Or, at least, the sidewalk.
The miracle this Monday once again celebrates the ingenuity of the MotH.*
See, we have a concrete walkway up to our front porch. (I hesitate to dignify it with the name “porch,” since it is really just a concrete slab, but it does have 2 columns holding up a little roof, so what would you call it?)
This walkway is made out of several separately poured sections. Over time, a corner has sunk here and there, and the walkway was no longer as smooth and even as it might once have been. In fact, it was a tripping hazard.
So, the MotH announced that he was going to attempt to fix this.
Oh, ye (or me, really) of little faith!
Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Surely, the sidewalk would end up not only uneven but cracked and broken.
I suggested that, perhaps, this was something on which we might want to get estimates. But, no. Nothing deters the MotH once he gets a bee in his bonnet.
The next thing I knew he was out there digging holes alongside and under the walkway. Then he got the car jack. You know. That thing you use when you have to change a tire. (I cannot remember the last time I needed to change a tire. Do tires even need changing anymore?)
Anyway, he slid the carjack under the walkway—and he jacked it up!
Then, he got some wood to help hold it in place and packed dirt back into the holes. A little sealant stuff at the seams, and the walkway looks brand new. It may not hold up under heavy use—but it’s been almost two weeks—and it doesn’t get heavy use anyway.
I don’t know why I always view these projects of his with trepidation. They almost always turn out well. (It’s possible my hesitancy stems from the time he drilled a hole in the bottom of our boat three days before we were due to set out on a 19-day cruise down the Intercoastal Waterway—but that’s another story. And it happened quite a while ago, now. Maybe my inner warning system could let it go.)
Truly, I think the MotH is kind of like Archimedes. Give him a lever and a place to stand, and he could move the world.
It’s just that he probably shouldn’t mention it to me first.
* MotH = Man of the House
