Tools Were Involved

The back door to our garage had a long step down with some flat paving bricks in place as a sort of a rudimentary step. For a person of average height, it probably wouldn’t be a problem. But if you have short legs like Terry and I, it was still more than we wanted to deal with. So I decided to see what I could do to improve things.

Scrounging around among things left behind by the previous owners, I found a couple of 8-foot long 4×4 posts. My first thought was to try to cut them to the right length and turn them into some kind of a step, but I figured I would need at least two more. Then Miss Terry, who knows a lot more about everything than I ever will, suggested I make a base out of the 4x4s and then put the paving bricks on top of them. As I’ve said many times before, she’s the brains and the beauty around here. I’m just the eye candy.

I got out my trusty chop saw, a yard sale find from years ago that has been well worth the few dollars I paid for it and set it up on a table outside the garage. The blade was not big enough to cut all the way through a 4×4, but it would go more than halfway, so I made a cut, flipped the post around, and did the same thing on the other side. And I didn’t even cut any of my fingers or anything else off! Terry came out to keep an eye on me just in case. We do know my history with tools, don’t we?

With the posts cut to size, I now had four pieces. I stacked them side by side, then put the paving bricks on top of them. It all came together and fit perfectly. Now it’s easier to enter and leave the garage with our munchkin-sized legs. I was rather proud of my accomplishment, but then I remembered the old saying, “Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while.” I think that applies here very well.

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is a copy of More RV Chuckles and Chuckholes-More Confessions of Happy Campers by Darlene Miller. It’s her second book about the RV lifestyle, which is full of amusing anecdotes, jokes, adventures and chuckhole experiences while traveling throughout the USA and Canada. It includes stories about the search for the white Kermodei bear in British Columbia; how to stay in touch with your grandchildren while traveling and bond with other RVers while parked in the desert around Quartzsite, Arizona. Guest contributors write about the quest for New Mexican chilies; what happens when the windshield breaks in the middle of traffic on the San Franciso Bay Bridge; or how to RV when you are born with no mechanical genes.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. Yeah, I know what the sign says. But if you touch one, you go to Hell.

Thought For The Day – If you obey all the rules, you will miss half the fun. – Katherine Hepburn