Tribute to Barbaloot's Dad

While Barbaloot's folks are staying with us, her Dad gets bored easily. When we mentioned that we wanted to wreck out the carpet in the dining room and replace it with laminate flooring, he offered his experience and his patience. He even brought some tools.

The floor went down in a day and a half, interrupted regularly with having to chase Toad back downstairs and keep Mlle Sklodovska from falling down the cold-air return register.



He is talented at "cutting in," be it paint, roofing, linoleum or tile. The plank at the kitchen door was tricky, but when he had it just as he wanted it, it slipped in like a Garand bolt. Angle it like so, twist it a bit this way, that end first, easy eeeeeeeeaaaasssssyyy, pop.

When my vacation was over and I returned to work, he kept going with the moulding to cover the expansion gap at the edges of the new floor. I tell him how I appreciate and respect his work, and he just looks at me.

Did I mention he knows how to thread blackpipe?