nonono, mike.   not this kid.  that sort of thing would get done outdoors,
while wearing one of butch's industrial/filtering/respiratory masks (butch
had been a millwright)---which reminds me, we need a new one around here.

you're gonna think i'm nuts, but i wouldn't even teach my 16 year old son
how to re-keel his fiberglass rowboat, until he showed me he believed the
mask, gloves and the protective eye gear was important, by getting them on
before i told him to.  it took him 3 full summer days to figure out mom
wasn't going to say a word or lift a finger to teach him, until he figured
out it was HIS responsibility to put the protective gear on without being
told to.  i just laid out everything we needed, left it all in place and
waited until he accepted responsibility for himself.  that's how important
that kind of thing is to me.

now, that i think about that summer, i have to laugh about the way alex kept
running to his dad to give him a clue.LOL  (he was soooo frustrated, wanting
to get his fishing season started.)  and butch, who never learned how to
repair a fiberglass boat and thought i was crazy for buying alex a boat with
a keel ripped out of it, would just shrug his shoulders and say, "just think
about it, son. you know your mom's got good reasons."LOL

then, on the 3rd day alex came into the house wearing the gear, looking a
bit like an adolescent space alien, while i was putzing around the kitchen.
i dropped everything i was doing, checked out how his mask fit and got into
the project with him.

kate