Windows

I have a confession to make. (I got a lot more to confess, but
not now) I have never installed a window in my life. I can show
you how to do it & I can tell you how to do it but I can't do it
myself. I can buy them, I can sell them, I can even manage
them. "Fumble finger" is my secret nickname.

I had some terrific carpenters working for me through the years
& they taught me everything I know about installing windows.
Gotta be plum, gotta be square or they ain't goin to open &
close. That's all there is to it.

What I am leading up to is how important windows are in the
make-up of any addition or remodel. They add oomph, pizazz,
moxie & flair to the room. They let in light & ventilation of
course, but the real virtue is the appearance.

It wasn't always that way. In days of old when I was a lot
younger, windows were always sticking. You couldn't get them
up & when you finally did, then you couldn't get them down.

They were made of inexpensive lumber & were not put together
very well & they were strictly functional. Air & light were their
only purpose. Not only that they had to be covered with cheap
storm windows & screens that never fit properly.

(We had a two story house when I was a kid & one spring day
my father decided to remove the storms. He lowers the storm
from the second floor window to my Mother on the ground only
to drop it on her head. Hospital & stitches ensued & I don't
remember the storms ever going on again)

The choices of quality windows today is really outstanding.
Each one seemingly better looking than the other. Is a bay
window better looking then a bow window? I don't know the
answer to that question & no one else does either.

I was asked this question hundreds of times through the years;
"I like the bow window better than the bay window. Which one
do you think is the better looking?"

I quickly found out that a trap was being set. I was about to get
snared by the net. If I answered truthfully that I liked the bay
window, then I was met with darts coming from the eyes of the
lady of the house.

I had exposed myself as being a thoughtless nerd no chance of redemption.

I could see the thoughts hovering over her head. "This clod doesn't know anything.

How could he possibly think a bay window was better looking than a
bow window. "Off with his head".

After my lesson was learned, I never failed to give the correct
answer, each & every time for the next twenty-five years.