The control of water. It’s the story of many households, but especially poignant when you add the context that you’re trying to control water in the city of New Orleans.
But that is actually a little dramatic. We’re just trying to improve the runoff around the house. The strip of city property between the sidewalk and street in front of our house has been sinking for a long time. As it dips, it washes away everything we try and plant there, as well as plenty of dirt. Not good.
So, Paul is building up a concrete curb, complete with drainage system, that will be almost level to the sidewalk (if we did it level, folks wouldn’t be able to open car doors) so it’s going to be a more graduated system. To withstand the inevitable poor parking job that puts a tire up on the curb, Paul is putting in many hundreds of pounds of concrete — at driveway required depth. Just like we did with the front steps and walk, he’s using the old bricks we dug up from the sides of the house, power washing them, and will mortar them in on top of the concrete. He is also using rebar to help hold the curb in place.
The kids have been helping. Will, in particular, has been chomping at the bit to help with this. And Kate… well, Kate does not like being left out of any event. When I try to take her inside so that I can make dinner (so as not to be eaten alive by mosquitoes), she is Very Unhappy.
The evenings are finally getting cooler (temps in the low 80s/high 70s) so the neighborhood is starting to emerge again. More lingering talks on front porches and visits with pets.
To keep Will occupied, Paul gave him two tasks: to keep the bucket full of water for mixing, and to hammer as many stakes as he wanted into the ground. Will LOVED both.
This is my favorite picture. I took this right after he told me he needed to “look at what he was doing” and “concentrate.”
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Shokufeh | 12-Oct-07 at 8:26 am | Permalink
This looks like quite the undertaking. I’m very impressed by your family’s can-do attitude.
Andrew Kottenstette | 14-Oct-07 at 9:54 pm | Permalink
I shudder when my client’s kids show up and take a liking to my tools, but he’s reassured me that he’s not the “over-cautious parent”. It’s just that he has four kids, all pretty close, two of which are twins. One is a show off, the other is a shy question asker. I just adjust, unhooking nail guns and unplugging bench saws. I actually like the attention. Secretly, I must yearn for an apprentice to hand secrets down to.
Cold Spaghetti | 15-Oct-07 at 7:46 am | Permalink
It’s one thing to let Will “help” when the job is digging, mixing concrete, and pouring it out. It’s something else all together when a saw is involved! (Will is never outside when saws are involved!) We are pretty clear that “tools” are not “toys” and there are some tools that are okay for Will to touch (with permission) and others that are not okay. Also, when Paul really has to focus on something, I have to be watching the kids.
We want the kids to be a part of these things because we want them to grow up thinking they can do things themselves, that it is okay to try and do stuff that seems difficult or a challenge. But I am definitely a cautious parent when it comes to tools and equipment… anything can happen at anytime!
As for an apprentice, it’s a bummer you aren’t closer by — Paul is going to take a week or possibly two off of work in the next few months to work on the back of our house. He wants to work with somebody who can teach him the finer points of what he already knows and then fill in the blanks with the rest. He loves woodworking — he built fantastic wood shelves (basic, but great) in two rooms before Kate was born. His weblog (This Old Spouse) is linked from coldspaghetti — although he hasn’t written in months, almost the entire thing is about projects he’s done around the house. March-April-May of 2006 is when he built the big shelves.