When brother Bob and Beth come to visit, they always offer to fix things, and what a team they are! I hadn’t expected them to jump in Thanksgiving night, but they did a number of repairs before midnight and started again the next morning.
One of the things that was high on the list was cleaning the solar tubes. Neighbor Bob installed them for us several years ago, and we had quite a collection of dead bugs. I wanted to leave them and consider them ceiling art, but I was outvoted. We hadn’t been able to open them ourselves. Beth found instructions on line, and Bob could follow them. It still was not easy, but he did the first one while David watched. David worked on the second one, and when the third one presented problems, everyone helped.
Bob removed the pin in a squeaky hinge while Beth looked up the various things that could cure it. David watched and did the second one himself.
The most challenging job was rehanging a bi-fold door that had jumped off track. I was impressed at Bob’s agility – mighty good for an 82-year-old.
I was taking photos as unobtrusively as possible, wanting a record of the many things they did. Because of Bob’s sensitivity, I have this picture that I will always treasure. He asked for a flashlight before going into the attic, and he noticed my hand reaching for the camera as he clipped the flashlight to his shirt. He turned to face me and said, “You want a picture, don’t you?”
I was stunned that he not only knew what I longed for, but he paused in his fix-it mode to make it possible.
We laughed that Beth called her job “stuporvising”. You can make up your own definitions for that. Still, having someone look up things, provide another pair of eyes, offer suggestions, and stand by to fetch tools is invaluable. David was the avid apprentice, learning by watching and copying. He has been doing routine jobs around the house, and now he learned how to do other things. Lise was the list-keeper and general helper, and I was the useless photographer. I am very grateful for all that they did.
I asked the group to help me make a comprehensive list of the things they worked on, because I knew I did not have photos of everything. If you care to read the list, see if there are things that you could do in your own home. Here it is in the order we remembered them. They trimmed evergreens that had grown above windows, put new batteries in the front doorbell, replaced batteries in a thermostat, planted tulips, removed bugs from solar tubes, rehung a bi-fold door, locked windows that had gotten out of line, moved a very heavy recliner (by taking it apart) to another room, checked a suspected leak in the attic, stopped a bathroom light from flickering, shifted the strike plate on the laundry room door to make it shut correctly, painted a moldy spot on a ceiling, un-squeaked a closet door, and replaced the water filter under the house. The last job was so hard that Bob recommended we get a plumber to do it next time. He and David did not have the tools or strength to do it easily.
Mehrling Muse 
It sure is nice to get things done. The pictures are great. You always need someone to document these things, so your job is important too.
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Gosh, those are the best gifts anyone can give.
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Agreed!!
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Bravo!!!
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What a gift these family members are! I hope you paid them with some more yummy food!
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What a lovely to spend a visit, helping with all those chores.
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How wonderful! I absolutely love this post and the pictures! Your “handy” tribe gave the best gifts ever! I had a tribe of friends visit me last weekend and they helped me with household tasks. It’s such an awesome feeling! They were no where close to 82…think 52-62…wow!
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I’m glad you had handy help, too.
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Thank you!
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many hands make light work! All your friends are taking care of you ,making John smile.
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Judging by pictures 2,3 and 5, David needs promoting from apprentice to fully fledged craftsman.
Maybe next time Bob visits he can take a break?
Huge Hugs
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Brother Bob claims he likes to keep busy doing useful things. I let him.
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Wow, that is a fabulous help! Such a great gift for the holidays, sometimes the best gifts don’t come with wrappings.
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What a treasure of a picture. Your writing and picture-taking are such a gift to all. You capture a moment in time with alacrity.
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Alacrity!! Love that word. I’m glad you understand that it’s fun to write. Thank you for always cheering me on.
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I feel so fortunate to have two son-in-laws lose by. Belated Turkey day to all.
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How nice … help, even for the simple things, is always appreciated. There are some tasks I would have no clue how to tackle them. I have a huge crack in my hall ceiling and wall … it was a hairline crack in the ceiling not that long ago, but when I had to change the lightbulb and had the fixture part off, I saw the crack had widened, crossed the entire ceiling and was going down the wall. I was/am pretty horrified and had to buy products to fix it … sigh.
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Home repairs are often hard.
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Yes and I’ve never done this before, but happily I found a product on Amazon, that you glide over the crack (or it repairs small holes too), wipe off and done. I’m mad I have to paint the wall, but will wait until I am retired to do that and have more time (whenever that blessed event happens). I have a new handyman as the other one had to retire for medical issues … not a great match so far.
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It would be hard to find a good handyman.
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Yes it is. You don’t want to advertise that you live alone – have to be careful about everything these days.
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Such a blessing!
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And now I’m handyman envy. Normally around here I am the handy man and a very clumsy one as the one who would be instead a very precise one is normally nowhere to be seen when needed😂
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Yes, you are on the spot all the time.
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