuck key which Scott bought for the drill press his friend picked up for him at an auction (thanks, pal). This chuck key not only adjusts that drill press, but "it fits every drill in the house! I love that girl [at the local hardware store who told him to get the four-way chuck key since he was not certain of what size chuck key he needed offhand], but not as much as you, Susan!"

Scott showing off this inexpensive purchase. He claims it cost $2, but he underestimates everything, so maybe he spent $8 on it.

Scott's earnest monologue about the wonders of the four-way chuck key. He's really serious.

Who needs an animated gif when they've got this guy?

Pleased as punch

Up in the air

Not too many years ago, Scott built this treehouse in the woods on his son's mother's lovely property. It's actually roomy and sturdy enough for a small party of maybe six people hanging out, drinking beer and playing music (of course!). He installed a sink and small water cooler so he could have "running" water. He put in a wood stove to compensate for the Vermont winters, and the stove has two cook surfaces so he can have plenty of macaroni and cheese with tunafish. It has a small deck so one can sit in a chair and admire the forest. One also can lay out on the roof to look at the treetops (we won't cry). I won't get into the gruesome details of the build, the maintenance, or how much of his time this particular project has taken. I don't love every detail, but it did get one of his futons out of our home and even I must admit Scott's treehouse is a masterpiece.

Laboring in small spaces

Having fun in the tiny outdoors

An important finishing touch to Scott's new man-cave was to clean out and repair the basement's window wells in the backyard. Thankfully, he is a rescue paramedic and so is trained in "small space rescue." Glad to say he did not need rescuing on this project.

Who knows when these window wells were last addressed or even cleaned out. Perhaps in the 1850s when the house was built. The flooding which buckled the brick walls ended many years ago, but it was still nasty. This project was incredibly filthy and took more days than anticipated, as all of Scott's projects do. It also took a lot of concrete, wire mesh, and all of the antique bricks that have been piled in the backyard for most of my life.

Smiling about the endless trails of dirt
soon to be tracked all over the house?
It's like living with PigPen from Peanuts!

One of my favorite moments in this project occurred as Scott was using a good hammer on the many masonry nails that now attach the wire mesh to the brick so that he could spread the concrete, more of which was always needed for this job so he was constantly going back to the hardware store for another 80-pound bag.

Me, shouting from the 3rd floor down to Scott in the backyard: How's it going down there? Would a hammer drill have helped?

Scott: I'm alright. Yeah, a hammer drill would have been perfect for this.

Me: Not like I didn't offer to get you one. You turned me down that time, don't forget.

Scott: I had really hoped to never again have a need for a hammerdrill. Oh, well. I'm doing it!

The man-cave will be covered in a future post. It's a scream.

Happiness is a warm nailgun

A lot of life around here is about the tools. Scott has many. I've even bought some of them for him, thus further feeding his madness.

Some of his favorites are power tools, of course, but others include just regular old tools.

Like the spokeshave and the contour tool. What are these things? Sadly, I do know what they are because I got an unbelievably animated explanation immediately after their purchase. Lines from his special monologue that day included:

Said with oodles of dramatic emphasis as he showed off the amazingness of a contour tool (it basically does one thing, but does it well): "Ever wonder what the molding on the door looks like? THERE IT IS !!!"

Or how about this line said with such great sincerity it might melt another woman's heart: "These items purchased today are going to be so important, and they are going to help us and make our lives better for years and years...."

Oh, I'm certain they will, honey. I've never seen them since, but they're proudly lying in his "shop" in the basement for sure.