All Of The Selves We Have Ever Been
Menu

all of the selves we Have ever been

Tools of the Trade

4/23/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture


I have a friend who carries a pocket knife,

a Swiss Army Knife to be exact.  After all, the Swiss are known for their precision.

No, the Swiss army knife is not made of chocolate.  It is an actual brand of pocket knife first introduced to the world by the Swiss military.  I find this interesting since I didn’t know that Switzerland had a military, the country being neutral and all.  Maybe the Swiss require an army to protect all of that fine Swiss chocolate.  Or maybe the country is still on edge from that 1968 Super Bowl when NBC switched to its regular programming with only 65 seconds left to play in the game.  No one saw the Oakland Raiders make two touchdowns in nine seconds to beat the New York Jets.  Frankly, I am surprised NBC is still in business.  And what was the regularly scheduled program that led to such a debacle?  It was the movie Heidi, the children’s story published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri.  It is a touching tale about an orphaned girl who is sent to live with her cranky grandfather in the mountains of Switzerland.  It’s a classic made much more famous for upsetting the Super Bowl broadcast of 1968.  I remember watching Heidi that day while my father fumed.  It is the event that put Switzerland on the map for Americans of that era.

Anyway, the advertisement says that the Swiss Army Knife now comes in thousands of combinations of sizes, tools and colors, including pink. There are 33 tool choices including two different size blades, five different screwdrivers, a corkscrew, can opener, bottle opener, wire stripper, tweezers, toothpick, key ring, fish scaler, nail file, wood chisel, and pliers.  That is not all.  And it fits into your pocket.

I’m not much on bulging pockets, and such a device can make it hard to get through the security that is everywhere.  I carry a purse that usually contains tweezers, small scissors, toothpicks, a key ring, floss, and nail file.  I can’t say that I have a hook that can hold up to two hundred pounds or a metal saw, but I am crafty when necessary, and I don’t usually put things on a hook that weigh more than me.

At home, the basic tools of my trade are not many or colorful unless accounting for the occasional loss of blood.  I have a small paring knife and a hemostat.  If you are not familiar with a hemostat, it is a surgical tool that looks like a pair of scissors.  It is used in surgical procedures to control bleeding.  No, the hemostat was not left in or on my body following a surgery.  My parents worked in the medical field, and interesting things could be found around the house.  The hemostat left home when I did.  I keep it in my toolbox.  It is handy for grabbing things and holding on tight.  It is helpful when small things go down the bathroom sink drain or when trying to get a roll of tape started.  In most instances, it is a much better choice than needle-nose pliers.  And it can stem the blood flow when I get to using my paring knife in non-traditional ways. 

I store my small paring knife in the kitchen, but its use is not reserved to that room only. I purchased the paring knife when I was 19 and moving into my first apartment.  It fits my hand perfectly, and we’ve pretty much grown up together.  With years of almost daily use, we know each other well.  We have a style and rhythm to our work.  It is practically a Mary Poppins act where I open the drawer and the knife jumps out and gets to work.  After all of these years, the knife, which has never had any maintenance other than cleaning, is still solid and sharp.  Sure, I use it for chopping and cutting in the kitchen, but it is also a screwdriver and a scraper.  The tip can be used to pry apart or hold things in place.

While some folks like to have a separate, bona fide tool for every use and are proud of their collection, I enjoy the creativity of making do with what I have, and it is cheaper and less cumbersome.  The challenge calls out my inner MacGyver.  Maybe it is a woman-thing.  I have a female friend who loves to do her own home improvement projects, but she reports that most of the projects have been paid for by her health insurance.  I have to admit that sometimes my own projects have me in stitches.


0 Comments

    Author

    Lilli-ann Buffin
    ​

      Get Notified of New Posts 
      Enter your email address and click on "Subscribe"

    Subscribe

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020

    Categories

    All
    Acne
    Adulting
    Advertising
    Aging
    Arms
    Barbie
    Baths
    Beauty
    Beloved Community
    BINGO
    Birds
    Books
    Branding
    Bravery
    Cars
    Catching Up
    Children
    Church
    Cliches
    Clothing
    Comfy Couches
    Coping With Stress
    Coronavirus
    Death & Dying
    Diets
    Dignity
    Discernment
    Drive Ins
    Drive-ins
    Driving
    Essential Workers
    Exercise
    Faith
    Falling
    Family
    Father's Day
    Food
    Friendship
    Fruit
    Games
    Good Intentions
    Goodness
    Good Old Days
    Grace
    Graduation
    Grandparents
    Gratitude
    Hair
    Handwriting
    Health
    Heroes
    History
    Holidays
    Hope
    Houses
    Humor
    Illness
    Imagination
    Influencers
    Ironing
    John Lewis
    Knowledge
    Laughter
    Laundry
    Leadership
    Libraries
    Listening
    Lists
    MacGyver
    Madge
    Magazines
    Mail
    Masks
    Memorial Day
    Memories
    Mental Illness
    Miracles
    Moral Lessons
    Mothers
    Music
    Names
    Nancy Drew
    Nature
    Neighbors
    Oreos
    Other-Mothers
    Our Stuff
    Outdoors
    Parenting
    Pets
    Phones
    Poignancy
    Politics
    Prayer
    Purses
    Reading
    Recipes
    Reinvention
    Revelations
    Rewards
    Rotisserie Chicken
    Saturdays
    Saving The World
    Schools
    Shelf Life
    Showers
    Siblings
    Small Things
    Sorrow
    Speed
    Sports
    Stores
    Substance Abuse
    Success
    Sunshine
    Technology
    Thanksgiving
    Toilet Paper
    Tools
    Truth
    Uncles
    Veterans
    Voting
    Walking
    War
    Water
    Weather
    Wilderness
    Wishing
    Women
    Wonder
    Words
    Work

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works
  • What Readers Say
  • Home
    • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works
  • What Readers Say