The $3 Drill Press and other stories
Nov. 4th, 2005 05:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gerisullivanI took advantage of this afternoon's sunshine by cleaning out the gutters, finding storage space for the patio furniture, and blowing away as many leaves as my extension cord would reach. In short, making at least a first, token effort to get ready for winter.
I have a 50-foot extension cord someplace around here. I know I do; I used it in June to troubleshoot pond electricity problems while Susan and Gavi were here. Could I find it today? Of course not. The 25-foot extension cord made it easy to remove the leaves from my back deck. I simply plugged in the leaf blower and herded them to the ground below. Vroom, vroom. Bye, bye leaves. Good fun, very satisfying.
It was even better out front, where three seasons worth of thistle seed combined with the leaves to make a thorough mess around my main door, the one that everyone uses to come into the house via the mudroom. I suppose the house would look weird without a formal front door, but mine is mostly useless. Anyway, more vroom vroom and everything quickly looked much tidier and better cared for than it has in weeks. Months, even. There weren't any yellowjackets to disturb as there were during my summer clean-ups of the area.
Umm. Power tools. Power tools are good. Power tools are my friends.
I'd be inclined to blame the missing extension cord on the realities of moving -- everything goes in new places and you sometimes just don't remember where those places are. But it's really just one of those living things. Some years, NESFA bought a drill press. Some years after that, the club needed to use the drill press, but couldn't find it. Really couldn't find it. So they bought another and used it instead. At some point, the first drill press showed up, as these things will. Even NESFA couldn't come up with a reason for needing two drill presses, so last Sunday, they auctioned off one of them. I was the only person present who had any inclination to bid on the thing, so I am now down $3 and up one drill press. Haven't drilled anything with it yet, but I expect it will come in more than $3 worth of handy sooner or later. Vroom, vroom, and the sound of another hole made in the world.
I already needed a longer extension cord. Now appears to be the time to get one. There are, after all, more leaves to blow. Lots more leaves.
Vroom, vroom.
I have a 50-foot extension cord someplace around here. I know I do; I used it in June to troubleshoot pond electricity problems while Susan and Gavi were here. Could I find it today? Of course not. The 25-foot extension cord made it easy to remove the leaves from my back deck. I simply plugged in the leaf blower and herded them to the ground below. Vroom, vroom. Bye, bye leaves. Good fun, very satisfying.
It was even better out front, where three seasons worth of thistle seed combined with the leaves to make a thorough mess around my main door, the one that everyone uses to come into the house via the mudroom. I suppose the house would look weird without a formal front door, but mine is mostly useless. Anyway, more vroom vroom and everything quickly looked much tidier and better cared for than it has in weeks. Months, even. There weren't any yellowjackets to disturb as there were during my summer clean-ups of the area.
Umm. Power tools. Power tools are good. Power tools are my friends.
I'd be inclined to blame the missing extension cord on the realities of moving -- everything goes in new places and you sometimes just don't remember where those places are. But it's really just one of those living things. Some years, NESFA bought a drill press. Some years after that, the club needed to use the drill press, but couldn't find it. Really couldn't find it. So they bought another and used it instead. At some point, the first drill press showed up, as these things will. Even NESFA couldn't come up with a reason for needing two drill presses, so last Sunday, they auctioned off one of them. I was the only person present who had any inclination to bid on the thing, so I am now down $3 and up one drill press. Haven't drilled anything with it yet, but I expect it will come in more than $3 worth of handy sooner or later. Vroom, vroom, and the sound of another hole made in the world.
I already needed a longer extension cord. Now appears to be the time to get one. There are, after all, more leaves to blow. Lots more leaves.
Vroom, vroom.
