I was researching yesterday whether I could still get decking of the redwood style of plastic wood from Timber tech still. I think it was 5 to10 years ago when we had the new deck put in. We considered actual redwood but it would have cost 2 to 3 times as much plus there aren't that many redwoods left alive even in California so you sort of want to encourage them to not go extinct like so many other living things are both plant and animal around the world every single day. So, we chose to go with a really good source of plastic wood which likely will last longer than almost any wood I can think of that won't warp in the rain and snow outside. (even though it doesn't snow here on the coast) (usually). But we have had temperatures where I live down to around 32 to 36 at the coldest both here and in Santa Barbara where we were last week visiting one of my daughter's and her husband and daughter there.
So, the next problem I guess would be my wife in all of this because she is a perfectionist like her mother was too and she is well educated with three college degrees including a master's degree in Business which I find is very helpful in our lives now especially as we get older and are more retired than before.
But, the problem is I'm sort of a "Whatever works" kind of guy who is ultimately pragmatic about my survival and the survival of my wife and family. Whereas my wife wants everything to be perfect which is okay as long as the two of us don't get into it. This is especially true after her last knee replacement and feeling disempowered by having to be mostly bed ridden for so long in November after the Knee replacement and then we both (and her nurse) all had Covid most of NOvember too. So, this wasn't good.
So now, I have to cope with her empowering herself which is good but also with her not stealing my power in the process because she naturally is a very empowered woman which is good because she is like American Nobility in action which I find personally empowering too to be around because she is an optimist and an extrovert and I don't tend to be that way.
So, I'm more about:" How do I survive today and tomorrow and have enough fun in life to still want to be alive ongoing?"
Because I have found basically if you are not happy enough, You die pretty young usually.
So, empowering yourself to have enough fun in life is one of the ways you stay around a long time in life, however you choose to do this.
So, though I could fix the deck myself she might not be happy with the way I do this. Also, I'm not a finish carpenter with a lot of patience who builds cabinets and chairs and things like this. I'm more of a ding batter which is what people who frame houses are called. So, I can take plans and completely build a house from scratch and know how to follow architectual plans to build something. However, if you wanted me to do finish carpentry which is much more detailed and time consuming I likely wouldn't choose to do this.
You also see this in my writing where I hate to edit but love to write. So, I'm more of a story teller than I am an actual writer and I accept this about myself.
Because writing is about 10% of it and editing is the other 90% of it. So, this is why I call myself a story teller because I hate to edit what I write.
However, in the meantime I replaced the broken rails from the tree falling temporarily with two 8 foot 2 by 4s I had around in my garage. And I attached these using my Makita electric drill and screwdriver with outdoor screw nails so I could remove these pieces when I am able to get Timber Tech replacements. However, a lot has been going on and now it is one month since the tree fell and the only thing left to do now is to replace the Timber tech rails that were broken by the 100 foot tree that destroyed the rails and part of the deck flooring around our hot tub.
So, we will see how all this turns out. To me it's more important to stay married that have to get into arguments with my wife about most anything.
So, I might continue without telling her what I'm going to do. We will see.
It's sort of like when a hummingbird flew in our foyer door to our deck in our back yard. he got lost and couldn't get back out. And then he flew up into our skylight above our kitchen and wouldn't come down to go out the door and was beating himself to death on the glass skylight. After using poles to try to get him to come down unsucessfully I was afraid he was going to die there. So, when my wife wasn't looking I climbed up on our roof and unscrewed the lag bolt holding our skylight in place and freed him.
However, he was so exhausted he could barely make it to the nearest tree. He was really dragging his butt. I have not idea whether he survived the night either because they have to eat all their daylight hours in order to survive such a fast metabolism. But, at least he got free of the kitchen and the skylight.
Later my wife was both upset I went up on the roof because I was in my early 70s then and we have friends crippled from them going up on their roofs too late in life. But, she was also happy that I gave the hummingbird a chance to stay alive as well.
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