What I saw

I bought a new hand saw. I had to. I spent twenty minutes trying to rip half an inch off the width of a piece of brick molding with the trusty but old and dull hand saw that's been in my tool box for at least ten years, probably as much as fifteen. It's still a good saw, but now that I'm in my forties I can't keep flailing away as long as I could when I was thirty.

I stopped once about halfway through the cut and considered running to the store for a new saw right then, but we were trying to get as much done after supper as we could, and I was losing daylight fast. A trip to the store would take at least fifteen minutes, maybe as much as twenty or twenty-five, if I ran into a snag (and I always run into a snag), so I kept at it. Five more minutes passed and the kerf lengthened maybe an inch or two. When I stopped to catch my breath and get my strength back, I had to think about running to the store again.

No. I had to get something done tonight. I bent to the task and started again. The cut lengthened another inch. Now my arms were becoming numb. I had to think about each and every stroke to keep going. Finally I stopped cold, set the saw down, went inside to get the car keys, and bolted down the road toward the hardware store.

Fifteen minutes later I had a brand new, sharp saw. A saw so sharp I had to hold it back, or rather hold myself back. After pushing hard on the old saw, I had to adjust my technique to ease the new saw into the cut, guide it more carefully through the kerf, and, when I got a knuckle a little too close to the teeth, remember that this was not the older, more forgiving saw I'd been using for years.

I didn't have much daylight left, but in the short time I did have I managed to cut two lengths of brick molding and fit them around the window. Tomorrow I'll cut and fit the other two lengths and caulk around the whole window so it's finally sealed from the elements and I can take down the plastic sheet covering it once and for all.