Some peole are born handy. Others get divorced, buy a house, and have handiness forced upon them. Guess which one I am? In fact, three or four years ago, you could have easily convinced me that “drill chuck” was a hockey team position or a cut of beef. Today, I walked into Ace Hardware and bought a new drill chuck, because I couldn’t find mine, and also a few other small items. Then I came home and
*repaired my back garden hose by chopping off the balky end and installing a new one (yay once again for internet tutorials).
*shoveled the potting soil out of a 1/2 whiskey barrel left here by the former home owners. Not only did I get some good soil for my rock garden,* but I found they’d half-filled it with some nifty rocks.
*Using a 3″ diameter hole saw (something I had no idea existed before last weekend — yay for the nice men at Bomgaars), I drilled a hole low in the side of the whiskey barrel. THAT was work, let me tell you; the barrel is hardwood and I had to brace the drill against my knee and follow the hole saw with a couple of runs with a 1/8″ bit before I could knock the hole out.
*Using my woefully inadequate muscles and grunt-chanting “lift with you knees,” I moved the barrel to the front of my house to serve as a hose pot for my front yard hose. Not as decorative as the lovely metal and pottery ones you see in catalogues, but $100+ cheaper and the hose doesn’t have to be coiled as neatly.
And now I’m going to take a handy little nap.
*which I weeded and hoed yesterday, preparing empty areas marked out last summer for plantings this weekend.
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June 2, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Nate Swift
I AM impressed……… and a little puzzled….. ya lost the chuck offa yer drill motor?
June 2, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Nate Swift
Never mind, I finally tumbled. You lost the chuck KEY, the little lever you insert to tighten the chuck onto the drill bit (or hole saw shaft as the case may be). NOW, before you do another thing, you takes some good strong tape and you tapes the key to the cord about 10 inches from where it goes into the drill so it will always be with the drill and can be used while still attached to the cord…. unless the nice hardware guy sold you one of those little plastic thingies that does the same thing. Ya had me going there for a little while.
June 3, 2009 at 11:24 am
lindainkansas
What ARE you talking about???? Your handiness has moved far, far beyond my occasional use of screwdriver/pliers/crochet hook/table knife/duct tape to attack and solve household/yard breakdowns. Go take another handy nap.