Call the Guy

When Rob and I first got married, neither of us knew the first thing about fixing anything.  We bought, for the grand sum of $4000, a mobile home that was our first home (and really our first renovation, although it really didn't look all that much better when we moved on to our next home!).  And, when things went wrong (as they often did on a very old mobile home) because we didn't know the first thing about how to fix anything, we called the "guy".   But, money was beyond tight back then and with two little babies, the "guy" in our case was my Dad - a knowledgeable Mr. Fix It and the price was right!

Back then, we took my Dad's knowledge and willingness to fix anything that broke at our house for granted.  We didn't give a second thought to how we might be interrupting his life to come over to help us.  And my Mom always came, too.  She'd watch the kids, give moral support, and make sure everyone lived through the current crisis.  Dad knew plumbing, electrical, carpentry and he was a master gardener - all skills that we called upon again and again.  And, he showed up at a moment's notice.  This fix-it help from my Dad has continued throughout our married life - even after our jobs took us further away from my parents, if we don't know how to do something, we still call the guy and he'll talk us through it.

Looking back, we didn't realize how lucky we were - all that skill and thankfully much of it has been passed on to us (um, mostly Rob, but I got a bit of it, too!).  I think that's part of why we are so into our house projects - we learned the joys of fixing it ourselves so well from the guy,  Thank you so much, Dad, for all that you did for us and all that you taught us and Mom for all of your support, too!

And, recently, we had the opportunity to help Jake and Ashley in a similar way - we spent a week in Michigan helping to install a privacy fence at their home.  It was a great project and lots of people had their hands in it - Dad was there, as well - four generations in all, so fun and so special.  Here's a few pictures of that fence project week.

Getting the posts JUST RIGHT:

 Jake and I spent a long time sorting through the slats - rejecting many and finding the best boards to use on the fence:

 

 Cross boards and slat sections going up:

Looking good:

A beautiful fence - just needs to be stained and/or sealed (and caps on the posts).

We were all pretty tired at the end of this project!