Once upon a time

I built a complete house by my self, digging the foundation by hand on to nailing the roof cap. I was a builder, once upon a time.

Once upon a time the scent of lumber was one of my biggest thrills, Back then a house built by J. Darnell was known to be built well.  Once upon a time I could build a house on a hand shake and no money change hands until the attorney finished the closing.

Once upon a time a lady sat in our house and said, “I have looked at your house plans, I want this one, built on Powerline Ave, but I do not have a down payment.” Once upon a time I said, I said, is 90 days soon enough? As long as the interior colors meet my approval, you pick the light fixtures, floor covering and cabinet style and colors, I will do the rest. If you like the house and the bank likes us, we will give it a try. 

It all worked out and she got the house. Years later she would say to me, I cannot believe you did that. Three builders refused to talk to me, without a down payment. My answer to her, It was no gamble, I knew you picked a good floor plan. You saved me the trouble of picking light fixtures, appliances, floor coverings etc. You made my job easier. That was the truth. I knew the house would have sold easily, she had good tastes.

Now? There are times I feel useless. Being deaf sometimes I get to feeling sorry for myself. But I try to shake that off. I volunteer when I can to assist folks. Now I have met Sadie. A wonderful lady of 80. She has a good home, but the upkeep hurts her. She has a bathroom that needs replacing.

When we told her we could do the job, she said, ‘I need to know the cost.’ Of course we said nothing. She tear’d up and said,’I don’t feel right not paying something, I have paid my way  all my life, this is the first time anyone has offered to do something like this.’ I laughed and said, ‘Sadie, lets wait until we finish to see if you are still that thankful.’ hahaha. We delivered the bathtub, tile and plumbing stuff last night. We started this morning. This lady is a Florida farm girl, a jewel with a million dollar smile. The smile reminds Sherry and me of my recently deceased sister Kat.

We will keep you  updated on our progress. Thanks for coming by this way.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

Every great man was thought to be insane before he changed the world. Some never changed the world. They were just insane.

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I ran across this picture, it looks like a 1959/60 Buick, but not sure. I just liked it.(Louis will probably tell me! Dat guy is smart on cars!)