Guru

When did I get so smart?

It seems that everyone I know calls me to give them the solutions to all their problems. After taking my bride to the grocery store yesterday I planned on sneaking off to the building site and spending a pleasent day just doing site clean-up with my tractor and chainsaw. One quick stop at the Amish Craftsman's place to tell him we are going with a High-Tech insulation system under the metal roof and give him a time frame for delivery, he asks me if I know anything about the reel mower he pulls with a horse to mow his lawn. Spent the next two hours configuring a sharpening stone, sharpening, and adjusting his ancient piece of equipment. It now cuts like a dream and he says he will take my labors off the bill. Sounds like a fair tradeoff to me.

I can not keep my nose out of it!
If it's mechanical, horticultural, or involves a thought out solution something inside me kicks in and I have to get involved even if it should not be my problem. Is this self distructive behavior or just unbounded creativity?

My wife has turned me around!
For years she has been telling me I should be charging people for my time, that if they knew what to do they would not have called me. Turns out she is right. People do not mind paying when the problem goes away. To this day I have a hard time taking money from neighbors and friends, but not from most of my relatives. The exception is the neighbor across the road from my present location, they are users if you let them be. This "Don't mind paying" theory has proved itself true over and over again, Call Backs! I get plenty.


I should change my name!
Maybe to "Jack" as in "Jack of all trades", or maybe "General", as in "General contractor", or "Mr. Goodwrench". There is not much I won't have a go at, electrical, plumbing, foundations, carpentry, weld fab work, equipment repair, underground work like sewers, French Drains, utility buries, driveway installs, and I love "From the ground up" projects!

OK My Point!
Over the years I have amassed a huge collection of tools and equipment and every hobby I have tried ends up making me money. So I have decided to not fight the feeling, if someone wants to throw cash at me I am playing catch. I barter my skills for things I want and anyone who deals with me comes away happy. No better feeling for me then figuring it out and fixing it, whatever "IT" may be.