As it turns out, it looks like I can relax on selling my property for now. The fellow that came up to look at it with his wife called me back and said they were going to have to wait for awhile before buying. While I might should have felt some disappointment, I was actually relieved. I had been feeling that feeling that comes when an old friend moves out of town. Now, it seems like my commitment to finishing the work I have started has been renewed.

There still remains a great deal of labor to be done, but I also possess a great deal of determination to complete it.

However, this past week, my attention was instead focused on a project for my family. I helped my sister revamp her living room, a project that had been needed for some time. The old wood floors were in disrepair and the walls, covered with Masonite paneling, were also looking worse for wear.

Her husband and myself removed the paneling from the room and painted the walls beneath. Actually, I painted and he used glazing to patch the holes and dents in the walls. It took the better part of two days to complete the work, all told.

We also had to move the furniture out and, after the work was done, back in - a job in itself. Their living room is huge, measuring 15' by 17', with ceilings reaching almost nine feet. It was a daunting job to complete.

However, I have always liked to take on big jobs and see them completed. Sometimes I only take them on and don't get them completed, but that's another story.

Even with the size of the room, it looked rather small with the dark paneling and dark, scarred wood flooring. It wasn't regular oak flooring, it was pine flooring with a dark, almost black, brown finish. The floor had cracked over the years and been patched with filler in preparation for our next part of the job, laying carpet.

I went with my sister to the really big hardware store to get the carpet, learning yet again that the service isn't what it was here in Sparta. I ended up loading the huge roll of carpet myself, with the help of a kind bystander. A local fellow was there and offered to help me as well, I know I appreciated it. Until I got outside and waited for about 10 minutes, I actually believed that the store's personnel would provide service for me. Wasn't that stupid?

At any rate, another customer happened by after I turned down the help of the Alleghany friend and I took him up on it.

After taking the carpet and pad back to her house, I then laid it in place with the help of several other folks. I cut around the outside edge with my utility knife, leaving one of the best edges I have ever made. Too bad I didn't figure out how well I can do that in time to help my own carpet work at home. Such is life. I always do my best work for someone else, it seems.

All that remained to do was put down baseboard, for which purpose I selected a few of my hickory boards. I hadn't really done much work with hickory, not because I don't have it, but because of its density. Other than locust, I can't think of many woods that are as dense and hard as hickory.

My brother-in-law and I selected a number of boards for the task and started to rip them into three-inch pieces with my circular saw. After I roasted one blade, I remembered why I haven't done much work with hickory.

The blade started smoking after the first couple passes down the length of the boards. When I use the word ‘passes', it makes it sound easy. It was more like pushing the saw through the board than it was like passing through the wood.

In order to get it put in place, I had to put my drill to work, making a few holes in the wood in preparation of installing it. The nails and screws wouldn't do the trick without help, either.

At least I know that hickory is going to be there for awhile. It will probably outlast me. The last trim was also pine and had deteriorated over the years. Several pieces broke apart when they were pulled from the wall. I don't think the hickory will do that. I would like to use some of the remainder to build a building floor in my next project. I already have some grand designs for getting that started later this month, but with the weather the way it is, who knows when I can get around to it?

I haven't been able to do the things I've wanted to do because of the rain that we've been experiencing lately. Not that I am complaining. I remember last year how everyone was complaining about the drought. Now I see some of those same folks and listen to them complaining about the amount of rain we're getting.

I am sure it is the same sort of thing God has heard before. People can't be made happy, it's just impossible. You can rain down bread from heaven in the desert and they'll whine for meat. Give them meat and they'll find something else to whine about.

I, for one, am very pleased to see the streams and creeks returning to at least a portion of their former glory. The flows are back to where they once were and many of the small springs that had dried up are now flowing again. I visited a friend of mine not too long ago and he said the stream behind his house hadn't been flowing for several years and is now going again.

As for the other jobs at hand, I guess they are going to have to wait. I might just take a real vacation before too long. There is nothing like sun, sand and salty air to rejuvenate the spirit. Well, I guess the forest, trees and mountain air could do that for you, but changing scenery is nice.

Get more tongue in cheek commentary this week's issue of the Alleghany News!

Email: allnews@ls.net