janelle g. lee » build http://www.janellelee.com Artist Extraordinaire Tue, 14 May 2013 06:27:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 The Build http://www.janellelee.com/2012/03/26/the-build/ http://www.janellelee.com/2012/03/26/the-build/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:56:23 +0000 jglee http://www.janellelee.com/?p=300

The never ending build

Rome wasn’t built in a day… when a task is too big to be accomplished quickly people use the saying. Why Rome? and why is it a French Proverb? Why not Paris at least it’s in France. I had never given it much thought as to the origin or meaning until my husband threw the saying at me when I asked him how much longer it was going to take to finish the aviary. My first thought was I hoped he wasn’t building a coliseum to house the birds. My second thought was a little more rational. I asked him if he was on drugs. I didn’t have a third thought as I left him standing in the backyard with his vision.
What started out as a small bird cage with two budgies is now threatening to take over the entire backyard. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against birds and the number of times I have been in the backyard I could probably count on one hand I just need to know if there is an end in sight.
The first lot of timber that had been delivered to the house should have been a clue that all was not what it seemed. My husband, how can I say this delicately, is bloody hopeless. It took six years for him to reattach the front panel of the cutlery drawer and we he did finally get around to it he attached the panel upside down.
I watched with bemusement as he began to measure out and then cut the wood with a hand saw. I left him to it I mean how much damage could he do with a hand saw? Plenty would be the answer. Instead of using a stable table to cut the wood he decided it would be better to balance it on a log. Suffice to say it wasn’t one of his better ideas. The blood flowed as freely as the profanities. His thinking turned feral when he came back from Bunnings packing a circular power saw. I immediately reached for the phone ready to call emergency services. I have them on speed dial, sad but true. Over the years he has managed to defy death in an assortment of ways. Me becoming a widow has never been a case of if but when.
I watched as he placed the timber back onto the log and it was then I realised he actually believed it was how he was trying to cut the wood that was the problem not the where. I did a mental check on my wardrobe for a suitable outfit for the funeral. But alas he survived to show me his growing list of injuries.
I had to leave, there is only so much one can take, when he decided to use his trusted chainsaw as a sander. I am not a carpenter by any stretch of the imagination but a chainsaw as a sander… Give me a break. I have tried many times over the years to convince him that he doesn’t need a chainsaw but he insists he knows what he is doing. Did I mention that he is totally delusional?
When he began to talk about extensions I rolled my eyes. Now that the extensions have extensions I want to peck out my eyes (pardon the pun).
So as more timber is being delivered and he is pointing out his vision to me that will have us probably purchasing our neighbours property to accommodate that same vision one must conclude that yes Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will the aviary.

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