Squeaky things

We have a long porch leading up to our house.

The porch is made of wooden boards, and because they’re old, they require a little bit of love and care.

We also live in an area with a lot of trees. The trees seem bent on getting revenge on their fallen comrades. Each year, they reach in a little further, pushing up the boards and wrecking havoc.

Over the summer, two of the boards came loose and popped up on one side. They came out just far enough that I felt my weight shift every time I stepped on them. They are also a tripping hazard now. So from summer through till near winter, I was aware of the boards. I walked past them multiple times a day. Eventually, I started stepping over them to not have to deal with the annoyance.

Finally, this past week, I decided enough was enough. I’d built up in my head that this would be such a large task that we’d probably have to redo a portion of the porch, that alongside all my other list of todos, it would be impossible to solve. I found a drill, four screws, and set to work on the boards.

Two minutes later, and I was done.

Problem solved.

No more squeaking, no more tripping hazard, no more boards popping while carrying groceries to the house. Thinking back on that, I made the whole ordeal into a bigger thing than it was.

The problem, of course, is sometimes I’m right. Sometimes the task unwinds into something much larger, and switching out a lightbulb requires changing the engine in my car.

Sometimes, though, it’s just two minutes and a few screws.