I have problems with tools. Most tools in my hands draw blood. My blood. Give me a hammer, pliers, even a screwdriver and odds are I’m going to be bleeding somewhere before long. Marilyn always has a good selection of band aids at the ready. There are a few tools I’m OK with; I can handle a bottle opener and I pretty much never bleed with my credit card. That’s been my salvation all these years. If anything broke or needed an adjustment I’d just reach for a credit card. They pay people to fix things you know.

But now that we are moving to part time employment I thought it would be a good idea to learn to use a few tools. Literally get the rust off them.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a signal light on my truck wasn’t working and at first credit card in hand I was off to get it fixed. I wrestled with that idea for days, then decided I would fix it myself. After the third time I checked it all out I finally figured out where the bolts to get at the bulbs were and Sunday morning after we picked up our tandem bike from our old house we stopped at Canadian Tire and with my credit card I bought a bulb (and a spare). When we got home I enthusiastically grabbed my tool box, took it all apart as planned and made the repair. It worked and I wasn’t bleeding.

We are talking a new day in Larry’s life. Think of the possibilities, the world at my finger tips.

Later, full of confidence we headed out for a ride on the tandem, just got going nicely and pop! A flat tire. Now for a lot of people that would be a big deal, but for a handyman like me it’s no problem. I patched my bike tubes a hundred times when I was a kid. We went straight home and got out the tools again.

The picture above is about 3 or 4 hours later. The bleeding has stopped but the tire still doesn’t hold air.

I’ll go and see my buddy Sam at All The Right Gears. He’ll fix it, and he won’t charge me a lot. It’ll all be good.