The Renaissance Man Pt. 01

"Look it just didn't come up," Trish said.

"Then explain why your blushing" Jen responded with.

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Trish finally got her breakfast at Denny's. She had an omelet with hash browns. I had their Grand Slam. She told me her father wanted to talk to me about the cost of the cement. On the ford flatbed, I had some tools, equipment, pipes, and the tent tied down. I had bought it years back from a store that sold used military supplies.

We unloaded it then went to the lumber yard. The first thing I did was to reinforce the bay doors. Then I measured and marked the spot where I would need the three holes drilled through. The middle one came out just below the roof. Once that was done using two ladders, we bolted the pipe holders in. We had to redo one because we got one installed with the wrong side up.

It took us two hours to put the frame up, I got a kick out of Trish making sure that the top pipes were level as I adjusted the height of each pole following her direction below. We started in the middle because it was the highest one When it was framed out. I reinforced the top with sections of pipe that snapped in place that were shaped like a c. While waiting for help I moved my tools and equipment in after I had laid down a tarp to cover the concrete driveway.

Brad showed up about two in the afternoon. I had the six-line winches set up. We started by throwing the rope up and over from the front. Trish watched as we wound the winches causing the tent material for the front to rise from the outside up over the frame onto the roof. When it was stretched tight, we locked the winches in place with a hand lock. We repeated the same for both sides. There was a thin line still open at the center of the top. The final thing to be done was to throw the top cover on and snap it down. While we did that Trish strapped up the window coverings after rolling them up.

Brad and I built a frame out of pine two by fours, for the chairs measured to be as high as Trish's waist. We designed it so two of the legs of the chair would fit in hole cut for them while the back of the chair rested on top. By turning the chair over we could hand sand every part of the chair that needed it. We could use the same frame when we started to reapply the natural color or stain using the same items as they were made when originally done. That was most did not understand when restoring antique furniture was that you had to imitate the material and paints as close as possible to what was used when originally created.

When Brad left, I parked the truck on the road. Trish and I ran to the market to pick up steaks, baking potatoes and the ingredients for a salad. We were busy in their kitchen preparing it when they got home.

When John got the chance, he asked he asked how much he owed me for the work that had been done. I said the wood was basically nothing and the concrete cost me nothing as I had called in a favor that was owed me from the cement company.

The attorney general was pleased to see that I was using some of the banked time off I had built up. It allowed Trish and me to work on her project straight for four days.

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