Mountain Fencing.
So my daughter, the younger one, she's helping with the fence today. She's really something. I have to hold the tension bar tight to the corner posts and squeeze the clamps together while she pushes the carriage bolt through the clamp and catches the nut on said carriage bolt.
"Dad, you have to move your thumb, it's blocking the hole."............"Dad, don't let go of that clamp, just hold it 'til I come around to the other side and spin this on."........"That's good Dad, hold it right there."........."Dad, wouldn't it be easier to use that little level you have? You know, the one you call the torpedo? I mean it does have a magnet to hold it in place while we level up these top rails."..........
Yeah, like I was saying, she's really something. Check this out, you want to know how smart this girl is? I have a pre-fab walk through gate, it was cheaper than buying the parts and building my own but it's way too big for this particular application. My plan is, and I already started the job, my plan is to cut down the gate to fit. It comes 44" high x 42" wide. I need thirty inches square because it's going at the top of the three steps that run down off the patio into the yard. It's a nice gate, the frame is one piece of 1 1/4" tubing bent with a nice like four inch radius at each of the four corners and it connects in the center at the bottom with a male and female end that slide together. So I lay my tubing cutter into the center (roughly) at the top, careful not to crush the ends of the thin wall tubing, after the cut it comes apart in two sections. I cut the sections down accordingly, I will put the frame back together by slipping the sections over some hardwood dowel that fits nice and snug on the inside of the tubing. I may have to shave the dowel a bit, and knock the burs off the inside edge of the tubing. I was going to catch a 1/2" sheet metal screw in the tubing just to make sure. I explained it all to my daughter, she looked thoughtful as she mulled it all over.
"Dad, I don't think you need the sheet metal screws and here's why. That hardwood dowel is going to fit nice and tight, you said you might even have to use a mallet to tap it all together. I think that the dowel will probably swell from moisture over time and be even tighter than ever. I don't think you need those screws Dad."
Now I must admit, I had never even considered that. I think I'm going to take her advice, I mean after all I can always throw the screws in later if necessary. This little girl never ceases to amaze me. When I was eleven I was still working on things like, oh, tying my shoes and spelling my name.
Our older daughter broke up with her boyfriend today. She borrowed the Jeep after school, drove over to his house and told him it was over. She still wants to be friends, she just can't handle the boyfriend thing right now. She graduates from high school in a month. I think it's kind of like the man said, Randy Travis being the man in this case......"The storms of life are washing me away".........Life is coming at her fast and hard. She's determined to make the best of it, go to college and work part time while she does. She feels bad, I told her not to feel too bad. I told her it happens, and just like she's getting ready to move on with her life and further her education, the boyfriend (now ex) just got a dose of life and an education too. He has another year of high school left after this one, he's popular and good looking. He runs track and he's a musician, he'll be just fine. Like the man said, The Marshall Tucker Band being the man this time....."Just as soon as I kiss the lips of another woman, I'm gonna forget all about you"......
Yeah, the now ex-boyfriend has to learn the hard way just like we all did. Maybe I'll burn him a CD, some good old stuff just so that he knows he ain't the first. "No this ain't gonna be the first time, this ol' cowboy, spent the night alone"...........I still love that kid, he's a good kid. I really do hope they can stay friends. Time will tell. Oh well. It seems kind of silly to me, all the drama. I do remember however, I do remember how intense it all was when I was eighteen.
"Dad, you have to move your thumb, it's blocking the hole."............"Dad, don't let go of that clamp, just hold it 'til I come around to the other side and spin this on."........"That's good Dad, hold it right there."........."Dad, wouldn't it be easier to use that little level you have? You know, the one you call the torpedo? I mean it does have a magnet to hold it in place while we level up these top rails."..........
Yeah, like I was saying, she's really something. Check this out, you want to know how smart this girl is? I have a pre-fab walk through gate, it was cheaper than buying the parts and building my own but it's way too big for this particular application. My plan is, and I already started the job, my plan is to cut down the gate to fit. It comes 44" high x 42" wide. I need thirty inches square because it's going at the top of the three steps that run down off the patio into the yard. It's a nice gate, the frame is one piece of 1 1/4" tubing bent with a nice like four inch radius at each of the four corners and it connects in the center at the bottom with a male and female end that slide together. So I lay my tubing cutter into the center (roughly) at the top, careful not to crush the ends of the thin wall tubing, after the cut it comes apart in two sections. I cut the sections down accordingly, I will put the frame back together by slipping the sections over some hardwood dowel that fits nice and snug on the inside of the tubing. I may have to shave the dowel a bit, and knock the burs off the inside edge of the tubing. I was going to catch a 1/2" sheet metal screw in the tubing just to make sure. I explained it all to my daughter, she looked thoughtful as she mulled it all over.
"Dad, I don't think you need the sheet metal screws and here's why. That hardwood dowel is going to fit nice and tight, you said you might even have to use a mallet to tap it all together. I think that the dowel will probably swell from moisture over time and be even tighter than ever. I don't think you need those screws Dad."
Now I must admit, I had never even considered that. I think I'm going to take her advice, I mean after all I can always throw the screws in later if necessary. This little girl never ceases to amaze me. When I was eleven I was still working on things like, oh, tying my shoes and spelling my name.
Our older daughter broke up with her boyfriend today. She borrowed the Jeep after school, drove over to his house and told him it was over. She still wants to be friends, she just can't handle the boyfriend thing right now. She graduates from high school in a month. I think it's kind of like the man said, Randy Travis being the man in this case......"The storms of life are washing me away".........Life is coming at her fast and hard. She's determined to make the best of it, go to college and work part time while she does. She feels bad, I told her not to feel too bad. I told her it happens, and just like she's getting ready to move on with her life and further her education, the boyfriend (now ex) just got a dose of life and an education too. He has another year of high school left after this one, he's popular and good looking. He runs track and he's a musician, he'll be just fine. Like the man said, The Marshall Tucker Band being the man this time....."Just as soon as I kiss the lips of another woman, I'm gonna forget all about you"......
Yeah, the now ex-boyfriend has to learn the hard way just like we all did. Maybe I'll burn him a CD, some good old stuff just so that he knows he ain't the first. "No this ain't gonna be the first time, this ol' cowboy, spent the night alone"...........I still love that kid, he's a good kid. I really do hope they can stay friends. Time will tell. Oh well. It seems kind of silly to me, all the drama. I do remember however, I do remember how intense it all was when I was eighteen.
posted by Squarehead at 8:35 PM
2 Comments:
wish my son had been smart enough to break it off before he went to college he basically wasted his whole college experience dating his high school sweetheart, then breaking up while he was at school, then getting over the breakup. in the meantime, he missed a lot while he was in school, i think.
your daughter is a genius. she won't be sorry she did this.
and i think your younger daughter must be a genius, too, based on what you said above. i just love a girl who thinks like that. maybe she'll be an engineer. you must have done a lot of things right, dad.
Well thank you Okay, thank you very much. Yes, they are both pretty damn smart, and I have done a lot of things right. The most important thing that I do right is listen to my wife. When it comes to these girls of ours, she really has a handle on things. I'm pretty good at the buddy buddy stuff, but the other stuff? All that "girl" stuff? That's all my wife, she's a genius too. I don't know how I ended up in this outfit. I got lucky I guess.
Oh yeah, it's funny that you say my younger daughter might be an engineer, that's on her list of things to do in life. It falls between video game designer and President of the United States.
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