My dad just hit the road pulling a tear-drop trailer. He built it by hand. A tear-drop trailer isn\u2019t called that because you cry at how expensive it is. It\u2019s the shape. Like an aerodynamic tear as you tow it down the road, off to some great adventure where you sleep in it under the stars with a little window and some kind of marine-grade battery running your computer. Because stars need Netflix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, let\u2019s return to this: He built it \u2026 WITH HIS OWN HANDS!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pretty cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More impressive: It didn\u2019t fall apart as he hauled it up the interstate on a trek to drive my sister from Tampa to meet up with her boyfriend in Virginia. He parked at a lake in Georgia and sent photos. The sides didn\u2019t seem to be shearing off. The roof wasn\u2019t peeling away like the lid of a sardine can. It hadn\u2019t hopped the hitch and plowed into a pine tree or dumped its contents all over the interstate before becoming a viral video titled, \u201cDude\u2019s trailer just threw itself up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow\u2019s it riding and working out?\u201d I texted after getting a photo of a lake sunset and my sister enjoying it in a foldup chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeautifully!\u201d he wrote back. Translation: I thought it was going to hop the hitch and plow into a pine tree. BUT IT DIDN\u2019T!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huh. That\u2019s pretty impressive. The ingenuity. The craftsmanship. The sense of liberation and adventure. The gumption to make it work. That it looks good and is functional. And was built with his own HANDS!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huh. This was all occurring to me Sunday morning as my hands just finished Googling: \u201cBest bath scrubby gentle sensitive no scratchy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad: Built camper. Son: Looking for soft bath scrubby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was not my proudest moment. A zero on the macho scale. A blow to my Thompson psyche. My shoulders drooped in shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe I need to step it up and get an expensive hobby. Maybe build a canoe out of a fallen tree. Or a real airplane with craft-store balsawood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trailer was based on plans in a book that my brother peer-pressured him into getting. My dad is in his late 70s and still susceptible to peer pressure from his youngest son. It is why there is a half-built motorcycle in his workshop and a little sailboat being fiber-glassed in the yard. The lesson? Don\u2019t accept late-night phone calls from my brother. Else you might have a tear-drop trailer following you down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My brother is like this, too. He has a workshop full of vintage British motor bikes in various stages of building and rebuilding and bleeding his wallet dry. He orders rare parts from private sellers in the UK and even races these bikes in death-defying off-road races. Why? Because \u2026 well \u2026 one might break. And then he can start the whole building process over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He builds outdoor toy trains with enthusiasts and lays down tracks in far-away parks where they pretend it\u2019s all for the kids. But we all know they just like to watch them chug by. He studies satellite maps and old historical books so he can trek out into the woods looking for what he hopes will be archaeological wonders. Oh, and he plans to build his own tear-drop trailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me? Well, I got the bath scrubby thing going on. And that is consuming LOTS of time. (You know, it\u2019s got to be just the right one. Eco-friendly. Won\u2019t be a hive for bacteria. Soft on my skin, but some exfoliation. Got to get the right balance!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Needless to say, I\u2019m always getting left in the dust by these two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I have no interest in any of it. Hobbies are those things that people do when they have too much time or money on their hands. Or in absence of those, two working hands that don\u2019t feel like doing dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think I\u2019ve always been too practical. Too pragmatic. Too unmoved by building something simply to see if I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Typical conversation with my brother:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Him: Isn\u2019t it cool?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: No. What does it do? Why did you build it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Him: Because I could. Because it needed to be built. Because the universe screamed, \u201cYOU BUILD NOW!!!\u201d Why are you so practical?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: I\u2019m not \u2026 now let me go do some dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have pet-projects. They\u2019re just more subdued: I\u2019m using the principles of feng shui to arrange my bottles of bourbon on the bar. I\u2019m plucking yellowing leaves off my milkweed plants to keep them healthy for the butterflies. I asked for a recipe book on the Mediterranean diet for Christmas so I can put it on a shelf and never try any of them. I\u2019m thinking I might start wearing more snazzy socks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BIG stuff!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And because my pride is now wounded, I\u2019m thinking I might even wire up my existing ceiling fans with remote controls. Yeah! Huh? Big time! It is both cool, impractical and even dangerous. It requires climbing into the sweltering attic where if I don\u2019t die from heat exhaustion, the ancient wiring will surely fry me to a crisp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure, it\u2019s no tear-drop trailer, but I can do it with MY own hands. And maybe even get a viral video. It will be titled: \u201cMy electrocuted husband falls through ceiling while re-wiring fan.\u201d Or maybe I\u2019ll just get myself that exfoliating eco-friendly bath scrubby. It did say it\u2019s gentle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My dad just hit the road pulling a tear-drop trailer. He built it by hand. A tear-drop trailer isn\u2019t called that because you cry at how expensive it is. It\u2019s the shape. Like an aerodynamic tear as you tow it down the road, off to some great adventure where you sleep in it under the stars with a little window and some kind of marine-grade battery running your computer. Because stars need Netflix.<\/p>\n
And, let\u2019s return to this: He built it \u2026 WITH HIS OWN HANDS!<\/p>\n
Pretty cool. <\/p>\n
More impressive: It didn\u2019t fall apart as he hauled it up the interstate on a trek to drive my sister from Tampa to meet up with her boyfriend in Virginia. He parked at a lake in Georgia and sent photos. The sides didn\u2019t seem to be shearing off. The roof wasn\u2019t peeling away like the lid of a sardine can. It hadn\u2019t hopped the hitch and plowed into a pine tree or dumped its contents all over the interstate before becoming a viral video titled, \u201cDude\u2019s trailer just threw itself up.\u201d <\/p>\n
Remarkable. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow\u2019s it riding and working out?\u201d I texted after getting a photo of a lake sunset and my sister enjoying it in a foldup chair. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeautifully!\u201d he wrote back. Translation: I thought it was going to hop the hitch and plow into a pine tree. BUT IT DIDN\u2019T!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[576,561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2020-nutshells","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2155,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2154\/revisions\/2155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}