A Different Art Form

I don't recall if I've ever talked about this on my blog before, but me and my husband used to build houses. Well, we still do, I just don't do the physical labor anymore.

One time a guy actually asked me with sarcasm dripping from his words, "What do you do? Hand him nails?" But, I've done it all. From the basement sill plates to the vent cap on the roof, I can build you a home myself. I learned how to layout walls, set trusses, rafter, shingle, set windows and doors ~ everything. The only area where I didn't keep up with the guys was in hefting material. I just couldn't carry as many studs or sheets of plywood as them and those 80 lb shingle bags are almost imossible to carry up a twelve foot ladder, but I did it once anyway to prove a point and win a bet.

I came out of retirement, so to speak, when we built our own house two years ago. I don't really miss the physical work, but being on a job site again reminded me of the things I did miss. The first warmth of spring days, how the radio sounds echoing off concrete walls, the smell of pine two by fours when the saw blade hits a knot, the whir of the compressor and the fa-thoo of the nail gun as it's power sinks a 3" nail into the board.

When we designed our house, I told my husband that I wanted a round window on the roof. Well, it's an elliptical shape really, but it's easier to say round window. His reply was, "If you want it, you build it".

So I did. All by myself. Here's a picture of me standing on top of it, having conquered the crazy angles.