Another version of hell

The kids have started arriving for Thanksgiving so I'll probably have a lot to write about the next four or five days. However, I may not get around to writing each day when I'd like because my time isn't exactly my own when there's lots of company to entertain and people to socialize with. I appreciate your patience.

I was going to talk about some projects that we've begun and in some cases completed around our house by using all the extra help in town for Thanksgiving. But instead I'm just going to mention a project at Ed & Tiff's house. Carolyn has been wanting them to have a trampoline for a long time and has finally convinced Tiffany that it would be especially good to have on to entertain cousins for Thanksgiving. Thus it came about that we were all surprised when Carolyn announced after our lunch today that she wanted to stop at Sam's Club and wanted Ed to follow us with his truck. The two large boxes in which the trampoline was packed filled Ed's pickup truck bed. I was glad that Philip and Edward were around to lift the boxes.

We decided to undertake the construction of the trampoline right then although at 3:30 the light of day was already beginning to fade and it was completely dark by the time we finished. The instructions were less than perfect and the parts were not easily identifiable. Through the process we discovered better and worse ways to do things that could have easily been included in the instructions. But the worst part of the whole thing for me was knowing how much quicker the job would have gone with just a couple of better wrenches and Phillips head screwdrivers or just some sharper bits. For a person who has the correct tools, it is a special version of hell to have to make do with lesser tools. I get so frustrated when I don't have the right tool for my own home projects that I can imagine how frustrated Edward was that he couldn't offer us better to use. Like he explained, he has lots of screwdrivers but finding the ones he needs when he needs them is a serious problem.

At least I know what kind of things he could use for his birthday.

Oh, the whole project was worth it when Jake said about this Christmas present from his grandma, "I love her so much, I can't forgive her enough! (meaning thank her enough)"