Heavy Duty Homeowners

As a little girl, my building contractor father would let me sit on his lap and steer the Bobcat. I was enamored with the machine and asked if I could have it when I turned 16. As my personal vehicle. He laughed and said, “Maybe, but you probably won’t want it anymore when you’re 16.” Oh father, how wrong you were. He upgraded to a newer, more powerful Bobcat a few years ago, but held onto the ol’ 610, storing it in the barn until he felt like selling it.

When Eric and I bought our house, we clearly needed assistance from some heavy machinery to take out parts of the driveway, regrade, pull up fence posts, etc., so we struck a deal with Pops: we’ll use the Bobcat until we’re finished with our big projects, then sell it for you.

We still use it all the time. Good thing he’s in no rush for the moneys.

I guess my childhood dream came true, though I don’t drive it to my friends’ houses or the video store.

Beautiful, grimy Eric. Beautiful, grimy Bobcat.

We also borrowed his cement saw:

Sarah saws ce-ment by the seashore.

Then he gave us a lawnmower as a house-warming present, lent us a pickup to haul it, and loaded it into the truck with his telehandler:

WHAT A NICE FATHER.

One thing we had to rent was this adorable mini backhoe to install drain tile. I recommend renting one for your next birthday party, bat mitzvah, or retirement party. It was relatively affordable, fun as all get-out, and you need zero qualifications to rent.

Grown up playground equipment!