This revelation struck me in the forehead like the preverbal ball-peen hammer just last week when I took my SUV in to my repair shop to have its power steering pump replaced.
Mike, the mechanic at the shop, was in a foul mood when I arrived. Hmmmm, unusual, I thought, there’s usually a big smile across his face.
“So, Mikey, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s that damn Valvo I’ve been working on, Mikey blurted out. I don’t have the right tool I need to repair the turbo and because of that, this job - that pays 8 hrs flat-rate (a mechanic’s fixed fee for a service) has now taken me more than twice that long to complete.”
I could immediately relate. I had heard all this many times before growing up the son of a professional mechanic.
Mom and dad’s finances were tight when I was a kid, just like they are for us all now. Consequently, some of the biggest fights I can remember my parents having were over my father purchasing his professional tools. Since mom was the one who handled the finances, she would go ballistic when my dad came home from work with news that he had just bought another specialty wrench for his toolbox.
I can hear it now, plain as day - “Robert, do you want to eat this week or buy tools?”
His answer was always the same - “Alice, those tools make my job faster, my work better and my paycheck fatter!”
That ended their discussion and mom was left with the task of working her magic with the family finances.
· In both Mikey’s and my father’s case, having the right tool for the job had a direct affect on their ability to support their families.
· etoolcart.com - Automotive Specialty Tools, Inc.
But, choosing the right tools can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
Case in point – Rattle Snake Removal
Recently, Michael, my next-door neighbor, came frantically knocking at my garage door. “Bruce, can you come out here and tell me what kind of snake this is,” he excitedly asked?
I followed Michael to the neighbor’s backyard and there, from a distance; I immediately spotted a large snake making its way across the yard. It was hard for me to tell what it was but when I got closer, I froze in my tracks. There slithering in the grass in front of me was a HUGE Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake.
I could hardly believe my eyes, so I yelled for Michael to get me a shovel. Then, with shovel in hand, I approached, this rattlesnake the snake, but I quickly realized that the length of my shovel was not nearly long enough to keep me out of the striking range of this big boy’s fangs, so, I backed off.
The rattlesnake and I assumed our defensive postures. We were in a standoff. Then the situation began to deteriorate rapidly as the crowd grew – so my neighbor, whose back yard it was that we were all standing, called the local wildlife removal service to come get our wayward rattlesnake.
In the meantime, I abandoned use of the shovel for an extendable fiberglass painter’s pole. In my opinion, the painter’s pole was a more appropriate tool for this job. It still allowed me to control the rattlesnake, but now from a much safer distance.
Then the professional handler arrived on the scene and I was shocked to see that our wildlife person came equipped to perform this removal armed with only a plastic garbage bag and a 28-inch snake tong. “You’re kidding me - right!” was my first response to this guy now standing beside me. Mr. Wildlife removal took a quick glance at the tongs in his hand then at this pi**ed off 60 inch - 20 lb rattlesnake lying on the ground in front of us.
He knew what I meant!
“How bout I pin the head with my pole then you grab him with your tongs?” was my suggestion.
So, that’s how it went down. Our neighborhood rattlesnake received a professional chamfered ride in a black garbage bag to Herp heaven.
· In this situation, the right tool for the job turned out to be some common sense and an improvised painters pole. The pole provided distance, but common sense is what kept everyone safe.
· http://tongs.com/ - the world’s leader in reptile handling equipment
The aforementioned examples all contribute to the refinement of the best tool that we all have at our disposal - our Common Sense.
Often ignored, misunderstood and underutilized, Common Sense - listening to one’s inner voice – protects us from harm.
And the devil is in the details of that which can cause us harm.
· Did you ever leave a pot cooking on the stove and forget about it? I have.
· Have you ever confronted a rattlesnake with a shovel? I have.
· And when was the last time you checked the air in your motorcycle’s tires?
Common Sense tells us that it’s a bad idea to walk away from a pot cooking on the stove or to confront a poisonous snake or to ignore the air pressure in your motorcycles tires.
I’ve done all of these things recently. I’m not proud, but there’s now doubt that I’ve been very lucky.
Staring into the dark eyes of an angry rattlesnake has made me realize that, at my age, I’d rather be safe than lucky. So, I’ve decided no longer to ignore my inner voice. From now on my common sense is going to have more of an influence on the decisions I make.
So, you’ll have to excuse me; I’m going to the garage right now and check the air in my motorcycle tires.
Now where did I put that tire gauge?