So, I took it into my head – and my daughter agreed with me – that we needed a shed in the back yard. Something to store the things that we use for market events, and other bulky items to large for the various closets in the house; yes, the garage is already disgracefully stuffed full of my daughter’s things, brought home from two tours in the Marines, passed on from me to her, or purchased against the likelihood of an establishment of her own. Alas, the current economic situation has delayed that eventuality – anyway, we enjoy each other’s company, and partner in business and economics, so why this is any different from the 19th century anyway … that’s anyone’s guess. Still leaves the garage packed full; as the tee-shirt says, “It’s Not an Empty Nest Until All Their Stuff Is Out Of the Garage.”

So, we decided that we needed a shed, to store the various items involved with doing market events (tables, the pavilion, the weights and racks, the Chambers stove inheritance, the gardening gear, the various impedimenta to do with our home canning, home brewing and cheese-making enterprises – and really, what could be more convenient than a small shed in that corner of the back yard shaded into oblivion by the horrible laurel-cherry trees. I kick myself every time I look at the wretched things – why, oh, why didn’t I pull them up as saplings? Because they grew into rather substantial shrubs/trees, which provided a degree of privacy on the boundary between my yard and that of my neighbor. Anyway, the darned things are doomed, as soon as the date for brush pick-up is posted in the fall.

But I digress … the shed. All the lovely, attractive wooden sheds or those which were half-storage and half-greenhouse were either too expensive or too inconvenient in dimension. And after serious consideration, I didn’t think that my daughter and I would be up to assembling a DIY unit. Those molded-plastic ones available here in Texas for fairly reasonable sums through the usual outlets … we have seen how they endure, and no … just no. They were eliminated from the get-go. So, we were thrown back on a local provider with a premise which we had driven past for ages … a provider of bespoke metal-sided and metal-roofed sheds … which, we were given to understand, were temporary and removable … but which could be build to the exact dimensions and features required … and so we went with Chaparral, who seems to do everything but actually have a website. Sigh – still, they seem to be able to manage without it … one of those instances where word of mouth or dropping in personally still counts.

So, we went in to their San Antonio premise a couple of weeks ago, and outlined what we thought could fit into the back left corner of the back yard, paid a deposit and made arrangements for installation … and they came and did it last Wednesday. Done before noon, actually – although my daughter thinks they were not happy about having to slash away a pair of hackberry shrubs and remove a length of fence-line through the back of the property to accommodate installation. The good thing – they were able to come at it all through the back of the property with all the pre-built panels. They were done, as I said, before noon – and all to the design that we had worked out with the local salesman.

And now, we have to integrate it into the back-yard landscape. Oh, oh, oh – like re-do a length of the back fence, using the existing posts and pickets. The most important thing is that the pavers and gravel that I had already existing will have to be re-done. That is, yanked up and re-set, and a stair set up before the door … but this is about the second or third time that I have re-done the back yard. No, I was never content with it for long – and now that we have the shed, with a narrow porch in front … and oh, well. There is so much to be done. But the guys from Chaparral did a good job. We sent them away with six bottles of home-brewed beer, a reference to the commercial outlet at Home Brew Party, and our grateful thanks.

So – now we have a month of weekend projects set out for us. But when we are done – I am certain that it will be amazing!