Any two people who are contemplating spending the rest of their lives together need to understand something very important. It is a really good idea to have at least one thing both parties find exceedingly interesting. My husband and I have many interests that we do not share but when it comes to tools, we are a match made in heaven. Time can literally come to a standstill when we enter the tool department of any store that has such offerings. Our favorite area of the tool section would be where the power tools are kept, especially those that are battery powered. There are few things finer than a screwdriver with a motor.
It is also a good idea to have the right tool for whatever job is at hand. Many of my steak knives can attest to this truth, as their tips show the results of being used as a pry bar or screwdriver which was obviously not their intended purpose.
Recently, I was wrestling an acorn squash in the kitchen. I had learned a valuable lesson about squash in the last few weeks of trying new foods. Winter squash, acorn, spaghetti and butternut have an outer skin that is hard as a rock. My first attempt at halving a spaghetti squash was nearly met with the loss of one of my limbs. As I pondered over the best way to cut the acorn squash, I had a brilliant idea. Digging around in the cabinet, I found some super strong packing tape. I located my biggest cutting board and an extra long fork. Placing the squash in the middle of the cutting board, I stuck the fork in the lower half of the squash, with the fork tines pointing downward. I then taped the handle of the fork to the counter top. I had to admit, I was quite pleased with how well the squash was anchored to the cutting board. At this time I called my husband and asked him to bring a certain tool in with him when he arrived home. It was not long after that he came in the door with the beloved reciprocating saw.....battery powered and sporting a brand new clean blade. He walked over and took one look at my setup and laughed. "I think it will work!", I assured him and he handed me the saw. Giving one last double check to make sure the squash was securely on the cutting board, I pulled the trigger on the saw, lined it up with the top center of the squash and cut through it like it was a warm stick of butter. I had just learned a new life hack.
According to the Urban Dictionary, life hack means; "a tool or technique that makes some aspect of one's life easier or more efficient". Anyone older than fifty should possibly read the Urban Dictionary from time to time, just so we can communicate with any one under the age of fifty.....seriously.....the word 'cheddar' means money. Anyway, deciding to try a red wine, I asked several people for suggestions of one not too sweet and definitely not dry. I had several responses and as I walked through the shelves of wine bottles at the local grocery store, I found two that had been on the list. Later that evening as I was tearing off the thin foil on the top of the bottle, I realized there was not a corkscrew to be found in any drawer. My husband and I decided to look on YouTube for a life hack to solve this problem. There were several unique ways of opening a wine bottle without a corkscrew and we chose the 'key' method. The video showed putting a key into the cork, at an angle. Then, applying pressure to the key from the side, slowly begin to turn the cork and watch it come right up out of the bottle. So simple and much easier than hitting the bottom of the bottle with a shoe. My husband chose one of the keys to his truck, the one that opens the door, because it had padding on the end and would be easier to push than the bare metal of an un-padded key. We watched, with great delight, as the cork began to move and slowly start up out of the bottle. It was about this time that the top of the door key, to his truck, snapped off right at the top of the cork. Without going into what words were being tossed around at that time, we retrieved another key, that neither of us were sure what it went to, and tried again. This time the cork began to descend down the neck of the bottle and just as we realized the direction it had taken, the second key snapped off at the cork.
Shortly after this, we put the bottle of wine in the sink, grabbed a long handled wooden spoon and beat the cork down into the bottle. The wine ended up being a bit too dry for my taste.
Mother always liked Red Rose. It comes in two sizes, big and bigger and has a screw on cap. Works for me.
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