A Shed for a Sibling

Hello, world!

It is with immense joy that I introduce to you the first pressing of Seasonal Ramblings - a quarterly journal on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. My writings will be brief, void of any wit or humor, lacking any…just kidding. I hope you will find these articles fun (if not funny), cute (if not beautiful) and informative (if not philosophical). As the name implies, you can expect new pieces once a season, usually around the solstices and equinoxes (I’m an aspiring pagan). I’ll fill you in on what I’ve been working on, what I’ve been thinking about, what I’ve been listening to, and what I had for lunch that day. 

To kick off the inaugural issue, I’d like to feature a project I did with my family a few years ago. It involved building a shed for my baby sister at her new house. Yes, she’s a homeowner; sadly, I am not. It was during this late summer project that I first started daydreaming about the simple life. A life spent helping homeowners and renters with whatever projects or tasks they’re unable to accomplish alone.

Sheds are fun to build. If I could build a new shed in a new yard every week, I would. Building a shed involves a  little bit of everything: drawing, site work, carpentry, roofing, electrical, painting, albeit on a small scale, which is why it's so great. They go up satisfyingly quickly, and when you make a mistake you can fix it before anyone notices. My father and I built the roof on my sister’s shed twice. At first it was a saltbox style roof, and the second time as a traditional gable when we realized the saltbox was too tall and cast a shadow on her flower bed. Whoops! 

I think the best part about building a shed is that everyone can have fun helping out. The stakes are low and you don't have to be a master of anything to get the job done. Curiosity is the only requirement. My sister cut the siding, which I nailed on, while my dad contemplated rafter angles while my mother…well my mother was in the garden, and we all listened to Pink Martini. We had tuna for lunch followed by tea. A late summer day building a shed with your family is a good day, and in the hierarchy of good days I might put it right at the top.

Since my sister bought her little two bedroom, ground level apartment, the four of us - in varying ratios of effort - have built a portico, a stoop, a trellis, a deck,  installed a storm door, added crown molding, painted, cut holes through the exterior walls, installed little ERV (energy recovery & ventilation) units in aforementioned holes, removed kitchen cabinets and installed floating shelves, built two bookcases, redid some plumbing, redid some electrical, built two raised beds, fixed  fencing, pruned  trees, cut the grass, did a heck of a lot of weeding and planting, shoveled snow, organized, cleaned the gutters, and probably a whole bunch of other things none of us can even remember. Not all of the above was exhilarating, not all was fun, but all were part of making my sister’s house a home, and therefore it was satisfying.

I am lucky to have such a capable and DIY family; that is not lost on me. Now that I’m going around saying I have a handyperson business, those who are not so fortunate can have me as their new capable and DIY family member…for a small fee :)