Follow up to;

Plumbing; is it a Necessary Evil?

               The next morning (Thursday) after the repair was completed, the labor returned to fill the hole with cement which would complete the job and exact more money from me. My wife was participating in the garage sale and I was left, “home alone”.  Sounds like a title for a Christmas movie.

               It had been suggested that I could paint some of the doors from our house.  I typically remove the door and take it to the garage to do the painting. As you may know, Thursday is my day to ride somewhere for lunch and Wayne had suggested we ride to Glen Rose, Texas to have some BBQ.  Glen Rose is an 80 mile ride one way and Wayne wanted to meet at 11:30.  I agreed to the ride knowing I had some painting to do before I could go. I removed the door from the front bath room and from my closet and took them to the garage.  The first paint brush I picked up was stiff; obviously not cleaned properly by the last user (Ms. Ford). The 4 inch brush was clean and ready to use so I started my chores.

It is difficult to see the handsome gentleman doing the painting in this photo, but you can see the paint brush and the door that I had been ordered it had been suggested I paint.  

               Back to my original story; the labor put some rebar in the open hole in prep for the cement. I was checking his work when he pulled a wheelbarrow full of dry cement up on the porch.  I noticed that it was a tight fit and he was backed against the storm door, but I did not think anything of it at the time. I returned to my forced labor painting.  I finished painting the two doors and properly cleaned the paint brush. I needed to take a shower and I wanted to shut the doors.  There was an extension cord plugged into an outlet in the house and the wire ran through the front storm door. OK it did not go “through” the door, the cord was laid on the floor and the door was partly open. I unplugged the extension cord from inside the house and laid it on the porch noticing that the door would not close “%@#*&#@”. After several tries and the labor telling me the wood was pushing the door frame, I decide to get my shower and come back to this later. 

               After showering and putting on some clean clothes I returned to the front porch where we tried in vain to shut the door. I noted that the door worked properly this morning but not now. In the back of my mind I knew it had something to do with the labor. We were able to force the door shut. I said I need to leave I will look at it later.  As I turned to walk away I looked at the fresh cement, to our surprise Tejas’ feet prints were in it, about 4 inches deep.  Yes, Tejas had walked through the cement with all 4 feet. It was kind of like an old time comedy to me, but probably not the labor.

               Tejas went to the back yard and I hopped on the motor cycle and headed out to meet Wayne.  Glen (neighbor across the street) could not go with us this time but wished he could because it was supposed to be warm and no wind. Glen was wrong; the winds were strong during the entire ride. I met Wayne at Spring Valley and we started the ride to Glen Rose. 

In Glen Rose there are a lot of dinosaur tracks and Dinosaur State Park.  Glen Rose is also known for the Nuclear power Plant.  Hammonds BBQ may be what they are best known for and that is where we had lunch. I must say their food is better than the Bunk House but it is more than twice as far from home. We had excellent food and the ride was outstanding except for the wind.

I returned home about 4:30 and thought I should take another look at the door. It still would not shut so I studied the door frame looking for any signs of damage. There was nothing to be found. Almost everyone knows how smart and observant I am; I found the problem.  The door frame was ok but the door had been hit at the door handle with the wheelbarrow handle, which warped the door about 3/8 inch. I don’t know about you but I usually say wheelbar not wheelbarrow.  I decided to attempt to pop the door back in place. I went to the garage and secured my rubber mallet.  As I drew back to hit the door I prayed that the glass would not shatter. I could not blame a broken glass on the labor.  With one properly place impact, of exactly the right amount of force, the door popped back in place and it would shut again.

After all that I went to my rocker in the drive way and sit there enjoying the afternoon.

From the never ending thoughts of            Don Ford      

Thanks.

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