13 May 2012 - Appreciating my brother

Have I mentioned how much I adore my brother? The best thing about being back in Utah is the close proximity to David. He amazes me daily. Not only is he funny, but so smart! He can do anything, fix anything and I would kill to have his brain function. He remembers every thing he reads. He would probably argue with that, but the amount of knowledge and odd little facts which turn out to be useful, tucked away in all the nooks and crannies of his head continually astonish me. I think some of his DNA comes from the sponge family. If you want an example ask him about the alkali bees and the bomber flies in Lovelock, Nevada. Funny. 

David works four ten hours days then has three off. Since we came back, at least one of those three days off has been spent helping us. He shows up and works. Instead of veni, vidi vici, I keep thinking I should find the latin for he came, he fixed, he left. It seems to fit. Since he has taken care of this house for many years he just knows what and when to do it.

He also comes with surprises. After we decided to move back,  D2 and I had a conversation about weather vanes. Pop had made a wonderful horse weather vane that topped the house for years. It had fallen apart some time back.  When we arrived in SLC in December after selling our house, the first thing I saw was a new weather vane gracing the roof line. Perfect!

Last Saturday, Jack and I were sitting on the porch, reading the paper, sipping coffee, soaking up the warm sun when David comes sneaking into the yard. I think he was shocked to find us up and mobile. 

He made a birdhouse out of a log and I think he planned to hang it in a tree, then wait to see how long it took us to notice. Foiled! But it is a great birdhouse. It may be a bit late for this season, but someone will find it. I'm hoping it will be a flicker or perhaps a woodpecker.

In addition, he had his bag of tools with him and started pulling stuff out. Now what? One of my pieces of yard art had been bothering him. It's a lovely bird made out of tools that looks like it is saying, "Get busy! Why are you just sitting there?" Over years of being out in the weather, the bolts that were the eyes had rusted out. He drilled out the bolts and installed new eyes made out of orange cat's eye marbles. Everyone is happier now. And they eyes? They look great--nice beady bird eyes. 

After making the decision to move back, Jack and I made three trips out to SLC--two of the trips involved driving 17 foot U-Hauls packed to bulging, and the the third trip--we got smarter as we went along--we flew out and met a POD here. Still can't believe how much stuff we brought with us, and even more, how much stuff we gave away. But the point is, that in July of 2010, when we decided to make the move and Jack moved here, David would show up and help do things. 

One day he and Jack were sitting on the porch and David said, "Lauri needs a water feature." Can't argue with that! Pop had built a small wading pool for us when we were all small. Then he added an upper pond with a fountain that flowed into the wading pool. 
 
At least 15 years ago David filled in the wading pool and the fountain hadn't worked for years before that. 

He dug all the dirt out of the pool, cleaned it up and spent days getting everything working. Plus there were the requisite several trips to the hardware store and having to order a new, bigger motor before getting the fountain to work. 

After getting both pools cleaned, there were cracks in the concrete that needed to be patched, then time to dry and cure, replacing the plumbing, discovering it needed a bigger motor... all the little things that add to getting something done.
 
And of course there were many adjustments to be made. It took a long time to get the right pressure so all three pipes shot the same amount of water. One would go three feet up and another would barely dribble out the top.

All cleaned up and working. Wow. There is nothing like the sound of water splashing on a really hot day. And for the really hot nights? David installed spotlights. What a treat!  Everyone needs a water feature.

In addition to this, there were other huge projects. He and Jack decided to replace three of the concrete squares on the porch which had started to sink. This involved renting a jackhammer to break up the squares that were five to six inches thick.

Next he hauled his cement mixer over, rigged up a pulley to get it out of his truck and back in when he was finished. 
In the life and work of the Winburn clan, nothing is easy. Every project requires other projects to be started, or completed before you can get to the part you started to do. Whether it was doing massive tree trimming before starting on the fountain, or having to clear off enough area to work, it is always something.


Of course, it is fairly easy to say what the project was, but there is all the prep and cleanup. How do you get rid of that much concrete?  Little by little in the garbage cans.  

After spending a week here in August, and knocking down paper wasp nests on a daily basis, I decided that Jack should paint the ceilings blue. He got started on it, and David showed up to help. 

After renting a paint sprayer, they decided to buy a better sprayer. Sounds easy. But all the work is in the prepping. Jack spent hours hanging plastic drop cloths and wrapping beams. Then because he is who he is, David scared the bejabbers out of Jack, what you can't see is that he is hanging over the end of the balcony. For those of us (see Jack and Lauri) who have a problem with heights...even looking at this picture makes my stomach clench. 

But the results are wonderful and the blue, in addition to messing with the wasps' plans adds a lot of light to the area. 

Then there are all the little ad hoc projects. David shows up and we say something along the lines of "while you are here could you tell us ... or show us...  or help us...." And there are times he'll show up to fix something we didn't even know needed to happen, such as adding a chimney cap and making sure it is all caulked. 

Our basement was flooded when the landscapers next door blocked the street gutter during a downpour. All the water flowed down the driveway, into the window wells or under the porch and into the basement. David showed up and patched the porch steps so water could no longer go under them. He created water diversion ditches, so God forbid, something like this happens again, the water will flow into the lawn. All of this is hard physical labor. The soil is solid with rocks. After living in Michgan with mostly sandy loam, this rocky excuse for dirt is hard to deal with. 

He and Jack replaced the old, rickety fence. They had to dig out concrete footings that were huge! Another massive job that took weeks to finish.  

Then there was the day he stopped by and found Jack and me trying to get the tiller started. He got it started after a couple hours of taking the carburetor apart, putting it together, taking it part and readjusting.... When it was finally running he helped us till up the garden area. When Jack finished building the raised beds, he came back and helped us put the deer fence up.

Meanwhile he has projects galore of his own. The big one right now is restoring the log cabin so he can turn it into a blacksmith shop. He has had to replace roof beams, completely replace the roof decking, and will have to reshingle the roof, but that sort of got sidetracked because he added a skylight. He had finished installing it and was considering the next step of tar papering. But no. Jack, Robin and I bought him another skylight that was twice as big, and opens. His progress was stopped while he framed it up and got it installed. We didn't care, we were more worried about good light and ventilation.  Okay, just a little bit of guilt on my part.

This inside shot shows some of the logs he needs to replace in the corner. That is a whole other story. He has already poured a concrete cradle behind the ladder to support the bottom log on the far side of the cabin. 

Here he has the first skylight installed. It added a lot of light to the dark interior, but the second skylight really helped.

Unfortunately, before he could install the new skylight, he decided to trim the overhanging pine boughs. The thought of a limb crashing through his new skylight did not thrill him.

 

 








The ladder he is standing on is wedged on the roof of his backhoe. In the next picture you can see he is using the chain saw on a stick, which has a 15 foot pole. Scary!  Jack and I cleaned up the limbs as he sawed them off. Turn about and all that. 

On his days off, when he can't work on the cabin due to the weather, he has other projects-- rebuilding the fire pit of his forge, making special brackets for the cabin beams. Reading up on blacksmithing. Always something. 

And since we were there, he rounded up a great collection of dead yard tools for my permanent deer fence--an upcoming project. 

What I have enumerated here are just tip of the iceberg accounts. I could go on ad nauseum. After living without family for 30 years, all I can say is it is so good to be back. And David? He's not only the frosting, but the cake as well.