Back during the “M” years (I was married for a short time during the 1980s), my then-husband decided he needed to build a woodshed so we could utilize the fireplace insert more often as our primary heat source.
Little did I know what all that would entail: treated wood, composition roofing, steel truss supports and cement post holes. It evolved into a major project in no time at all, and I watched in horror as our meager savings account dwindled. I tried to calculate how much “savings” on electric heat we would have to realize before breaking even on this open-air cover for fireplace wood.
I don’t know if we ever hit that break point. The first 12 cords of wood were used up just about the time the divorce papers were final.
Years later, another guy decided to secure the “shed” with chicken wire to make an enclosure for his dog when he visited. Several rolls of wire and about a bazillion industrial staples later, the escape-artist dog still thought it was all a great game.
Recently, another guy-friend moved into an apartment with no driveway space in which to park his 14 foot boat and trailer. “You mind if I remove the chicken wire and the dog house from the pen you’re not using?” he asked. “Then I can back my boat right in there out of the weather.”
Yeah, sure, no problem. Like magic, it went from open-air woodshed to dog pen to boathouse. Even after living here for 28 years, that space has never really belonged to me. If I had my way, I’d enclose it, heat it, hook it up to the internet and create a writing studio “away from home” so I’d get more work done. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Besides, with a boat that handy, I might just get to go fishing a few more times this year. And that, too, would be a very good thing.