I moved Jilda's yoga blankets from the back seat of her car to the side porch this morning before heading to town to buy groceries. As I reached for the porch handle, I noticed that the bottom section of the aluminum door had a place that looked odd. A closer look and I realized the material used as the core for the door is separating and soon there will be a hole there.
I'm a little miffed because this is the second door I've installed out there. Both were aluminum storm doors and both had issues in about the same place.
Driving to town, I made up my mind to buy an old fashion door made of wood and screen. We had them in the old place where we grew up and they worked just fine.
I smiled as I recalled that old screen door. One hidden benefit of the door that didn't appear in the advertising literature is that I could tell my mother's mood by the sound the old screen door made as it closed.
She was usually content in the evenings when she stepped out on the front porch to wait for my dad to drive into the yard after work. The keeper spring made a sound that was almost like a yawn, and she'd catch the door with her fingers so that it would lightly tap the jamb.
If on the other hand, she was aggravated at me or one of the other kids in the neighborhood, the spring made a sound like a guitar string being tuned WAY too high and when the door slapped the jamb it sounded like a gunshot. That old door lasted until they tore the old house down.
So the next screen door I get will be made of hickory or pine. I'll keep it varnished and it will outlast me.
I'm a little miffed because this is the second door I've installed out there. Both were aluminum storm doors and both had issues in about the same place.
Driving to town, I made up my mind to buy an old fashion door made of wood and screen. We had them in the old place where we grew up and they worked just fine.
I smiled as I recalled that old screen door. One hidden benefit of the door that didn't appear in the advertising literature is that I could tell my mother's mood by the sound the old screen door made as it closed.
She was usually content in the evenings when she stepped out on the front porch to wait for my dad to drive into the yard after work. The keeper spring made a sound that was almost like a yawn, and she'd catch the door with her fingers so that it would lightly tap the jamb.
If on the other hand, she was aggravated at me or one of the other kids in the neighborhood, the spring made a sound like a guitar string being tuned WAY too high and when the door slapped the jamb it sounded like a gunshot. That old door lasted until they tore the old house down.
So the next screen door I get will be made of hickory or pine. I'll keep it varnished and it will outlast me.
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| Ivy on an oak tree by the gate to the barn. |
Few things are quite as satisfying when you are aggravated as a good door slam.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend that still has an old fashioned wooden screen door. Of course here in the winter we have to replace the screen with glass to help keep out some cold, but they do last forever.
ReplyDeleteYou've made me remember the screen door to the garage in the house where I grew up. That door had several sounds and seemed to speak to me. I'd forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI remember those old green wooden screen doors. The latch had a little roller on it and it kept the screen door closed but even with the screen door closed on a hot summer night we had a big snake that somehow pushed her head under and sneaked in the house and it was the first thing my dad saw when he went to light the old wooden stove to heat water for his tea. He grabbed a piece of fire wood behind the stove and killed the big snake. My brother had decided it was too hot upstairs to sleep and made himself a bed on the floor. The snake was not very far from him. I'll stick with the metal screen door.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend.
JB
Remembering the slapping sound of a screen door closing is a pleasant memory. We kids would run in and out, letting the screen door slam; I always figured that's what the spring was for. Of course one could pluck the spring for the twang it would make, or one could spread the raindrops through the little squares in the screen on a rainy day.
ReplyDeleteAh the security of the screen door. ;-). The screen door was there mainly as the 'Air Conditioner'. It was locked, not for security but to keep the wind 'from opening it.' I learned early that a piece of wire could flip that latch, if mama had latched it while I was out.
ReplyDeleteLike every thing else today it seems, Storm door are not made to last, but to sell replacements every 'few ' years. I never did like installing storm doors, 'too touchy', (smile)
Yeah replace that sucker with wood!
Did you realize you can't slam the phone down anymore?
ReplyDeleteOne of the most fun things about the screen door was running in and out in the summer and hearing it bang shut. It must have driven the adults crazy.
ReplyDeleteIn a world that is dependent on the force of innovation, and an advanced digital world that requests our consideration, where we are constrained to work and play nearly at the pace of light, the book welcomes us to twist up in our most loved seat, turn off the relentless cellular telephone and appreciate a decent yarn. Be that as it may, with the ascent of the eBook, what is the future for the soft cover book? Literature for the screen
ReplyDelete