Author Topic: What projects are you doing to improve the lives of the people you care about?  (Read 1054 times)

BECABECA

  • Bristles
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  • Age: 42
  • Location: Costa Mesa, CA
  • Retired since July 2017, not bored yet!
I値l start, although I知 at an advantage since I知 retired. Last month was especially active for me because I was visiting family for most of it and I get bored unless I知 put to good use!

~100 hours helping my uncle take off his existing roof down to 4 walls and the structural beams and completely replace it. He tried for 2 years to hire a roofer or GC to do it but they壇 all ghost him when they realized how complicated it was going to be so he finally just had to take time off work to do it himself. How badass! He can fix or build pretty much anything, I was just an extra set of hands to make it go faster.

~10 hours helping my little brother with various house maintenance tasks. I知 planting the seeds of mustacianism with him and hoping they値l take root. Now he痴 not so intimidated by plumbing... next trip we will tackle some electrical. He seems excited about fixing things around the house now, so that痴 a win!

SwordGuy

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  • Location: Fayetteville, NC
Getting our wills and trusts fixed up, plus writing up a "what you need to know guide" for our son, so being the executor of our estate will be the minimum possible headache.   That also takes care of our mentally handicapped daughter.  That's job #1 because she can't do it.

Spending a day a week with a young boy.  He's the grandson of the lady who looks after our daughter during the week.   His mom's a single mom and working hard to become a nurse.    So, I'm trying to be a good male role model and also teach him useful stuff.  We're making a bronze ring using the lost wax method of metal casting.  He's learned how to use a scribe, a file, a rasp, a saw so far.   When the wax ring model is ready he'll make a mold around it, melt out the wax, then melt and pour the metal into the ring mold.   It will give hime something cool to wear and feel cool about.

Next we're going to make a box full of gears and other widgets that enable us to make various automata.   He'll learn how to use more tools and design and assemble parts into moving, mechanical objects.  To do that, he'll learn a number of physics things concerning levers and gears.

Plus he'll learn patience and deferred gratification, which is something he really needs to learn. Hopefully, he'll pick up how to handle oneself around bullies and other nitwits, something he also needs to learn.





Serendip

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Nice idea for a thread..

I just came back from a trip to my childhood home.
It's the second trip this year made purposely to help build a gigantic fence. My sister moved back north to raise her son (solo) and is living on my parents property, which is surrounded by forest. MY elderly parents have had a long-term dream of having a fence to keep deer and bear out of the garden but it's never been done-- now that there is a 2 year old running around, a dual purpose is to keep him IN!

It's 75% done at this point and I might try to do one more trip since there is momentum when I am up there that doesn't happen otherwise (I work well with my dad).
Very satisfying to take these 'work vacations' rather than just heading to a beach (although I'll do that too..ha)

Rosy

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Sorting out some dental coverage for my son, saved him $175 today that was in error in the bill (quote) and if all goes well his company will reimburse a good chunk of the upcoming expensive dental work. Got the DIL on board today.
He's a long haul trucker and rarely home, so it isn't easy for him to schedule and handle stuff like this.


 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!