Monday, February 13, 2012

It Doesn't Take Much to Keep an Old Guy Busy

      The other day when I was having coffee with my skating group one of them asked me if, "I was keeping busy?" My reply was,"It doesn't take much to keep an old guy busy." Then I launched into my story to prove my point. 


     The other day when I was having breakfast the top part of a screw dropped out the  chair. The chair didn't collapse immediately so I continued with my breakfast. When I got up to get my toast and coffee I checked the bottom of the chair and all the screws were there. I checked the back of the chair and found where the missing screw had come from. So I finished my breakfast , read the paper and did my crossword puzzles. Fixing the chair would be the first job after lunch.


     I thought about the solution for the chair all morning. Plan A was to get my trusty vice grips and latch onto the  part of the screw poking out of the wood. When I got the chair back off I discovered the screw had broken off below the wood surface. Okay plan B...drill the screw out. Plan B wasn't successful either. The drill bit would slip off the screw into the wood. Now Home Farm Girl is my manager and director. Home Farm Girl suggested that we glue the screw together. I politely told her that I didn't think glue would work. At that time I still didn't have a plan C so the glue solution stayed on the table. We both were stuck for a plan C. After coffee Home Farm Girl came up with a super idea. She suggested that we angle drill a hole beside the old screw. Right away I could see that this was the ticket. So I carefully drilled a hole so that the screw would not come out through the leather covering. 


     Now the next bridge to cross was to find a suitable screw. Of we went to the Canadian Everything Store. We thought we needed a # 10 screw 1 3/4  in long and it had to be brass. There were lots of # 10 screws but none 1 3/4 in long. Off to store number two. Nothing there. Store number three had a sizer for screws so I checked and the screw I had was  # 8. There were lots of 1 3/4  #8 screws. 


      So we started for home. By this time it was close to 5 PM so Home Farm Girl said I don't feel like going home to make supper. Let's go to Five Guys for Fries and to A&W for a burger. Well it sounds like winner but I said, "Nothing doing." I'm not going in to just order french fries. I really hated to be so mean but I couldn't accept her suggestion. Well the solution for supper ended without a war and we went home and had hot dogs.


      So you see one little screw kept me busy all afternoon! Some days are like that when you're a do it your selfer.