Little repairs, big effort

It's the culmination of a long year of tomorrow, when I feel like it, it'll last a little longer and it's too complicated.

Coming face-to-face with a list of home maintenance projects that have been delayed, ignored or dropped is a humbling homeowner experience. There's nothing like cracking garage drywall, a rusty electrical junction box, loose basement tile or yellowed bathtub caulk to bring out the inner Tim Allen in all of us.

But unlike the former Home Improvement TV star, I get little satisfaction out of admiring the inherent speed of a power drill or the smoothing qualities of high-pigment white enamel.

It's not the actual work, you understand. It's the trip to Hardware Heaven, picking from selections as numerous as a galaxy, getting them home, prepping the work area, getting frustrated with the process, and finally, the clean-up that is as much fun as a root canal.

I'm walking around the house and property today, making a punch list of priority projects that might actually get done before the snow flies. I know I'll swell with homeowner pride when all of these little jobs get done. As Mick Jagger might croon, "And I try, and I try, and I try, and I try."