During the uncertainty and isolation of the covid quarantine, people have found various ways to not only cope and get through it, but to be productive as well. For Houston Aranjo of Franklin, Tennessee, he found an outlet by doing something he did as a little boy: he started to fix things.
He recently posted this to his neighborhood Facebook page:
Anyone doing some spring cleaning and throwing out push mowers, chainsaws, weed eaters, or blowers that don’t run anymore? I like to rebuild motors and I’m out of my own stuff…[I] can come pick it up. —Houston Aranjo
Houston grew up in his grandfather’s machine shop and remembers helping him and his father repair and restore all kinds of equipment. They even built a 45-foot sailboat. The hobby has stayed with him his entire life.
“I just love to fix stuff.”
Last summer, as the pandemic was hitting, Houston and his father-in-law decided to work on a used pontoon boat.
“It was relaxing and a lot of fun. It brought me back to when I was a kid.”
Then came a Ski-Doo and three mopeds, all in need of repair. Houston started running out of space in the garage. His wife said no more big stuff, so he started looking for smaller outdoor power equipment to work on.
“Since I posted it, I’m amazed at what people will get rid of,” Houston said. “I don’t want machines that are running. I’m interested in rebuilding the engine, getting them running again.”
He has been offered everything from riding mowers and push mowers to weed eaters, a blower, a tiller.
“I’m hoping a chainsaw pops up.”
At night, after the kids are put to bed, Houston will be out in his garage working, fixing, problem-solving.
“What started this is therapy is $200 an hour,” Houston confides. “I get so stressed so easily about things. This keeps me calm.”
Houston doesn’t know where this is going, but as long as he doesn’t clutter up the garage, he’s going to enjoy these projects as they come up just as he did as an 8-year-old when his grandfather and father taught him to how to get an engine running again.
“It’s just relaxing because if I can’t figure it out now, I can always just keep working on it.
“The short of it — and to be completely honest — it’s cheaper than therapy and just as good for me.”