There's a gentleman in my construction class who exceeds the general class skill level on every possible metric. He makes exquisite furniture using scrap wood. He makes baby toys, cribs and scooters between other carpentry assignments. He is a craftsman, an artist and a hard worker. He can drive a 16d nail into a 2x4 … Continue reading Talk Is Cheap, But Also Priceless

A few weeks back, I celebrated the made-up holiday Pat Hickman Day by posting a story about the gentleman who built my house and planted the glorious saucer magnolia in our front yard some 80 years ago. My favorite tree-hugging friend, Vicki Turner, read the story and submitted it to the Nashville Tree Foundation's Big … Continue reading Big Ole Tree

The new trimester at construction school opened with a screening of snuff films--decapitations, electrocutions, dismemberments and impalings--all in the name of putting safety first on the job site. OSHA is a dark mistress. After so many clips of arc-flash burns that left me covering my eyes in terror, a YouTube video from Dirty Jobs host … Continue reading Safety is Sexy

My brother-in-law Scott died unexpectedly this week. He's the husband of my sister Polly, who started construction class with me in the fall. We are all devastated. Scott loved the idea of Polly's learning construction. Building and fixing things came easily to him. Sitting around the house telling stories these last few days, someone remembered … Continue reading Scott Nieboer Built an Extraordinary Life

In carpentry--unlike other disciplines, such as the study of language or business training, for example--filling out one's toolbox is not just a metaphor. Since enrolling in construction school in September, I have acquired a motley selection of tools, including a Ryobi palm sander, Husky utility knife, and my beloved DeWalt jigsaw. At the top of … Continue reading I Chalk the Line

(UPDATE: Earth Day was canceled due to rain. I feel a sad haiku coming on...) Tomorrow is Earth Day, which means a festival of environment- and family-friendly activities at Centennial Park in Nashville. Starting at 11 a.m., there will be live music, a green market of local products, Goodwill clothing and book drop-off, pharmaceutical disposal, and craft … Continue reading A Haiku for Earth Day

Maybe it's because I have been a food writer for so much of my life, but information tends to stick with me better when it's framed in culinary terms. At construction school, sandwiches are a frequent trope. For example, we informally refer to door and window headers as "OSB sandwiches," that is, a couple slabs of two-by lumber with a … Continue reading More Sandwiches than a Which Wich

At forty-five years old, I am almost three times as old as my youngest classmate in construction school. That's really old. So old, in fact, that simply calling me "old" doesn't cut it for my colleagues. Apparently, to express how incredibly aged and decrepit I am, one must reference my brittle bones, my leathery skin, my imminent … Continue reading Only as Old as You Feel

Visions of the SkillsUSA statewide competition in Chattanooga are still swirling in my brain. It's not just the adrenaline of the competition that I can't shake, but rather the spectacle of 2,000 Tennessee high school and college students competing in everything from Robotics and Cosmetology to Suitcase Display and Promotional Bulletin Board Design that keeps pinging through my mind. … Continue reading Sharp Dressed Crowd