Wednesday, November 09, 2005

New Door

Carpenters and electricians run thick in my family. So, needless to say if you need some building or an electrical project done.... don't look a gift horse in the mouth. My husband is known as a Barter King around town. You need a security alarm put in? Well..... let's see.... we traded our heating oil one year for closed-circuit cameras. My root canal was done in exchange for a fire alarm. A diamond ring I have was courtesy of a trade. In the course of our marriage we've traded tires, guns, vehicles, boats and numerous other things. My husband always says that everything we have is for sale. If someone makes a comment that they like something in my home. ... I'd never put it past him to try and strike a deal and sell something right out from under me. "Um, hun... excuse me. You need to get up out of that chair because JerryJo JimBob just traded me half a side of beef for it." Please.... don't doubt me... I'm not kidding. One time, Gary traded a gun for a beat up Toyota pick-up truck that had some great tires on it. All he wanted was the tires that were attached to that truck... so he and a friend of his took that truck off roading. If you've ever watched Mickey Thompson Off-Road Racing you will know what I'm talking about when I say they took this truck and ripped the guts out of it. If you've never watched it... picture two grown men driving through the woods and fields at 60mph ... hitting bumps and clearing a foot of air under their asses... laughing their fool heads off. Going through trees, mud and whatever else they could get through until that poor truck wouldn't move anymore. Then they removed the tires off it and called a salvage yard to get "the carcass."

Well, back to the real story behind this post. My brother... who is a carpenter... built our addtion on our home a few years ago. I don't know if he'd had too many beers that day but our front door always has been crooked. It has always drove Gary nuts but as my brother gave us a deal..... we never said anything. Until this past weekend when that door just happened to get on that last nerve for the last time. Plus, winter is coming and God knows what heating oil is going to cost this year... probably around $145 per gallon and we certainly don't want THAT going out the door. The door before (notice the gap at the top gets bigger towards the left and if you look real close... you can see the $ going out it) :















Here is Chris scraping the old silicone off the sill and Gary is doing what he does best... supervising. Note the way he's leaning on the door frame in an exasperated stance. He's perfected that over years of practice.



















Gary measures for accuracy using an ancient old technique called a tape measure. Note the precision required in this move:



















Finally the new door is ready to be moved into place. It required both of them because I was doing something else.... :















I was busy (taking pictures!) and working on this tiny raking job. Do you know that 5 oak trees release about 1.4 million pounds of leaves in my yard alone? :















And finally the new door is in place and keeping the heat where it belongs... in the house. Notice the trim is not done. That should be finished sometime in 2008. Come on now.... what do you expect? I've lived in my house 11 years and my bedroom is still not painted.


10 comments:

Joel said...

Honey I am the KING of start something and never finish it but I get it honestly. My brother came over to fix my refrigerator door 2 weeks ago, he left to get some tool and a washer and I have not seen him since. All the tool and parts are strung across my kitchen floor. My dad is the SAME way!

I always have had the mentality that if I can do it myself then I am better off and it I make it worse...well I was going to call a repair man anyway!

Julie said...

Too Funny Sheri...I'm sure that you don't htink so when you look around and see all the half finished projects. I am lucky, TIm is just the opposite. He starts a job and won't stop even to take a piss until it's finished. As for the tools strung out everywhere, that's a different story...he was brought up in piles of clutter and "never put anything back" atmosphere and he truly is just like that. It's gotten so now that if something isn't taken care of I throw it in the trash...it gets expensive to do that but it seems to be working. Love the new door...enjoy the savings on the fuel bill. Chow!

ccw said...

LOL! We recently filled up our oil tank. I will gladly trade you some oil, if someone can get over here and install a new front door for us. Our door is 50 years old and you can see daylight on all sides but one.

Our door also looks like yours- no trim. Mr. S removed the trim to install new wood since the door quit locking. That was months and months ago and the trim is still sitting in our garage waiting to be cut. All of our projects are uncompleted which is why I will die in this house rather than move to a bigger one.

Melody said...

I have ONE piece of trim that's been missing in my living room for 20 years, so if you get your door trimmed out by 2008 I will be very very jealous. My brother is also a carpenter and has done alot of the work, along with Lloyd, at our house. It is so difficult to complain when you're getting a good deal...HMMMMMM...Maybe I should start paying full price....NOT HAPPENING!!!!

Kim said...

So you're saying I have 8 more years of waiting before MY bedroom gets painted? Men.

lime said...

glad youhave a resourceful hubby, just nail down what ya don't want swapped! love the exasperated stance too. feeling much better about nto haivng painted my house at all oafter two years here. great post

Sue said...

I love your new door! Very pretty. I am so excited you are coming for Turkey Day!

Anonymous said...

I love the autumn leaves in your yard, keep them there!

Robin said...

I like it!
Hey, I supervise with the best of 'em! You say that like it's a BAD thing ;)

Brian said...

My dad is an electrician and it's always a good thing to have him around the house! Sometimes though he gets a little "Tim the Tool Man Taylor"