July 6 & 7, 2013
We drove down from Fayetteville, TN on the 6th to visit my sister Cyndee and brother-in-law Chris, who live in Madison which is just outside of Huntsville. Although the Huntsville is only 45 miles away from Fayetteville, it might as well as be a world away. It is really amazing how fast you can go from being in a small rural town to being in a bustling city.
Huntsville is a unique city as far as the south goes. It has a lot of high tech industry here and the economy in large part is fed by Federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and NASA, both of whom have large operations here. This means that the population of Huntsville is comprised of good-old Southern Boys and Girls as well as a large number of transplants who are brought here to support these high tech operations. This means that there are also a lot of different nationalities and cultures represented here in Huntsville.
It was great to catch up with CynDee and Chris. It had been quite awhile since we got to spend some quality time with them. We are both pleased to see that they are doing great. We can remember when they lived a very nomadic life while Chris was in the military. It was also a spartan life as they supported and raised 4 kids. So, it is great to fast forward all these years and find that Chris, who had long retired from the Military has built a very successful career at the Redstone Arsenal on critical programs. He is now in a very senior position. We are all very proud of him. CynDee is also working in civil service supporting the Corps of Engineers. Both are looking forward to retiring in the next 2 or 4 years. They have come a long ways from those days living in cramped and modest quarters throughout the military days. Today they have a beautiful 4000 sq tt home that they have lovingly improved from the day they bought it. Although they are now empty-nesters with their 4 kids now living in different parts of the world, their home adapts well to just the two of them, with most of the living quarters on the first floor. But more importantly, they have the room they need when their four kids come home to visit which is something this close knit family tries to do often.
They recently completed construction of a detached garage/man cave/pool cabana/storage. This new structure that they had built is absolutely great and something I wish we had the land to do back in Southern California. What started out as a project to simply build an additional garage so that Chris could house the family Suburban and his motorcycles, turned into a major project. Once they started designing, they decided that it would be nice to add a covered patio to provide shaded seating area near the swimming pool. While they were at it, they decided to add a full indoor kitchen and seating dining area. Oh, while they were at it they added a large bathroom and tub/shower, not to mention the acres of storage in the attic. What a cool thing. (wish I had one).
We had the opportunity today to meet the contractor, Don Thomas and his wife Camile. You know you’ve had a successful project when at the end of it you wind up being good friends with the contractor and you all get together for a barbecue after the project is complete. We had a great time talking with Don and Camille and hearing them share funny stories about the project and his “rough-around-edges" work crew, whom Don keeps on year around. One story, that I think you would only hear about down here in the South is about “Ricky". Ricky is a good-old-boy who is a jack of all trades and can do many different things from laying tile to doing finish carpentry. Although he looks like the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, apparently he is a great guy. The story is that on a bathroom remodel project, they had to remove a very large jacuzzi tub – we are talking about a huge full jacuzzi. Don had told the owner that they would dispose of the old tub after they got the new one in. After they struggled to load the old jacuzzi onto the truck, Ricky asks, “can I have this?“
Don says “sure – but what are you going to do with it? Don found out soon enough. Ricky decided he was going to put the full size Jacuzzi into his bedroom. The only problem is that Ricky lives in a mobile home and there was no way he was going to fit it into the mobile home. So, as the story goes, Ricky did what any good-old- Southern-boy would do…he got out his chain saw, promptly cut a hole in the side of the mobile home that was big enough and then covered it with plywood after he got the tub inside. To funny.
Don and Camille are a rare breed in the construction and home improvement business. They are both honest and fair. They do excellent work and their own quality standards often exceed those of their clients. Don checked in with Chris and CynDee twice a day – once in the morning to go over what it was they would be accomplishing, who would be coming and when they would be there; then in the evening to review the work actually done. The project was started in January and it did take longer than anticipated because of the heavy rains they had this winter, but the end product is great.
If you need a good contractor – Chris fully endorses
Don Thomas Construction, Inc. You can reach Don at 256-431-4571 or donthomas111@hotmail.com
About the barbecue – The food was fantastic. We had brought a Pork Loin that Chris rubbed with some Hawaiian salt and stuffed with cloves of garlic. He also cooked up some Pork ribs using a couple of different tastes. One was teriyaki style and the other with a salt and herb rub. The meat-fest was accompanied by some potato salad, cole slaw, steamed corn and great conversation. All the meats were cooked to near perfection. I say “near perfection”, so we have an excuse to come back again and have Chris take another run at perfection.
Tomorrow we are off to Bluffton, SC just outside of Hilton Head. More later.
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