Welcome to spring.

So many people choose this time of year to start thinking about their own projects. Outdoor projects are a favourite to undertake when the weather gets nice. I’m no different. I have been thinking about a number of things that need to get done on the outside of the house. There is the roof, for instance, that must have new shingles soon. There are also a few windows to replace.

Those are things I have been putting off and will likely continue to not do.

I’d prefer to do another outdoor project I’ve been thinking about. For some time, I’ve been wanting a new shed just for my tools. As it is, I have a large assortment of tools I take to work and when I want to empty the car (or minivan, I guess), I have to haul all of it down to my basement workshop. There is sits until I drag it back up. The tools I use for work are never used in my workshop.

Making such a shed and not having it look like an outhouse will be a challenge. I may make that soon. The fact is, I already have two backyard sheds, but neither of them is appropriate for the tools. In other words, both are already full of stuff. Well, and one has the lawnmower in it and isn’t exactly weather-proof, anymore, in spite of my having fixed it a few years ago.

My wife and I were driving somewhere a while ago and she asked out of the blue, “What’s a gazebo for?”

I was driving and didn’t see what she was talking about, but apparently she saw a gazebo stuck out on the lawn of someone’s house, where it didn’t look exactly comfortable.

I laughed, because Pete had once said, “Gazebos are a way for bored people to waste money.”

“People like to sit in them,” I said. “Before houses had air conditioning, it was a place to sit out of the sun and air can come in from any direction. It was good for people to get out and, as my father used to say, get the stink blown off them.”

“Aren’t they usually with a deck?” She was referring to the fact that this one was sitting in the middle of the front yard.

“You know, people get tools and they want to make something. So a gazebo is a good thing to make. And some people get a house and they want a deck made and they think a gazebo goes with that. The guy making the deck is more than happy to make a gazebo, too.”

“Why would someone put one on their lawn?”

“Maybe they don’t have a deck.”

A while passed.

“I’m not making a gazebo,” I said.

“I know,” she said.

She’s more interested in a back yard pool, which will also never happen. And that is something I can’t be expected to make, which is good.

No, what I need to focus on is finding the right time to redo the shingles. And I need to figure out the best time for replacing my windows. And I need to finish the interior of my kitchen, which is currently less than half done. But there are always so many reasons to put things off. And before you know it, the season is over and you no longer feel like starting anything.

Plus I just bought a book with some classic wooden toy designs in it, which is much more of a workshop thing. And the beauty of being in the workshop, especially a basement workshop, is you don’t notice what season it is. The weather is always the same in there. You never need to worry about rain.

Well, until the shingles fail and the house fills with rain water.