Are you a handyperson?

So easy to forget. Even easier to remember the next time.

yep

I have installed new string in my ball bearing axle yo-yo. For fast returns, it needs a double twist.

that's no small feat - you master of yo!

And speaking of masters of yo...where's tommy smothers when you need him?

I consider cooking also handy-person worthy. I'm relearning how to cook with a wok - after getting a wok in 1987 as a wedding gift in marriage #2. Re-seasoned it and just made chicken stir fry with roasted red peppers and snap peas over brown rice. Miracles...it came out right.

Today's yo-yo contestants use both arms simulataneously and have tricks that were not invented back in my day (1950's). But, cooking on a wok sounds like fun. I prefer circling the item on a Chinese take-out menu.

Sorry, I was imaging you looking like Don King and his hair!

Don't even start with the cooking stuff. I can barely boil water and come up with a hard-boiled egg.

I find it difficult to comprehend "chicken stir fry: or any other chicken coming out right. pork and frijoles with corn tortillas with salsa verde on the other hand to be food worth eating. no, I'm not opinionated, I just have good taste.

you don't like chicken, I take it?

I'm pretty handy. I removed old masonite wall lining in the back bedroom and replaced it with plasterboard. however i did manage to ram a piece of wood up under my fingernail and had to get mumpad to take me to the hospital. She was in the bath and 9 months pregnant at the time and was NOT impressed.

Fix the mower, replace tap washers and pipes, install waste water saving system, wiring and power cords. I used to service the car but now with computers and turbochargers etc I wouldn't even know where to look.

I have a shed full of stuff i'm gonna fix one day. Its all too good to throw away and you know darn well if you do throw it out you'll need it next week.

No- that seems to be my area of greatest weakness or learning disability- by which I mean, I seem to be unable to learn that sort of stuff.
I have great respect for handy people like my mother who can take a piece of material, a pair of scissors, a needle and thread and create a beautiful dress with no pattern other than what is living in her head.
It's a gift I often wish I'd inherited from her - funny thing is - my father is not typically handy either - he can learn though (so it's not a learning disability in the sense it is for me) and my mom and brother who are both incredibly gifted in that area ( my father is gifted in other ways) have taught him a lot.

My daughter is incredibly handy- my son not so much.

handy?

you playing footsy?

I built a closet once. I measured everything out very, very carefully. Then I
bought myself some two-by-fours and started building. All my measurements
were wrong! That's how I learned that two-by-fours are actually 1½ X 3½.

about ten years ago i helped build some offices at my place of work, at that time i had no idea how any sort of construction worked, it was explained how to mark out the studs and start nailing to construct the walls, everyone else there had more construction experience than me and stared in amazement when i exclaimed, "so that's what those red diamonds on 16, 34, 48 etc mean"

This is based on 16 inches on centre. Your 34 should read 32. Anyhow the following is the reasoning.

To layout the 16 inch spacing on the wall studs, place the first mark at 15-1/4" and mark an X to the right of it. Do the same thing for 31-1/4", 47-1/4" and so forth.

Why not mark on the actual 16" on centres? The reason is that since the thickness of a 2x 4 is 1-1/2", half the thickness of that is (1-1/2" -3/4"=3/4"). The 16 inch spacing minus 3/4" =15-1/4". The same rule applies to all the spacings: 32"-3/4"=31-1/4" 48"-3/4"=47-1/4" 64"- 3/4"=63-1/4" etc,

I've always used 16" o.c., or whatever is called for by code. Studs are usually S4S but not always. I've measured them from time to time over the years and they've varied, even with the S4S types.

I don't have a code book at hand to support my view.

My present house is an example of a failure to abide by this by a lameassed developing firm and apparent lameassed city.

I changed the water filter for the fridge ice maker. I'm damn skilled. 2 years ago I changed BBB's fridge water filter, I doubt her's has been changed since then.

I never connected the copper tube for the icemaker, as those filters cost money.

Dys is being modest. He's raised hogs and cattle (correct me if I'm wrong) and had extensive veggie gardens, and much more.

There is a further reason this is done, but it's part and parcel of what Intrepid explained. The first sheet of whatever is going on the studs, be it plywood, OSB, drywall, starts not at the center of the first stud but at the outside edge. If we went 16" OC from the first stud, then the layout wouldn't match the sheet dimension.