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I thanked him profusely and proceeded to pay for my purchases. When the cashier saw the items, he was also shocked and asked me if my husband would be helping me load the stuff into my car but Ned just shook his head.
“I’ll help her,” he volunteered. “She’s not married yet.”
“Oh,” the cashier said with a slow nod. “Glad to see some of you young women willing to get your hands dirty. You don’t see a lot of that.”
Yes, because you men always think we are not strong enough for that!
“I’m always willing to learn new things. Plus, I think this will be a great summer project.” I said in a firm and determined voice.
“Well, good luck,” he winked at me. “Let us know if you need anything more or if you have other projects in mind!”
“I sure will! Thanks!”
After Ned helped me load my purchases into the back of my car, I drove back home with a wide smile on my face.
I did it. I finally did it!I thought happily to myself.Now, all that’s left to do is fix up the roof. Hopefully, I can do a good enough job that will make Grandpa Frederick proud of me.
As if he heard my thoughts, I watched as the sky cleared on the way back home. When I finally pulled my car to park on the side of the house, the sun was shining merrily in the sky again and there was not a cloud to be seen.
Great, so I can start fixing it right now!I thought in excited anticipation.
I got out of the car and looked up to the roof with a huge smile. I took the weather as a sign that I had Grandpa Frederick’s blessing to work on the veranda.
Maybe he’ll help me while I’m at it, too!
I let Buddy out of the house and he barked happily before he tilted his head at the sight of the tools and the wood I had set out on the lawn. I rolled up my sleeves in a comical fashion, put on my helmet, earmuffs, and goggles, and flashed a pose.
“How do I look, Bud?” I told him.
He barked a little hesitantly and licked my hand. I laughed at him and scratched his head for a bit.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I grinned. “I might not look like those macho construction guys but there’s always room for learning new things.”
After I had laid out my tools and made sure I had everything prepared for my project, I started up the saw and laughed a little when Buddy jumped back and barked at the noisy machine.
“Don’t worry, Bud!” I reassured him. “As long as we’re careful, it won’t hurt us!”
I took the saw again and slowly started sawing through the wood beams until I had the desired sizes I wanted. I was glad that Ned at the hardware had recommended the earmuffs since they made an awful lot of noise. I was afraid I would have gone deaf by the end of my project without them.
The ruckus might have alerted our neighbor to my activities because Mr. Holloway peered out of the hedge over my lawn. When he saw me sawing away at the wood beams, the look of astonishment was almost comical.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Holloway!” I greeted him, taking off my earmuffs.
He seemed visibly dazed at the sight of me on my lawn with a circular saw roaring away. He glanced at the saw then at my smiling face.
“Do you need any help with that, Miss Ross?” he asked me.
I shook my head at him. “Nope. But thank you for asking, Mr. Holloway,” I told him cheerfully.
“Well, if you think you need a man around to help you, you can always just come over and ask me.”
I laughed a little and winked at him. “Well, women can give birth so I think I don’t have to worry about not being able to fix my roof, at the very least.”
He looked taken aback for a moment before he smiled and nodded slowly in understanding. “That’s right,” he said. “Until now, it still boggles my mind how my wife can give birth three times and still ask me if we should try for a fourth. I damn near fainted after I saw the second one coming out of her!”
We both laughed at that one. His wife, Mrs. Holloway, was a petite woman with bright red hair and a gentle smile on her pretty face all the time. Indeed, it was quite hard to imagine her giving birth to three healthy little boys but from all accounts, she managed to do it successfully each and every time.
“Well, I wish you good luck on that, Miss Ross,” he grinned.
