He never shot a board that didn't need it

On Saturday, Shawn was fine-tuning the deck sliders -- adjusting the track for the bedroom doors, putting hardware there and in the living room so we can button up the house. Mrs. Shawn, Dorothy, who'd come down for the weekend with him, was out shopping Key West.

When his cell phone rang and I heard him asking her, "Now, how are we gonna get a 9-by-12 rug back as carry-on luggage?," I decided to get really interested in what Mr. B (in the green shirt) and Uncle Arnold were doing out at the door between the dining room and den.

And of course it was interesting. Arnold was giving yet another master class, ripping 2-by-4's into 1-by-1's to build the bottom of the soffit covering the air duct: The less weight and thickness, the better.

And when he studied the intersecting angle the uprights would have with the roof -- then studied it again, then again, then wham made the angle cut, and a notch to mate to the rafters -- I was ready to swear he had calibrated eyeballs.

Then, after making sure everything was plumb, bangbangbang -- another task nailed.