Mr. Handy

You know I ended up as a Mathematician. There are a few in my profession who also have home handyman skills, but I am not one of them. My latest home improvement project was not exactly improvement but just fixing up something that had gone wrong. Some time last year, out of nowhere, we had some boards in our wooden floor pop out. We suspect (but can't prove) that it was a result of the building construction next door. An expert we had in to the building said that the settling might continue for a couple of years. Thus, it did not make sense to pay someone to come in and replace the whole floor. There was a call to "Mr. Handy" (that's what my kids call me in this role) to do a temporary fix. 

I bought some equipment (a grinder, a vise, some floor board glue) and spent a few months building up momentum, then I tackled the job. There we 20ish boards to fix and replace. I think it went well, as long as you don't look too closely...

   

My children have grown up and don't live with me anymore, but they live in Vancouver and I see then fairly often. Our tradition is that after any project they ask me how many times I swore (none this time, maybe I have finally achieved enlightenment). The one event that was really worthy of foul language was when I ground through the electrical cord of the grinder. Nothing that a wire stripper and electrical tape couldn't fix. Anyone want a slightly damaged grinder?