Scrap Wood

I've mentioned before how my dad did carpenter work in the summers to supplement his teacher income. In those stories I also told how Dad would give my brother and I hammers and nails to build little things out of scrap lumber - boats to float or swords to beat each other with.
Dad would also make things from the scrap lumber - like a wood bin or a play house or something useful, but kind of silly. I've also talked about building along side my dad on several projects - creating memories and a bond too personal to share. Now I use his old leather tool belt and keep his nail punch in the pocket. Dad loved carpenter work, and he said I was his best carpenter's helper.

So I've been around carpenter work all my life. And you wondered where I got my house building skills. Building our house now is a constant reminder of Dad. Not a day goes by that I don't think, "Dad would have done it this way," or I say something that Dad taught me while giving Toby a measurement, "It's 72 and 5/8 inches and take the line." Lots of memories.


Working under the house Toby and I have to use lots of different tools to install and set up the AC/heating unit - ducts, tin snips, hammer, drill, screws, tape, etc. Toby was using a cardboard box to hold all of the tools and drag them around under the house. Of course the tools were heavy and the box fell apart. I found another cardboard box to use, but it was not very handy - too deep. So while Bo was here helping Toby on Saturday, I decided to make a box using scrap lumber - a box that would be just the right size and strength to hold the tools for Toby. I got GBN1 to help me. We hunted through the scrap lumber for just the right boards and then put them together like a puzzle. I used some thin hard-board for the bottom of the box. I would start a nail and then let GBN1 finish hammering it in. It took her quite a while - lots of swings with the hammer. But then, we had all the time in the world. When we got it finished, she was so proud of herself. She snatched it up and carried under the house to the men folk, and she was tickled pink that they immediately put all their tools in it.


Later when every one had gone home, I told Toby how happy GBN1 had been hammering the box. Then it struck me - that was something Dad would have done. Toby said he had the same thought.