The Dunn Lumber Expedition

“George,” Josh asked one day, as they ran into each other at the entrance to 515 Walnut Street, ” Where would you recommend I go to get some help with a building project? Should I go to Loews or Home Depot?”

George shook his head and clapped one hand on Josh’s shoulder.

“Don’t go to either,” he said, “You want to go to Dunn Lumber – their service reps know the most.”

“Ok,” said Josh, “where is it?”

“Oh – it’s up on Hwy 99 close to 168th. Say . . . do you want to go right now?” George looked at his watch, suddenly eager, “Verna says dinner will only be ready for 6:30.” Josh laughed at the excited tone of his voice.

“Let me check with Jacki – I know she really wants this done so I probably could.” Josh poked his head in the door and yelled,

“JACKI?”

“What dear?” she said, from the kitchen just inside the door, “I’m right here.”

“Oh, hi!” Josh gave her a big grin, “Is it ok if I go to Dunn Lumber with George to look into building you your desk space?”

“Yes please!” said Jacki, “I need that to get done!”

Two minutes later, Josh and George were driving north on 9th in George’s car.

“We’ll take Olympic View Drive – nicer that taking 196th and 99,” said George, “What kind of desk are you trying to build?”

“We have a weird nook space. We’re not sure what it was for, but Jacki wants me to put a counter and shelves in there so she can have a desk area. She can’t work in my office because she’s too distracted by the mess.”

“Oh yeah – we have that weird nook space too,” said George, “Verna put a table and large vase there.”

Olympic View Drive was stunning. October had started before anyone realized it was Fall, but now the colors were everywhere. The hot oranges, fierce reds and glowing yellow leaves were everywhere.

When they parked at Dunn Lumber, Josh suddenly got nervous.

“I don’t even know what I’m really looking for,” he said, “I’ve never done this kind of thing before.”

“They’ll help you figure it out,” George said, moving forward confidently.

“How can I help you today?” asked a service rep named Brett.

“I don’t know,” Josh said, “I want to build a counter top and shelves in nook.”

“Do you have the measurements?” Brett asked, “We’ll take a look at your wood options and we can sketch out some ideas on the graph paper we have at the desk.”

“Great!” said Josh. “Measurements, right, I should have thought of that. Hold on a sec and let me call my wife.” George turned to Brett while Josh called Jacki.

“How’s the day going?” he asked politely.

“Awesome,” said Brett. He laughed, “I helped the last guy in here for over two hours. It was epic.”

“Sounds like you love your job,” George smiled, “How did you get into this?”

“Oh – I started in construction and then I wrecked my knees.”

“The nook is 2 feet deep and 3 foot wide,” Josh said closing his phone, “That’s easy.”

Soon, there were several sheets of graph paper covering the desk as Josh tried to transfer his idea out of his head.

“Would this work?” he asked again, drawing on the next sheet, and after consideration of the studs, how to mount the counter, a comfortable reaching height to the first shelf if someone was sitting, they finally had a drawing and a list of all the items Josh would need, including a much longer list of power tools than he had expected.

“So I really need all of these power tools to finish the project?” he asked excitedly, “This is great! Now I can tell Jacki that I really do need these!!”

“Well, you could borrow a hand-sander and several other tools from me,” said George, looking over the list.

“Shhhh, don’t tell me that!” said Josh, “Do you think there is room in the shared garage for me to set up shop?”

“Probably,” said George, “We might have to do a little rearranging but I’m sure no one would mind.”♦ Josh could see him enthusiastically envisioning the project moving forward in the garage and laughed. It would be fun to spend more time with George. He was a funny guy.

“Maybe I could help you with some of the project?” George said next. He sighed, “I don’t get to do projects for our place anymore. We’ve done pretty much all there is to do, unless we ripped out the kitchen cabinets.” He frowned sadly, “Verna says we’re not going to do that.”