Kregg grew up outside Abilene, Texas on two and a half acres. His family are all hard workers that can turn their hand to just about any task. When things needed to be done, they just took care of it. If they didn't know how, they would find out. They are still like that.
When we got married, we followed the same game plan. If something needed to be repaired or built or whatever, we would just take care of it. Our first little house had plumbing problems, so Kregg just dug it all up and fixed the mess. It never crossed our minds that there needed to be a permit or an inspection to tie into the main in the alley. Out in the country, you just took care of it. So he just took care of it. He did a great job, too. Dug a 60 foot trench, replaced all the sewer pipe making sure he had the grade just right, connected it to the main line and covered it all back up. Never gave us another bit of trouble.
He taught himself to build furniture, too. We had a little one car garage that he used for his projects. He built everything from cooling racks for the kitchen to a baby bed for each of our babies. I could just tear a picture out of a magazine and he would build it. It really is amazing.
When we moved to the house we have lived in for the last 16 years, we had to make a few adjustments. Our yard is one acre. The first season or two of mowing, we managed with a push mower. In fact, I remember carrying Caleb around on my shoulders when he was a baby while I mowed the yard. He would sit on my shoulders and I would hold both his ankles in one hand while I pushed the mower with the other. Sure glad he was smaller then!
When we could afford it, we decided to buy a riding lawnmower. Kregg researched the different models, asked his dad's advice, and picked out the one he wanted. It was at Walmart. We went to look at it after church one Sunday morning and he decided to just go ahead and buy it. We didn't own a truck or trailer at that point and so I asked him how we would get it home. Silly question, Anne. He said, "I'll just drive it home."
At that time, Walmart was about 4 miles from our house. (They have since built one just 2 1/2 miles away.) He bought a gas can, went across the street to get some gas, came back and filled the thing up. My job was to take the kids home, feed them their lunch, and get them down for their naps. He would be there in a little while. I was a little concerned, but knew he would figure out a way to take care of it. Of course, this was also before we had cell phones. So I left him at Walmart as he prepared to embark on his journey.
I didn't get really worried for a while, but after an hour and a half, I began to wonder where he was. The babies were asleep so I couldn't go find him. I was supposed to be helping with a baby shower and it was getting close to the time I needed to leave. I kept thinking that any minute I would hear him coming. I finally hopped in the car and drove to the end of the street to see if I could see him coming. Sure enough, there he was. It ended up being about two hours after I left him at Walmart that he finally pulled into the driveway. No big deal, right?
Well, for the next two to three weeks I had the same strange thing happen over and over and over again. A friend would come up to me with a sheepish look on their face and hesitantly say, "Anne, was Kregg driving a . . . riding lawnmower the other day?" Followed by an awkward pause. "We were on Mockingbird/Midkiff/Midland/Briarwood/etc. street and we saw someone who looked just like Kregg, in his church clothes on a riding lawnmower."
Of course, I would start laughing again and explain why they had indeed seen my husband out for a Sunday afternoon drive on our brand new, bright red, riding lawnmower.
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