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Thursday, August 11, 2016

At what cost?


This will be a different type of kayak post.


My local kayak friends know that I am mired in a massive project, as did anyone who read an earlier post of mine to say my paddling would not be as consistent for a while.


I built my own home some 30 years ago.  Well, 95% of it anyway.  That included shingling the roof.


I've been lucky stretching the life of the roof but this year the roof has to be re-shingled.


My plan was to do the job again myself.  105 bundles, yikes!


After two days I've realized I'm not as young as I was when I did it the first time.  I'm also much more nervous up on the roof at 5 meters above the ground.


After two weeks of prep work I was feeling the effort.  I was also feeling the pressure of getting the roof done without letting rain water into the house.  Say nothing of the loss of sleep due to worry.


Two days into stripping the old shingles and putting down a protective underlay I realized it was beyond me.  It was going to take much more time than I anticipated and at the end I'd be nothing but skin and bone so ...


... I made the decision to pay someone else to do the job.  Once I made that decision the stress just melted away.

Like I said, I've been mired in this project for three weeks.  I've missed a a four day kayak camp trip and I've missed paddling on weekends.  At the end of each day I've been too tired to pick up my guitar.  Both of these things that give me such pleasure were suffering.

They say time is money.  We are all given a bank of time, no more time will be dispensed.  Money is relative and there are no pockets in that final suit - you can't take it with you.  May as well use some of it to buy time to do the things I enjoy.

A special thanks to friend Cathy for validation of that decision.

10 comments:

  1. You got it Tony... You can't buy time but you can by a shingle job. By doing the work yourself all you'll accomplish is a few more bucks set aside for Charlie... And he will probably use your money to pay someone to shingle his roof!!!

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    1. I really like this post Tony and the response from Dean. Sometimes I'm embarrassed by my lack of will (not to mention talent) to take on such jobs. sometimes I attempt them and lose interest and sometimes I realize I'd be over my head if I started or that I'd miss out on more enjoyable opportunities-those are the best times. I had a friend who used to always say to me its only money and that got irritating - particularly when there was little of it. Not that I'm any wealthier now...but my perspective is richer. Cheers.

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    2. I don't think it was so much about the money but I took it on as a challenge. Just have to be humble enough to admit that its not worth it sometimes. It took a few days but I ended up where I should have been at the start. Thanks for your comment.

      Tony :-)

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  2. Ya Dean, sometimes it doesn't pay to be a stubborn old fool but I have seen the light on this one.

    Tony :-)

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  3. So that's why we didn't get any sun in the last few weeks ... ;-)

    Heine

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  4. Seems a sound decision Tony, nobody likes admitting that something is beyond them, it takes courage to recognise it. Time to go paddling!

    :o)

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    1. Thanks Ian. Maybe I'm starting to get rid of this stubborn streak. Life is too short to get caught up in unpleasant tasks when others are happy to do it for gain.

      Tony -)

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  5. So thrilled to know we got our Tony back!!!! Happy to have helped you find your balance! :) :) Thanks for these pix! Very special to have Larina and James out there too!! Let's Paddle On Kuvi!! :)

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  6. Special thanks to a special friend. 'nuff said!

    Tony :-)

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