Tag Archives: tools

Have fun and be good.

Posted on by

“I got thoroughly chastised by Krista for throwing away a banana. She said you’d still eat it.” My dad was busy writing a check for the Snap-On man but he still smiled.

My mom pitched in “He still might if he can find it in the trash. What was wrong with it? Was it bad?”

“No such thing as a bad banana,” my dad chirped.

My mom made a blanket disagreement. She’s not sure if there’s any such thing as a good banana.

“It wasn’t ripe.”

My father turned turned to the Snap-On man and said “I get a lot of crap for pulling thing out of the trash. Reusing paper plates…”

“The dogs already cleaned them, so they should be fine!” My mom grins.

My father nods to her and says “She draws the line at floss.” He pauses. “At least after the dogs got a hold of it. ”

The Snap-On guy keeps grinning while I huff. “I remember getting all kinds of mocked when I brushed the dog’s teeth when I was in 4-H.”

I think he gets a lot of amusement out of this particular stop. Whenever he leaves, he reminds us to “Have fun, and be good!”

Making sparks

Posted on by

benrouschpic

Just one of the many reasons that I love GRMakers.

The people there are an astounding community of thinkers, tinkerers, and do-ers. I can honestly say that I don’t know what I would be like without GRMakers, it’s been a year of learning, growing and connecting. Some of my most trusted friends are people that I have met at makers.

If you consider yourself a maker in any way, I encourage you to check out https://www.grmakers.com/ and see how to get involved. If you are in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, come out to the space for the free social on Wednesday nights from eight to midnight.

Woogity Woogity

Posted on by

“It’s just flat not gonna go.” I was quite certain about changing out the reciprocating saw blade for a different style.
“That is absolutely not what you say about that.” He picked up the new blade and walked over to the bench grinder.
“You gonna inflict some positivity on it?” I remained skeptical.
“It’s not whether it will work, it’s what are you gonna do to make it work.” It took a few trips to the grinder and back, but he reshaped the blade enough to make it work.
“There.” He tightened the blade into place. “See if it’s got the woogity woogity.”
It did.

I always wonder about whether that type of fiddling is worthwhile. It just seemed like a worthless distraction when I could surely find another way to expand the hole. After all, he was under the gun for four different projects, and he still took the time to tighten up the sledgehammer after I had noticed it and saw that the head was loose. We hadn’t even known where it was for the past several weeks. It was not important to do. He should have been working on wiring the Nissan. But as soon as he heard something was wrong with it, he pulls himself away to fix it. After all, if something can be improved by your presence, you should do it. That’s just the way he is. Distractable, for one.

My day at work

Posted on by

teeth

Turns out that fiberglass will dull a blade really quickly.
My dad likes to casually mention the things that he would do if he hadn’t started his business. Sometimes it “I should have been an engineer for thirty years and then retired into doing what I do now.” Sometimes it’s wishing to be a pilot. Today, it was showing off a clever little chunk of bent steel meant for one of the handicap vehicles and declaring “When I grow up, I wanna be a fabricator.”

When he works, examining around things, checking for interferences, he’ll sucks his breath through his teeth when he discovers something he’d rather not have to deal with. He clicks the plastic of his teeth alignment mouth guards together as he works a way around the problem in his mind.

spring clamps

We couldn’t find enough spring clamps, so we improvised with a set of jumper cables.

When it comes to fabricating, any line is better than no line. The line you try to create with your mind is going to be off by the time you reach the end of it. Had an experience with that today.

A lady on the radio warbled “write your story” repetitively. I heard “Rightous Tory.” Righteous Tory sounds like a she’d be a bitch.