Floor Boards

June 10, 2022

Meema/Beepa night is underway, with most of the grandkids present and accounted for. It’s good to hear the conversations even though these defective ears of mine can’t make out most of what they’re saying when they all talk at once. 

One of the features of these Friday nights is “High—Low,” when we go around the dinner table, each one telling the best and worst of their day; the “high” is required, the “low” is optional. This little exercise often gives insight into the inner workings of their minds as they reveal thoughts and experiences that otherwise might not see the light of day.

It’s a wonderful time of the day. Cell phones are put away, conversation flows, as does the laughter. They actually listen to each other, probably because early on when they were much younger, we would quiz them on what the person before them had said. It’s easy to be thinking of your own narrative when you should be listening to someone else. They listen, thanks to early conditioning at our table.

I was the last to speak tonight. I am thankful for my friend Clark who is tutoring me in Spanish. The hour or so we spend together is becoming a high point of my week as we laugh our way through the lessons. He is a good teacher, with tips and pointers that are helping me learn much faster than if I tried doing it on my own.

I had two highs tonight, Clark being the first, and repairing my garage floor the second. For the past year, when we put the car in the garage, the floor would sag where the left front wheel would come to rest. A week ago, I bought from an Amish sawyer 150 square feet of inch and a half hardwood. Hemlock and larch are about impossible to get, but he had maple, oak, and cherry. His price was right, so I am the owner of a hardwood garage floor. Almost.

When I pulled up the sagging plywood, I discovered the reason for the problem. It wasn’t as I feared, rotted floor joists. In this particular spot, the joist that was sistered to the main joist had dropped away. The wood was fine, but the nails holding the two together had disintegrated. Reattaching the sistered joist put me back in business without having to tear up the entire floor. That was my “high.” My “low” is that now I have 150 square feet of 8 inch maple 2 X 6’s with no plan for them. Yet.