I once heard it said that it is not always wise to tear down
to build bigger. Back in my youth my grandmothers Bible stories included the
epic of the man who felt he needed bigger barns to store more of his crops,
only to be told that his time was up and that he needn't build anything at this
point. Hmm! So I have plans to tear down an old shed that served my parents,
and who knows how many others, well for many years. The problem is that there
is a hill in back of the shed on an adjoining property, from which flows water
runoff and to a certain extent mud. That is just normal stuff, but down through
the years the back wall facing the neighbours has had to be rebuilt several
times and the picture of scabs of new wood now rotted once again haunt my sense
of repair or rebuild ambition.
Here is the skinny on that battle of guilt for tearing down
vs. good planning and preservation of resources by building new. For years now
I have been gathering up both old and new machinery to have a woodworking shop
in retirement. So, I have a few items.
There is a great band saw, a scroll saw, a bench-top drill press, my shop table
saw, a job site table saw, a 13” planer, dedicated router table… well, you get
the picture and I am barely skirting the surface. It has taken a couple of
decades, some wonderful people who saw that I could make, carve and build
stuff, and a loving wife, all of whom made it possible for me to have the many
and varied woodworking tools that I have now.
Well, when we moved home I stored much of the machinery in
our shed, at back of our home. But with its deteriorating condition, the
weather, a leaky roof and all started a race to stop the rust on the cast iron
tables of my shop saw, and the 6 inch jointer. Then Karen discovered that it
was attacking my lathe. She wanted everything saved… well… so did I. So we had
a difficult decision to make. Renovate or rebuild. A quick tour and check of
existing beams told us that there was rot everywhere. Ouch! Retirement is great
but for the unknowns… right? Well, bit by bit decisions were discussed and I
then realized that the only way forward was forward! Step by step the process
of planning, getting quotes and well, facing the harsh reality of the cost was
shocking. But, what does one do? Well, if it were just up to me, I would just
go back to bed! LOL But such is not the case here. Karen, my cheerleader and
holder of the cattle prod, gently reminds me that if we build it, it will be
home to all that “stuff” at some point.
Truth is that Karen is looking forward to having everything
in place so that the fun will begin. She is not always so sure of my dreamy
projects, but sometimes I do hit on one or two that seem to make sense to her.
With 6 grandchildren, and likely at least one more at some point, there will be
lots of projects to be undertaken until they are well into their 30’s I figure.
Hey, that correlates with my plan to live another 30 years. Some guys I know
have worked in their shops until their 90’s! I can do this! Now that is good
planning! But, then it will also be construction central for those have to do
projects when outside requests for renovations and custom builds enter the
picture. I could use my workshop now for a just such a request… that shop table
saw would be mighty handy just now. Oh well, that is why I have a job-site saw.
Oh my there is a story behind that saw! I will tell you all about it one day.
Work/funeral hiatus… and now back. I get a lot of calls to
conduct funerals for old friends and family. I cannot decline… I am here to
help!
Well it has been a couple of busy weeks. But things have
progressed here at the demolition site. I started with the roof and have
FINALLY made it to the hole in the ground that I need to begin the rebuild, or
as I recently told someone; “out of the ashes rises a new woodworking shop!” That
may be hard to follow, but for those of you who may follow my photo diary on
Facebook, there is a fire component to the tear-down process. Karen, my
sidekick and supervisor, loves to burn the small bits and pieces that come with
demolition. On the many other projects that we have undertaken down through the
years, (and there are many) she has loved to have campfires and burn off the
leftovers rather than just find a place for them all to go. In this case there
would have not been enough room in the dumpster, which held all the rotten
pieces of boards and beams along with roofing and such.
We have been building, rebuilding and renovating, it seems
like, constantly for the past 15 years. The question often arises whether I
will ever see the end. Nah! I guess not! Anyhow, if you love the work why stop…
Right? But life is much like that, it seems. We are never quite satisfied are
we? We like to tweak what seems to be OK or sufficient to make do… yet not
quite perfect. Or our minds change like the seasons and we just want to try
something different. Years back, I was warned by a wise old sage friend of mine
to not undertake too much, as there will always be the maintenance of what we have
to keep us busy. But who can resist making life better? After all there is that
urge to make it all fit in, until one day we realize it is all too big now for
us to handle. But on the other hand the needs of the time were met and we did enjoy
the product as well as the process.
So what about those barns I mentioned that were too late in
the Biblical story? Well, I want to be productive and content, and I think I
have been given the resources (machinery and a wee bit of talent) to make good
use of this project. So, out of the ashes… a new shop! Curious enough though, I
do regret that I couldn't just repair what was there… I am the consummate restoration
guy… let’s make it better, not necessarily destroy to rebuild, unless totally
necessary. I guess God works that way too. Lots of things about us may show a
bit of rot, that sin that can eat away at the roots of our foundations from
time to time, but He keeps working on us rather than just starting fresh with a
new model.
I’d like to think that most of those who read my ranting
would agree with me. If you don’t, that is quite all right. I allow for love to
be large enough to embrace the joy of life and then I pray for your peace. I
find that as I gaze out to sea I know how much larger life is, than just that
which we see around from day to day. I know that the universe is greater than
my understanding, and now at this juncture of life, I am building on the knowledge
that if God grants me a tomorrow, I want to be of some use whether writing,
building or praying… I am going to stand on the edge… and note the view from
here for a while yet!
