When Married To A Sheetrock Hanger:

This is for all you girls out there who are considering marrying a sheetrock hanger, or a construction worker. These are things that I have learned over the years.

1. They tend to want to unload their tools in the front yard. Which wouldn't be a problem if they would go put them up afterward, but the one that I'M married to, just leaves them where they fall. He does, however, stack them semi-neatly in the front yard, which I guess I should be thankful for.
2. If there is a chance that it might rain, then the tools are unloaded onto the front porch. Even though they are under cover, it still makes the appearance of our place look so junky and unloved. I regularly go out and clean the porches off, but the minute I get them looking good, they get junked back up again. And some of these tools are danged heavy, and it's hard to put them up.
3. We went to the expense of buying and building a shed to store all the tools in, but the shed is too far away from the front of the house, ( probably about 50 feet or so), so it is too much trouble to put them where they belong. I understand that he's tired; I have learned the hard way that getting older means you can't do the things that you used to be able to do. Simple things like walking and lifting, are much harder to do when you're tired or you have degenerative disks in your back, and a hurt shoulder that you can't get fixed because you can't be off work for the time that it takes to heal. Because:
4. When you are in construction (self employed), you do not have medical benefits. If you get them privately, you pay big time cash every month, as well as a huge deductible for every procedure done. When you are self-employed, if you don't work, you don't get paid; so you suck in the pain of whatever ails you, and go to work anyway, and don't get your medical needs taken care of. All that to say, if you are too tired or hurting too bad to walk 50 feet to put your tools up, then your front yard is continually going to look like a yard sale or a construction zone. We'd never make it in a gated community, that's for sure.
5. And if you DO manage to get him to put his tools in the shed where they belong; he stands at the door, and tosses, and where ever they land is where they stay. It doesn't take long for floor space to run out in a 16X16' shed. (I regularly used to try to clean the shed too, but the minute I do.............
6. Sheetrock dust follows them around in a cloud, especially in the summertime. Sheetrock hangers look like PigPen off of Peanuts cartoons, only the dust is powdery white instead of dark. And when it's time to wash their clothes, the combination of dust and sweat makes a kind of white mud that is yukky indeed to have to pick up to put in the washer.
But, on the other hand:
1. Sheetrock hangers get up very early in the morning to go out into all kinds of weather to earn their living, and provide for their families. (all of them are not so good at this, but the one that I'M married to is).
2. He works when his shoulder is hurting so bad that he cannot lift his arms above his head, because he cannot afford to take off for the six months that it would take to heal if he had the surgery that he needed.
3. He works in the freezing cold in the wintertime, and the burning heat in the summertime to provide for his family.
4. He stresses every Friday about whether or not the people that he worked for this week will pay him what they owe him. If they don't, his workers get paid anyway, but he doesn't. And if he gets ripped off by the builder, then that loss is his.
5. The work is so physical that it is no wonder that he has shoulder and knee problems. As he likes to remind me often: "We're not spring chickens anymore".

There are many other pros and cons, (more cons than pros, let me tell you), about what to expect if you marry a sheetrock hanger, but I have thoroughly depressed myself, and don't want to think about it anymore.
So, bottom line is: these are just a few of the things that you will face, but you have to ask yourself if the hassle of putting up with the aggravations are worth the reassurance of knowing that he will do his best to take care of you and the children that depend on him, and know that he does what he can do, and if you want a clean shed and yard, then either clean them up yourself, or marry a professional man. I guess I'll stay where I'm at, after 30 years, I've 'bout got him broke in, and at times I'M not the easiest in the world to live with either. (sheepish grin)
Besides, if I didn't have junk all in the yard, then I'd be mighty lonely, 'cause he wouldn't be here, and I'll put up with the junk (don't mean I gotta like it), in order to have someone to argue with. Happy Gardening!
P.S. What does this have to do with gardening you say? Why, because I keep my garden tools in the messy shed of course! (All put up neatly, I might add).