Those Atkins Boys Can Do Anything!

The Atkins Boys label originated with our former neighbor and still good friend, Jeff Duckett.

Jeff is a talented real estate appraiser who is, shall we say somewhat lacking, when it comes to certain skills needed to get things done around the house. At the risk of telling family secrets, a good example is when his wife, Yvonne, purchased a new shelf system that Jeff had volunteered to install in one of their closets. Yvonne worried and worried because she just knew he would do it wrong. He did. The shelves fell down not too long after being fully loaded. I'm not sure Jeff ever realized that he had installed certain components upside down. None of us had the heart to tell him after such a valiant effort on his part.

When faced with seemingly impossible household problems to solve, Jeff learned to look next door at the oldest Atkins Boy. After a particular knotty problem with their clothes dryer was solved by Carl and Scott removing a bird's nest from their dryer vent, Jeff stood back and declared, "Those Atkins boys can do anything!" So began the nickname of their little group.

Last week brought another typical Atkins Boys project – the installation of a new shower door assembly in the master bathroom. After the senior Atkins's purchased it at Home Depot, they were informed that delivery would cost $79.00 and Home Depot doesn't offer installation services. Ta Da! The youngest Atkins boy and his dad took the truck and handled the pick-up and delivery.

The middle Atkins boy arrived on the next rainy day, ready to dismantle and install. While he handled the heavy work, the oldest Atkins boy became the go-fer. Carl later declared that he exceeded his doctor's recommended ten trips up and down our two flights of stairs by at least three times that day.

Now installing a new shower enclosure doesn't sound like such a huge task but consider what an insurmountable task it would seem to those who are mechanically challenged. Consider what a $79.00 delivery charge plus several hours of labor would add to the cost. Not to mention that our old shower door was installed backwards by the builder. Carl has awkwardly climbed around that shower door for fourteen years. It finally took the lone female of the family to say, "Enough is enough!" and set the project in motion. Just look at the result. This picture doesn't show the design in the glass. Trust me, it's very nice.

Those Atkins boys can do anything!

Irish Roots

St. Patrick's Day is a good time to reminisce about Irish roots if one can truly claim them because, as they say in Ireland, "If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough.".

Well, the oldest Atkins boy has a valid claim to Ireland by way of his great grandmother, Judy Emmeline McLaughlin who married Carl Morris Hicks. Judy's father was John McLaughlin who told stories about falling into Lake Killarney at age five and being rescued by an older brother. This would have been sometime in 1811 - not quite 200 years ago. By 1850 he was married and living in Putnam County, WV, with a large family. We've never discovered exactly what route he took to get there.

A trip to Ireland in 1998 was perfect for finding Carl's McLaughlin roots – we thought. Much to our disappointment, we discovered that Irish records for that time are practically nonexistent, there are three lakes in Killarney, and old tombstones have no readable inscriptions. So much for finding Carl's McLaughlins but at least we saw the area from whence John McLaughlin came. The picture above is one of the Killarney lakes near an ancient castle.

After spending a couple of nights at a B&B in Killarney, we proceeded on our way and one day spotted a McLaughlin coat of arms in a little pub near the tiny town of Clifdon. As it turned out, the owner of the pub was a McLaughlin woman who thought it was pretty amusing that she was meeting a McLaughlin "cousin" from the U.S. We had a great time with them since we were the only Americans there and also their only customers. They were especially fascinated by the video taken by our co-traveler, Camilla Perrill, and Ms. McLaughlin consented to a photograph with her long-lost kin.

Take a look at the picture above. Do you not see a family resemblance? Once a McLaughlin always a McLaughlin. Cuimhnigh Ar Do Gheallamhnacha. Remember Your Promises. It's a good motto for today and every day even if you're not a McLaughlin.

The First Family Member To Be Immortalized On The Wall Of A Restaurant

Well, at least the first Atkins boy in this particular family. We can't account for Chet who was born in Union County, Tennessee. His picture undoubtedly graces many restaurants around Nashville but he isn't a close relative.

It isn't every day that someone gets his or her picture posted on the wall of a restaurant – a celebrity who has eaten in that particular establishment. All of us have seen those autographed pictures displayed for patrons to admire while they dine on food that, presumably, the celebrity enjoyed.

Readers of this blog know all about Greg's 1967 Barracuda, lovingly restored by his dad with help from Greg. It is Greg's prize possession. This Viper Red muscle car has won several awards in antique car shows around town but never the coveted First Prize.

Last Saturday Greg took his car to the latest Mopar competition sponsored by the Georgia Mopar Club. And the winner of the very best restored classic Mopar car was the one, the only Gregory Michael Atkins with his 1967 Plymouth Barracuda! It was especially gratifying to win first prize because many of the cars had been professionally restored while the Atkins boys' car is a work of art personally accomplished by just the two of them.

This particular show was the very first car show attended by Miss Hannah Oliver who enthusiastically accompanied Greg. There are some people out there who think that Hannah brought them luck – including the two Atkins boys. After all, it never hurts to have a drop-dead gorgeous twenty-year-old sitting next to one's antique car.

So now Greg is immortalized for all time on the wall of the Galaxy Diner in Tucker, Georgia, hosts of the event. If you ever go there, look for his picture. The two younger Atkins boys report that the food is excellent too.

One Last Word About Chairs

Chairs seem to be high on the list of current activities for the middle Atkins boy these days. It seems that upholstery needs come in cycles for this family and, as the resident upholsterer, he always gets pressed into service by his mother who would always rather keep what she has than buy something new.

Some chairs come in pairs, like the wingback beauty you see above. These chairs were purchased from Ethan Allen in 1982 when the older Atkins family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. They were so beautiful in the eyes of their purchaser that she resisted every impulse to change them until the oldest Atkins male chose one of them as his favorite daytime reading chair and wore out its arms all the way through to the stuffing. Even then, she made arm covers in order to avoid giving up that fabric she loved so much.

After the holidays, though, she could not avoid the fact that shabby truly is shabby at some point so she bit the bullet and went on a quest for fabric she could love as much as the old stuff. She enlisted Scott's help and they finally found an acceptable substitute. Even so, she insisted on salvaging the velvet backs that so perfectly complement the rug in the living room. Above you see one of the pair, now restored to its former beauty.

One project begets another so the antique chair in the bedroom was next on the list. Why? Because the senior Atkins boy who wore out the downstairs chair also wore out the favorite upstairs chair by reading in it every night before going to bed. Fabric can last only so long, you know, and that fabric was approaching 40 years old.

Chair #2 was already an antique in the 1970s when the Atkins family moved to Marengo, Ohio. When first spotted, it was already threadbare with it's stuffing hanging out. It belonged to a lovely little widow lady named Merle Ribov. The lone female of the family sat in it one evening during a meeting at Merle's house and pronounced it the most comfortable chair she had ever occupied. Stuffed with real goose down, it was a chair that reached out and begged you to nestle into it, put your feet up on the ottoman and spend time there.

Then a blizzard struck Ohio, causing death and destruction and leaving thousands of people marooned in their homes for days. When it was all over, Merle decided she needed a space heater more than she needed the chair. The Atkins phone rang: Merle: Do you remember that chair you liked so much? Sallie: I certainly do. Merle: Would you like to have it? Sallie: I certainly would. How much do you want for it? Merle: Oh, my dear, I'm going to give it to you. I don't have room for it any longer. It has been in my family for a long time and I want someone who appreciates it to have it.

Well, the Atkins males promptly took the family van and retrieved it. Scott recovered it and preserved all that lovely goose down and it has provided comfort to the family ever since. Now resplendent in yet another new cover, but still retaining that treasured goose down, it brings back memories of Merle and her generosity and that special time in our lives. What was a Ribov family heirloom is now an Atkins family heirloom.

Since the Atkins family chair projects are now caught up, take a moment to look at the exquisite workmanship that Scott produces. Everything is impeccably done – something that isn't usually found in modern furniture unless one pays exorbitant prices for it. It's the difference between really caring about doing things right and just doing things. It reminds us of the old poem our parents used to quote when we complained about having to do chores. It's a poem the younger generation would benefit from and one the middle Atkins boy lives by.

When a job is once begun;
Do not stop until it's done.
Be the labor; great or small,
Do it right or not at all.

But are there any children out there who are expected to do chores in today's world?