STABLE THOUGHTS

So many things seem incredibly difficult until you actually do it yourself. I was discussing tutu making with 'someone' today, and she shared how some people hold tutu making to be an extremely exotic and specialized skill.

It is amusing to hear, for instance, a banker talk fluently about interest rates and mortgages and investments, and have them not understand why the rest of us listen with glazed eyes and blank expressions. And to someone who has worked with construction, 2x4s, nail weights and chain saw measurements, the intimidation many feel about building something more complicated than a Lincoln Log cabin is a mystery.

So each time I see someone effortlessly construct an edifice, I think, "I could do that."

HA!

This weekend, a friend of my husband's, who is currently unemployed (the dangers of being a contractor - you can be out of a job very unexpectedly and extremely quickly) spend Saturday morning with us putting up the final part of the roof for a shelter for my horses. And he did it with such ease and confidence.

So I arose once again (this happens about every other month, and has for the past year or two or three) and began with the intent of (finally) finishing the hay storage shed that I began... oh, two or three years ago. It is a reassuring point that the three walls and floor have survived this long, standing alone, and having only a (frequently replaced) tarp for a cover.

But each time I (again) begin the roof....

I do understand that the main item stopping me is pride. It was difficult enough to build a 10' by 10' shed with no more assistant than the close eye of two horses and two dogs, and each time I realize that I am going to have to ask someone to help me hoist up the roof, I falter at the idea.

Besides, who can I ask?

My husband has a worse back than I do; my closest neighbor is dying of cancer and my husband is already convinced that her husband has an attraction to me (this isn't unusual - he thinks every male in the world must be longing after me - it's either a compliment or simply what jealously does to an already paranoid personality); and every one I have actually spoken to about hiring to help me finish this either begs off, thinks that it's simply too small a job to consider, and/or takes the money and runs (I lost $750 four years ago trusting someone by paying 75% in advance - he disappeared shortly after receiving the cash).

Any suggestions, or should I just resign myself to a tarp for a roof?