Somebody wanted to borrow my chainsaw
I asked "Why?"
They replied "My friend had a couple of trees come down in his yard during the recent storms."
I told him "If I loan you my chainsaw I come with it."
Handing a random person a tool that can whack off an arm in less than one second is not prudent.
Consequently, part of my morning was spent cutting up a downed Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) and Box Elder (Acer negundo). Both of those species are considered "invasive aliens" in Europe. Of the two, P. serotina is the more attractive tree.
Shipping something via UPS
A person in another state wanted a few pieces of bud-wood from one of my trees.
He shipped me a box, an expanded, polystyrene cooler and two ice-packs. He also included a return label to put on the box for the return trip.
About an hour-and-a-half of my morning was spent preparing the bud-wood, boxing it up and transporting it to a UPS Store.
Time-on-task/Clock-time
According to my stop-watch, I spent 4:38 on the two separate tasks. By my reckoning, maybe 90 minutes of it was actual time-on-task.
That is not a great ratio, only about 30% of the time was actually spent running the chainsaw or cutting scion. Time in the truck doesn't put food in the pantry.
Pop-quiz
This story start with a lost paring knife.
Mrs ERJ is quite fond of our Old Hickory paring knife. We have had it for decades. And then, earlier this week, it disappeared.
While looking through my inventory of cutting tools for a replacement, I happened across two items made of steel that I had been looking for because of other reasons.
On two different occasions I had a need to add a degree-of-separation between these artifacts and their "mothers" thereby rendering their mother inop whilst still being able to restore their capability in a timely manner.
Timely, that is, if I had remembered the "safe place" I had stored these items.
Closure on the paring knife
I ordered another paring knife. It now costs $23 rather than the $5 they cost in 2010. By my calculus, it is a bargain if you can make your wife happy for the cost of three cups of foo-foo coffee.
The bottom artifact appears to be from a Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk1.
ReplyDeleteOUTSTANDING!!!
DeleteYou are right.
The act of buying another item significantly enhances the odds of finding the original item.
ReplyDeleteIt works for me about 80% of the time.
I have a lot of duplicates
It sometimes works if you put it in your basket for future purchase, too. I lost may daily carry folder about a month ago. Gave up yesterday, and put it in my 'to buy' list for payday. Then the wife asked for a putty knife. I went to the putty knife drawer and found the other knife. Now to remember to delete the replacement before Friday's order - off I go.
DeleteMy favorite paring knife is a serrated one from Opinel, No. 313. Absolutely outstanding on tomatoes. The Amish tomatoes are ready and this time of year my vegetable intake is largely those tossed with feta cheese, fresh parsley little olive oil salt and,pepper.
ReplyDelete16 years of service divided into 5 dollars... good return on equity.
ReplyDeleteSavage Mark II is the “mom” of the other item?
ReplyDeleteTop one is a .22 of some kind, possibly Remington.
ReplyDeleteTop bolt appears to be from a left handed Savage .22 lr bolt action rifle, probably a Mark I. It appears to be missing the rear plug which acts as a gas baffle, an important safety feature.
ReplyDelete