Men at work endure the cold

I spent the entire day Monday doing something I really didn't want to do — standing in a freezing wind while helping build a wheelchair ramp. I was one of a five-man work crew of volunteers, and all of us complained about the cold, even as we sawed, aligned and screwed together the boards that would make up the ramp. There was also the digging in the rocky soil of trenches into which the 2x6 supports for the ramp/boardwalk would fit.

The temperature was in the 20s when we began, and it didn't rise a lot throughout the day. The biting wind seared our faces like a fire and made every bump or misstep painful.

Still, we labored on to try to complete the job because the ramp was needed. It would provide mobility to a man whose infirmities confined him. Had the task been a backyard project at home, I would have postponed it until a warmer day. But when four other people are struggling and enduring with you, you're willing to endure more.

At the end of the day, I was grateful for any amount of warmth as I sought relief for sore muscles unaccustomed to chopping rocks out of the ground or twisting 2-inch screws into treated wood. The effort expended during that long day exceeded any aerobic exercise or weight training I have pushed my aging body through these past few years, and it strained muscles not used in bench presses or abdominal crunches or running. The invigorating feeling at the end of a good workout was missing as I drove home last night, replaced with the lingering shivers and a cloak of overall fatigue.

Even after all that, the job is not complete. I'll be back again today, hoping for less wind and more warmth. And at the end, the satisfaction of a job completed.