Anyone got any children I could borrow for a day?

You see, I'm remodeling my bathroom and I could use a hand. And this little girl isn't available always...

Actually, I love doing what my parents and grandparents always did. There is this memory I have of my grandpa who came to visit for a week. Grandpa was a mechanic of farming machinery and this time he decided to over-haul my dad's 4010. My younger brother, Jon, was following him around, asking a million and one questions about everything grandpa did. Every once in a while grandpa would say, “Well, Jon, now you have to wait a little while before you ask the next question.” So, grandpa had the 4010 all torn apart and had run into a glitch. He pensively stalked over to sit on a stump, striking a pose like “the thinker”, with my brother 2 steps behind. My brother, confused, looks at grandpa, asks, "What are you doing grandpa.” “vel, Jon, wir mussen hoken fur eine weile un denke.” (Well, we have to sit and think a while.)

Surprisingly, that particular brother is the family mechanic.

Likewise, I have taken it upon myself to occupy the minds and hands of children that happen to be put to my charge. While I do occupy them with the usual crayon and marker projects, I also bring them along in every day life, like my parents did. One thing I like to do with them is construction, because it blows their mind—going from a process of tearing something apart and then putting it all back together again. Once, I stripped a room down to the studs. I handed the 12 year-old neighbor girl a heavy hammer and some goggles and she tore down the whole wall of plaster and lath. And she had fun doing it.

This little girl was my shadow last Saturday. We went to buy some lumber and cement board at Menards. And we ate some candy that made our tongues funny colors.