1928 Bungalow: before and after

Everybody loves before and after pictures. When used to watch those shows on HGTV (lies, all lies!), I only cared about the before and after. It's not as if they really showed the HOW of the work they did anyway. So, for your viewing pleasure, I present BEFORE and AFTER yard photos.

love song: i and thou

Nothing is plumb, level or square:
the studs are bowed, the joists
are shaky by nature, no piece fits
any other piece without a gap
or pinch, and bent nails
dance all over the surfacing
like maggots. By Christ
I am no carpenter. I built
the roof for myself, the walls
for myself, the floors
for myself, and got
hung up in it myself. I
danced with a purple thumb
at this house-warming, drunk
with my prime whiskey: rage.
Oh I spat rage’s nails
into the frame-up of my work:
It held. It settled plumb,
level, solid, square and true
for that one great moment. Then
it screamed and went on through,
skewing as wrong the other way.
God damned it. This is hell,
but I planned it, I sawed it,
I nailed it, and I
will live in it until it kills me.
I can nail my left palm
to the left-hand cross-piece but
I can’t do everything myself.
I need a hand to nail the right,
a help, a love, a you, a wife.

--Alan Dugan (1923-2003)

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08 June 2008

before and after - herb garden

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