~ Man’s Work ~

My Captain, a man of considerable talent and ability, has taken on a project of gigantic proportion.  It has to do with building a walk-out basement and brick patio in the Little Cottage.  The gigantic proportion part has nothing to do with the structural engineering of the retaining walls…he could do that in his sleep.

And it has nothing to do with the construction and earth moving aspects.  He’s got that nailed.

And it’s not even the time-consuming aspect of laying the foundations for the brick pavers, and ultimately laying the pavers in a Herringbone pattern.

The gigantic proportion part is that he is teaching Critter to do all these things along the way.

Critter is a ten-year-old boy who is like a mix of Bugs Bunny’s wit and the Tazmanian Devil’s energy.  He’s bright…dangerously bright.  He’s quick….dangerously quick.  And he’s energetic.  ASTOUNDLINGLY energetic.

Plus he’s ten, which means his impulse control is nil.

And he’s a boy, which means anything worth doing in his world starts with the phrase, “Hey, ya’ll!  Watch this!”

Now, take all of that, wrap it up in a bundle of gorgeousness, and you have my Critter.

Not that I’m biased.

If you were to put the potent mixture that is a Critter and add it to gasoline powered tamper,

a literal ton of gravel and sand,

and two full pallets of brick pavers, and you’d have a handful.

Which is exactly what we had.

Oh, don’t worry, My Captain didn’t hand him the sledge-hammer or the Sawzall to start out with.  Rather, he wisely gave him the job of water-tamping, and hand-tamping.

Now, you might wonder how difficult a task that could possibly be.

And you might wonder if it is really necessary to micro-manage such a simple task.

And you might question how much trouble Critter could possibly get into with just a hose and a tamper.

But if you have noticed by these pictures, My Captain is with him every step of the way.

Partly because he is in ‘teaching’ mode, and he is a very, very, very conscientious teacher.

Partly because he loves the boy and wants to be with him as they work together, not just give him a task and forget about him.

But also because he’s, well, CRITTER.

A Ten-Year-Old Boy.

With “man’s-work” type tools in his hands.

And ALL that that implies!!!!