As I said before I took my blog break for the long Independence Day weekend, I lined up a lot of projects to do. Always more projects than weekend, but I accomplished three things: I built a bridge, I lowered my taxes, and I was filmed for a TV show.
Bridge: my spouse’s disability was preventing him from walking by himself to the patio and gazebo that I built for him, located near the pond in our back yard. So I built a bridge over the rough terrain so he can get out there by himself!
Rather simple project and took only about 10 hours over two days. I am happy that my spouse is happy and feels less afraid about tripping when he wants to spend time in the back yard, especially if I am not at home.
Lowered my taxes: yep, right here in “fee & tax-a-county” (part of tax-a-state), we are taxed on the rain that falls on our property. However, if you install a rain barrel, you can apply for a tax credit. So I did that.
Filmed for TV: there is a popular cable TV show that features remodeling someone’s home by volunteers/neighbors. This show always finds a home of a wounded warrior around patriotic holidays. I was among 40 volunteers who spent all day Saturday doing carpentry work, and applying some of my often-used Universal Design skills which I suggested and the show’s designer liked. This show will be aired in a few months, but we were made to promise not to reveal the show or the host’s name until the show is premiered.
Another great thing about that show was a line from the producer during a morning briefing: “you’ll have to wear safety gear, like protective eyewear, work gloves, long pants and boots. Those of you in shorts and sneakers are welcome to help, but we won’t be showing people doing work that requires safety gear in segments that are shown on TV because we don’t want to show the wrong thing. Those of you in sneakers can plant plants or help with painting. And sorry, but if you’re wearing flip-flops, you should go home and change your footwear, preferably to boots. This is dirty and hard work. We don’t want anyone to get injured, especially in open-toed footwear.”
I just about died laughing, and watched a few guys who were wearing shorts and sneakers or flip-flops go home and come back dressed in jeans and work boots.
It was fun to do that project, but most of all, to see the smiles on the homeowner’s and his family’s faces.
Busy weekend… no riding… my poor ol’ Harley. Oh well, commuting to work on it today!
Life is short: keep busy and wear boots!