Well, I was never nagged or had the balls broken to fix the weather-beaten deck out back. It had been two years since I last worked it and recently, with great encouragement from the mother of my beloved son, I blew some cash and hard labor to bring the deck back to life and look like some people live here that are not off Tobacco Row or on the dole. The wife was working then prior to her retirement and was pleased. I was thrilled that she was pleased since she's got a whole lotta dollars more than I do.



Fast forward some weeks - the wife is retired. The new storm door for the side entrance got here yesterday. I will hang it and curse and scream out every four-letter word I know from locker rooms, the Marine Corps and places that no ladies should go when the door won't latch by maybe 1/32nd of an inch (I've been there with doors).

This afternoon when things went OK at Belmont Park and I mentioned in a post that the wife had disappeared to "spend some money"?

Well the gazebo with screens got delivered. It's got to be built out of the gargantuan box. It's got to be bolted to the deck so that high winds do not hurt its chances for staying here. Yeah, I caught the job so that the girl with the bags of money might have cocktails on the veranda out back during the summer with no bugs bothering her lounging.

What do I think? She's still the gorgeous 16-year-old Catholic high school girl I first met 45 years ago (no I did not!). I may stink with carpentry but engineering stuff mechanically, electrically or even making some plumbing work are things I can do.

I'm the door dork and the gazebo glunk - I don't think I have a choice and I would have it no other way.