Industrial Designer here, certified machinist, and skilled with every woodworking tool and piece of equipment you worked with.

My kids were in kindergarten when they started working in my shop and studio. My shop was in an airport hangar back then, and they loved that place. We had a small shop at home, and their friends would spend weeks in there making floats for the 4th of July parade (they won first place every year, for years). If you teach kids how to use equipment properly, its no more dangerous than a sewing machine, or cooking. In fact, my kid's accidents happened in the kitchen and hiking - not the shop.

Today, our skills are really paying off. While my son-in-law works, my daughter and I are busy completing the restoration of an old home (for sale), and building two new homes for ourselves on 60 acres of forest land. We have teeny tiny labour costs because we do the plumbing, electrical, custom cabinetry, drywall, flooring, roofing, HVAC, windows, insulation, etc. ourselves. So far, the road is in, our septic systems are almost finished, electricity is on the way and the pads are ready to start building. In just about a month, my daughter will be on the backhoe digging trenches to lay water lines.

I'm getting older, so we've designed everything in my house for an aging woman. Unless I am bedridden, I can live independently for a very long time. For example, we are building drawers instead of cabinets in the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and living spaces. Solid wood flooring throughout - no bumps, ridges or jams to trip me. A ramp at the back of the house beside parking area, so I won't have to climb steps. All the handicap requirements are built into the walls, in case they're needed. Walk in shower, includes a seating area with temperature controls, plus wands and overhead water spouts. The Shakers were awesome craftsmen and artisans and we've taken a lot of design ideas from Shaker Village near where we live, here in Kentucky.

I have my work cut out for me though. I'm building an outdoor kitchen to put up the food this forest provides, plus my garden produce. We're putting in cash crops as well, including lilacs, Christmas trees and a small orchard. We're also building a barn and a shop near the street where my daughter will move her dog grooming shop - and I can sell my baked goods. In two years, we'll have everything will be paid off and son-in-law can quit his job and do the work he loves in the barn (he restores old cars and things like that). Since I'm there to take care of the place, they can travel again.

If we'd had to pay for the labour, we could never afford this lifestyle - or this much freedom. I got the same treatment you did, in the world of men. But I got the last laugh.

Thank you for the trip down memory lane. I'm glad to know I was not alone, you were out of sight, but right there with me. The young have no frigging idea how many barriers we knocked down with our bare hands.