Recently we had a new roof put on our All Nations house. I went through the normal routine of finding a bid and trying to figure out who was being honest and wouldn't change the price and would include everything necessary to complete the job. Once satisfied I gave the job to one of the roofing companys and went merrily on my way.
Once the job started the shingles got put on in quick and fine fashion and was looking good. Then the first phone call came, "Mr. Catlett, this is Joe with the roofing company..."
well Joe went on to explain how the chimney was falling apart. When I asked him why he didn't tell me before the job started he said he didn't at that time think it was that bad. "Well Joe what needs to happen to repair it?" Joe told me we needed to have the whole chimney replaced. After me finally climbing on the roof to have a look we decided we could get by for a few years the way it was.
Phone call number two, "Mr. Catlett this is Joe again, you need to replace your downspouts." So I asked Joe why he hadn't noticed they needed replaced when they bid the job. After a very lengthy explanation I ended up with four new downspouts. Now in all fairness Joe and his crew did an excellent job and charged us a fair price. But I did have to be pulled away twice from what I was doing and 'faniggle' with them. Do you know that word faniggle?
There is an old adage that says,"you can't teach an old dog new tricks." I probably believed this to be true most of my life, that is until I reached fifty years of age. You see most of my life I considered FIFTY to be "old" and far past the learning curves of life. When I turned fifty i had to, of course, reconsider my belief in this. We have a dog named Phoebe, my wife named her, and when she was a puppy we taught her three tricks, SIT, ROLL OVER and SPEAK. Today she is about 7 1/2 years old and can still do the 3 tricks. About a year ago I decided she should learn to shake hands (paws). For nearly 6 months I tried everything to get her to do this but to no avail. She would simply sit there and look at me like I was some kind of idiot and refused to learn the new trick.
Today I am rapidly approaching 61. Most 20 year olds would consider me acient, older than dirt, fossil like. It's true my body has a few more aches and pains than it did a few years ago but in my mind I feel like I'm 30 and in the prime of my life. But, some things have come hard for me, such as the computer. When computers first became popular I refused to join in the merriment and continued doing things the old fashioned way. What's wrong with 'writing' a letter? Email, you've got to be kidding!! Well after some time, unlike my dog, I began to learn the computer.
Just as I was getting my computer skills sharpened along came the cell phone. Who in the world would actually want to carry a phone with them?? That's nuts!!! Now I not only have a cell phone but it's a world phone that I can talk on anytime anywhere. Who would have ever 'thunk' it?
