So, I’ve been watching a bit of this Matt Carriker fella online. You know, the guy with the guns, the vet stuff, and that big ranch he’s always working on. Seems like he’s got it all figured out, juggling all these things.
Got me thinking, maybe I could be a bit more hands-on myself. Saw him fixing fences or messing with equipment on his OffTheRanch channel. Looked kinda satisfying, getting your hands dirty, building things, fixing things.
My Own Little Project
Well, last spring, my back porch steps were getting real rickety. Like, dangerously wobbly. I thought, “Okay, Matt Carriker wouldn’t call someone for this. He’d just fix it.” So, I decided I was gonna rebuild them myself.
Here’s how that went down:
- Went to the hardware store. Grabbed some wood, screws, those metal bracket things. Felt pretty confident.
- Got home, started tearing out the old steps. That part was easy, maybe too easy. Made a heck of a mess.
- Then came the measuring and cutting. Let’s just say my measurements weren’t exactly… precise. I measured once, maybe twice if I felt like it. Cut the wood.
- Started putting it together. Nothing lined up right. The angle was weird. One side was higher than the other. It looked drunk.
I spent a whole Saturday sweating, swearing, and hitting my thumb with the hammer. My wife came out around lunchtime, took one look, and just shook her head. Didn’t even say anything, which was worse.
The Reality Check
By evening, I had this monstrosity attached to my porch. It was technically steps, but you’d probably break your ankle using them. I stood back, looked at it, looked at my blistered hands, and just felt defeated.
Ended up calling my neighbor Dave the next morning. Dave actually knows how to build things. He came over, chuckled a bit (okay, maybe a lot), and helped me redo the whole thing properly. Took him like, half the time it took me to just mess it up.
What I learned was this: Watching someone do something online, especially someone who’s good at it and makes it look easy, is way different than actually doing it yourself. Matt Carriker, he’s got his thing, his skills. I’ve got mine, and apparently, carpentry ain’t one of ’em. Sometimes, it’s okay to just stick to what you know and pay someone else who knows what they’re doing. Saved me a whole lot of hassle, and probably a trip to the emergency room.
