re: #434 wrenchwench

I just had a pleasant political discussion with a customer, after I fixed his tires. No presidential items came up, but we disagreed on the death penalty, which isn’t even on the ballot here, but the governor is pushing it to be reinstated. It wasn’t so pleasant that I changed his mind or anything, but he told me about having lost customers at his place over politics (he’s a dentist) and pledged I would never lose his business over politics. And I said he could even bring me tires off of some outdoor woodworking equipment that have no tubes and leak at the seat, and I would fix them (that’s what happened today).

I am so impressed with people who can fix things. I am such a mechanical klutz that my best intentions for even the simplest projects just goes haywire. My latest example: kitchen cabinet doors that needed new hinges. I decided I was going to do this easy thing by myself in an effort to become more self sufficient (and to stop bugging neighbors and friends into coming over to do such honey-dos).

I bought new hinges and a cute little drill. Got the old hinges off and new ones on one cabinet door. Whee! That was easy! Went to put it up and damn, wrong type of hinge. (Who knew?) Got the right hinges, repeat. Got it up on the cabinet and damn, old holes won’t hold. Need new ones but the screws won’t go into the wood without starter holes. No drill bits. Got drill bits. Turns out my cute little pink “drill” is just an electric screwdriver and won’t hold drill bits. Called a friend to borrow his drill. Got it and pulled everything out to do the project. Dead drill - he didn’t bring the power supply. Got the power supply. Used the drill bits I bought for my drill that isn’t a drill. Broke 2 when they got stuck in the wood cuz they weren’t the right drill bits for that drill. (Who knew?) Borrowed drill bits from a neighbor that would work. Broke one of his bits when I knocked the drill off the counter into the stair well. Got him a new set to replace it.

So it took over a month to accomplish my goal but accomplish I did. Finally. Can’t say I’m feeling particularly empowered by my success though. I think I’ll stick to cooking, crocheting, and critter whispering.