I am now, officially, a blogger. I just posted my first blog in 500 Opinions, one of three blogs I'm going to try. This blog--Fisher Remodelers--is work-related, obviously. It's basically for my customers, but I plan to add little tidbits along the way for anyone who might be interested, on design, gardening, remodeling hints, etc. Yes! If you follow my directions, you can make your home as tacky as mine! All you have to do is pay attention. Ha-ha. I don't, of course, consider my home tacky, but I have the feeling many do. I consider it useful, or lived in. Take, for instance, all the bookshelves. There's at least one in every room--even the bathroom. I mean, after all, I majored in English Lit in college, and I've published two books, and my wife, Linda, has published two books--books are important to us, our focal point in life. Therefore, my house has tons of bookshelves. In fact, when I go inside other peoples' homes, if I don't see a bookshelf, if I don't look around and see any books or magazines, I consider the inhabitants to be deprived.
    I'm not, by the way, going to show you how to make or build bookshelves. My cabinet man, Doug Crouse, at Grady Alford Cabinets, is the man for that. I wish I could afford to have him build all my bookshelves, in fact. Some of mine are, um, rather tacky.
    Okay. Time to quit rambling in my thoughts and give you something practical. I'll start with something simple, something I've shared many times in my company newsletters, and in person--caulking. Yep--ya gotta caulk, folks. Over and over. Especially, around the front door, between the brick molding and the bricks. For those of you not from our area, we live in Alabama--Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, to be specific. We're fortunate to have nearby brick manufactures, making brick an inexpensive material for the exterior of our homes. When I first arrived in this area, thirty-some years ago, I was astounded at all the brick homes. I didn't like them, as a matter of fact. There were too many. Almost all of the homes were brick. They all looked alike, to me. Well, after living in this damp, humid, rainy climate all this time, there's only one exterior I'd choose for myself--brick. My home is brick. How many times have I had to repair, re-finish, or do anything to the brick exterior of my home in twenty-five years? None. Now that I'm no longer a young idiot, I love brick. But . . . ya gotta caulk it. You must caulk it where other products, such as doors or windows, meet with it.
    More in the next posting.