Ever wonder how our historical understanding of Thanksgiving would be different if textbooks were written by handymen instead of PhD’s? OK, so maybe I’m the only one. The PhD’s tell us that about HALF the passengers and crew died within a few months after the Mayflower arrived. But would it kill them to mention what … Read more
Outside
Look, as your handyman I’m just your humble correspondent, so I may not have this right. But is it just me, or does it seem like we keep electing people to the U.S. HOUSE who couldn’t even take care of their OWN HOUSES? Our home-owning customers are competent, and face a series of deadlines they … Read more
As you may know, there’s now a song at the top of the charts called “Rich Men North of Richmond,” in which a songwriter from Farmville, Virginia bemoans the existence of a wealthy and powerful elite in Washington DC that makes life harder for the rest of us. So I’m thinking, doesn’t pretty much EVERYWHERE … Read more
As your dedicated but humble correspondent, I always look for ways to elevate you as a scholar in the discipline of home repairs. So for YOUR benefit, not mine, I have just returned from a 2-week “sabbatical,” going thousands of miles away and thousands of years back, in GREECE. I hope you benefit from these … Read more
When I was just a wee little handy-boy, there was this popular song you may have heard of, “Blowin’ in the Wind.” It posed a series of questions that sounded real deep, but didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Then it breezily dismissed them by telling us the answer was “blowin’ in the wind.” … Read more
Sometimes when I listen to the news, I want to bury my head into the next toilet I need to fix, and never look up again. Like, right now. As I write this, things are not looking so good down at the border. And it seems like all we can do is hope and pray … Read more
Whoa! What was THAT? I’m not gonna point any fingers on who incurred God’s wrath this week, causing the heavens to open up. But I think we can safely narrow it down to one particular sinner among the 58,764 residents of St Peters, where 12” of rain was recorded. Your humble correspondent knows not the … Read more
I think we can all agree houses are better than they were 100 years ago. But, something pretty big has been lost – the front porch. Who uses a front porch anymore? People drive home, pull into their garages, then hit a button to shut the garage door behind them. Then if they go outside … Read more
Just another one of those humbling weeks when your humble correspondent was reminded of his limitations in life. This week I had to finally accept that this old handyman will likely never be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. In her confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee and Harvard Law School graduate Ketanji Brown Jackson was … Read more
No, I’m not trying to fool myself. Your humble correspondent knows he’s just an aging handyman who’s reached the pinnacle of his career on the world stage. Yet even from my lowly perch, I feel a need to do SOMETHING to unite everybody in these troubling times when we can’t seem to agree on ANYTHING. It’s … Read more