Things I’ve learned
Published on July 23, 2025 at 3:02pm EDT | Author: frazeevergas
0The Prairie Spy
Alan “Lindy” Linda
For the next three weeks, these columns are going to be short. I’m calling this “series” of columns “Things I’ve learned that you might like to know about solving problems.” Maybe. That title is, I admit, kind of long. How about we call them: “Stuff I’ve learned.”
Problems can come in many forms: Personal, medical, emotional, mechanical, etc. So, you’ve got some kind of problem. You need an approach, a way to kind of sneak yourself up toward an answer. Here’s what I do: Find three possible solutions. One of them is likely the one you want.
I learned this from new house construction. I would show up at a new house in the “rough-in” phase of construction, meaning all walls and studs and rafters and joists are not covered up. A bare bones look.
Here’s a typical HVAC problem: No blueprints ever show where large trunk-type ducts should go, ducts being the things that bring comfort, winter and summer. In the hundreds of homes I’ve been involved with, only one contractor even gave it lip service, by saying: “We’ll leave a mechanical space for you in these truss-type floor joist cavities.”
I finally show up? The carpenters screwed it all up, leaving me as usual with no preplanned space into which to run ductwork.
Or where to locate either the air handler or the furnace. So. I came up with this: Find three possible solutions for where to locate or place them, each one of which has ramifications regarding cost and air flow. Now you get the home owner involved, present the three, and the homeowner helps choose.
One of them will be the best one. That’s when I realized that the “Find Three Solutions” method can be extended to other situations. Personal? Mechanical? Financial? It works, but only if you work it. Find three possible answers. As Henry Ford said: “Whether you think that you are can or you think that you can not, you’re probably correct.” Pick one. Stay with it.
But only if you work it. As they say: Ignorance is bliss. But it doesn’t solve stuff.
Next week: Second thing I’ve learned.