134 TWO OLD MEN
Sunday 4/29/2007
Two old men, Jeff and Jack Nutter working at 513 Alice St. taking down, well, attempting to take down the wheelchair ramp attached to the backdeck. Two old men met about 9:30 am and work until 2:30pm.We soon find out the ramp is more ruggedly built than it appears. We don't bring the right tools when we find all the boards were put together with 3" screws and lots of them. We each have screwdrivers but soon have sore hands and arms and have made very little progress. I even had an 8 lb. sledhammer and it just bouced off the vertical 2x4s that were holding up the rails.
We worked about an hour until both of us were blowing. Jack, with a new hip, a bad knee and can't bend over, and me with two arthritic knees and peripheral neurapathy in my legs, and it like the blind leading the blind. Jack said "I'm going home and get my battery powered drill and prybar, which he fumes over not bringing to the job!"But Jeff has a better idea! I don't have a good variable speed drill and I'll go to Lowes and get what we need.
$95.42 later, I am armed with a wrecking bar (commonly called a crowbar), a 1/2" variable speed 6 amp, corded, drill with a set of Skill bits and a new 50' 8 guage 3 prong extension cord. Jack calls me as I get into the one of only two checkouts open, but soon they open a third and I exercise my Mastercard.Soon, we are learning how reverse works on the drill and how a easy pull of the trigger, it virgiously extracts the many, many screws. We soon have the rails off, and two of the 4x8 floor plates and have them neatly stacked with the supporting 2x4's under them.We are far from completing this job but we each have our respectively vehicles loaded for bear.
Jack is doing better than Jeff this Sunday afternoon. I roll out of bed and my body aches in every department. I even rubbed a huge blister under my left arm that is aching as we speak. My knees are wobbly and my butt (excuse me) feels like someone took a broomstick and beat me during the night. I am fixing coffee and I notice Karen's prescription for Ultram is on the kitchen table.
Soon I am sitting in my recliner with coffee and a compress of a hot towel under my left armpit to sooth the pain. Karen had been nurse Karen to me last night and this morning and waiting on the disabled at 3281. Jack plan or wants to go back out there Monday afternoon after school but I don't know about Jeff right now. Jack said Brock wants to help so we'll see. We hopefully plan to install a set of steps from Home Depot or Lowes and maybe pour a concrete sidewalk, but can tell right now as we have not uncovered all the ground under the deck.
Now I tell you what the 134 is? That is Jack and Jeff's combined age, and this is mom and dad's favorite (or Jack says), as he know they loved me more than him! So this is Jack's brother, Jeff the #1 son signing off.
"Karen, can you get me another Ultram!!!" News at 11:00.
