The Hard Way

Studmuffin and I were finishing the cover for the gazebo, and I was trying to do it one way, and he was trying to do it the WRONG way. We were both laughing and picking on each other about how the other one was making it much harder than necessary. I had a sudden flashback.....

But, first here is a picture of our mostly finished gazebo. Studmuffin has some extra boards that he is planning to router and stain and put as a trim around the outside edge. I know that will give it a more finished look. Also, we learned a lot doing this particular shade. Next time we will do it better, but for $40 it looks pretty good! Oh, and please disregard the clothes line. It's summer, so I'm hanging clothes as often as I can. Oklahoma wind makes a great dryer!


I know this will come as a gargantuan surprise for all of you, but I'm a wee tad impatient. I've developed a philosophy. Since I want it done and I want it done yesterday, a good way to get "it" done, is to start it on my own. Then, if I'm not done when Studmuffin gets home, or if I'm not doing it to his satisfaction, he'll finish it for me! Great system, right?

When we lived in South Texas, Studmuffin worked insane hours. If anything was going to get done, I had to do it, or call someone to do it. We had a float ring pool that we had moved with us from Arlington. Kelsey was a new addition to our family, so I had to keep her out of the pool. She didn't actually want to get in the water, but I was afraid she would put her paws on it to peak in, and pop the ring. We had a stack of steel T posts that had been left by our previous owners. I went and bought some pig wire, and decided to build a small fence around the pool. The T posts were varying heights. I didn't have a steel post driver, but I decided I could just use a sledge and drive the posts in. We had sandy soil, so this was totally do-able.

By the time I got back from buying the pig wire and wire to tie it off, it was already hot outside. Remember, I'm impatient. I decided to go ahead and start the fence. A job begun is half done and all that jazz....Well, I used all of the short 6 foot posts first. I was down to my lasts few posts. They were 7 foot posts. I tried to hold the post up, reach over my head and drive them in with my hammer. I was hot. I was tired. I decided I was resentful that I had to do all the dad gum work around the house, and Studmuffin never had to do anything but leave for work at 6am every morning and get home at 6 or 7 every night. He had it so easy. I tried and tried to drive that stupid post into the ground. I muttered and cursed about my husband who was at work all of the time instead of doing work for me at home. I worked and griped and worked and moaned....But I could not get that darn post in....I finally gave up after I had sweat running off of every square inch of my body and my arms were limp noodles.

Studmuffin came home and I poured out my woes to him. He said, "Don't worry, babe, I'll finish the posts for you." I was so grateful for the offer of help, but I really didn't see how he was going to drive the post without a fence post driver.

A fence post driver is a pipe with a weight on one end. You slip the open end over your post, and drive it down over your post. The weighted end helps you drive the post. My dad had a fence post driver with a spring in it. The spring popped the driver back up so you didn't have to lift it up, and then you had better momentum to drive it in. We did not have either one of these, so really, how on earth was he going to drive a post that tall into the ground?

He calmly went outside, into his shop, got the ladder, climbed on it, and drove the dumb post in with maybe 4 whacks of the hammer. Okay, talk about a duh moment. Why the heck didn't I think of that? I would have had an easier time with ALL of the posts if I had thought to use the ladder! And why the heck didn't he suggest it to me when I called him at work complaining how hard it was to drive posts without a post driver? I have the feeling he was secretly laughing at me all day long.

And, really. Who could blame him?