My parents are staying with us for the holidays, and today my father and I installed a garbage disposal in the guesthouse kitchen sink. My father did 90% of the work, since he's a lot better at this kind of stuff than I am, but I had to pitch in for certain parts, because one of his hands is out of commission. He has a rare condition called Dupuytren's contracture — thickening of skin tissue in the hands that makes it impossible to open them. It's a genetic condition that seems to affect people with Viking ancestry. He had a "palmar fasciotomy," a surgical procedure to cut the bands of thickened tissue. So his right hand is all bandaged up. (Click thumbnails for enlargement).