I have been thinking a lot about spring and the projects constantly being added to the “Honey do” list on the refrigerator of our home. I am fortunate to have a place here in the area, along with our full-time home in Florida. Unfortunately, when you have two homes, there is more than one list of things needing to be done.  For an old man like me, who works at a much slower pace than in years past, this is a problem with no easy answer.

I don’t know about you, but I like to get things done. I cannot start a project and let it “fester” very long. Those guys who have multiple projects going and none of them done, I simply can’t do it.  Now, I can put off doing projects indefinitely, but once I start, it will get done.

Nothing is more satisfying when working on a project than going to that list and putting a line through it when it is completed. Sometimes, as I am working on one project, another comes up that I had not anticipated and I must get that done too. Doing the work is not satisfying, crossing it off the list is the payoff. Never one to miss an opportunity, that secondary project is added to the list, and then crossed off. Is that weird, maybe a little crazy? You bet.

Do you have a friend who is surprisingly not handy? I have a couple. My one friend Dave has no clue how to do anything. Brillant, but not handy. After he retired, he worked at a hardware store, quit after a few days, said he could not answer ANY questions people asked. Poor Dave new nothing about paint, screws, nails, hammers, drills, electrical or plumbing.

Another friend of mine, who has since passed, could extend a project longer than anyone I knew. He too was brilliant, a computer programmer and author, but simply worked like a sloth when it came to home projects. While he would be willing to tackle anything, he had never been taught how. As a result, he would ask ME for advice, a guy who on his best day might be rated a 4 out 10 on a handyman scale to help. Together we would take on the challenge.

One such project he needed help on was putting up a small wall in his basement to close off the laundry room from the rest of the basement. This would literally be a 6-foot 2X4 wall with drywall on both sides. For those who don’t know, a relatively simple project, even for a handy guy with a 4 rating on a 1-10 scale. His wife, who he affectionately called “Bird” would always ask when he would be done with a project, otherwise it would never get done. On this occasion, he confidently told her, “Bruce said this and shouldn’t take too long, so I figure 2 days minimum, and we’ll do the drywall next weekend, so we’ll be done by the end of next week. I could not believe what I heard.

I asked Don, “Does she believe that? He said: “What?” “That it will take 4 days to complete?” Yes”, he said. Uh no, we will have this done today, and that includes going to the lumberyard, to get the materials. “No way he said.”  We went slower than I usually go. We took our time; we measured twice and cut once. We built the wall, hung the sheet rock, and applied the joint compound, and finished it in under 3 hours. Don was amazed. He said it really would have taken him 5-6 days to rough in the wall. Bird was pleased, and I got to cross that off my list.

Brother David has been adding some things to my spring list. We are now going to get the cousins together and clean up the Heberle Graveyard at the old homestead. I haven’t been up there for probably 50 years. That is a project I am looking forward to. Hopefully there is no poison ivy there. Already on the Missouri house list, are moving patio rocks to make way for a new patio, clean up the garden, trim the hedges, clean the garage, get the chimney fixed, and plant the garden and we are not even there yet!

Oh well, one project at a time. That list will get done and then replaced with another. Every item will get a line through it, come hell or high water. I hope your list gets done and more importantly, the things on the list are things you like to do. See you next month.