~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
March 11, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote: “I’d far rather be happy than right any day.”  ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

★~ Worship of  Tools Day:

This past weekend I didn’t feel great, so I spent a lot of time on the couch watching the DIY (Do It Yourself) Channel. The people on the shows remodeled kitchens and bathrooms and renovated houses by recycling stuff found in dumpsters. On one show they built a timber house and finished it on time and slightly under budget despite freezing temperatures and a threatening forest fire. The shows were impressive and made it seem that remodeling any room of your house was easily accomplished with a plan and the right tools—and there was my clue that the shows were straight out of fantasyland; no one ever has the right tool to start or finish a job. We have a garage full of impressive tools, but never the one we need, and if we do have it, despite a labeled tool chest, we can never find it. The part they leave out on these shows is the hours spent running back and forth to the hardware store and wandering down miles of aisles looking for the illusive “just right tool” with dashed hopes that the helpful hardware man will flash his smile at us. Eventually, many trips later, our prayers are answered and we do find what we need to start or finish the job; but for most of us, finding the proper tools is the hardest part of any project.

Today we celebrate the tools that help us accomplish the job and turn up when needed!

★~ Oatmeal-Nut Waffles Day:

Waffles became a popular baked treat during the Middle Ages. The original recipe called for just flour and water, so vendors sold waffles on the streets during the religious fasting season. Bakers branded the waffles with coats of arms, religious symbols, and the traditional honeycomb pattern we are accustomed to today. Eventually people began adding other ingredients like eggs, butter, milk, and honey. If you are looking for a healthier version of this already perfect breakfast classic….here is a recipe for Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day!

★~ Today In History:

♥~ 1968 – Otis Redding posthumously received a gold record for the single, (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay. Redding was killed in a plane crash in Lake Monona in Madison, WI on December 10, 1967.

♥~ 1958 – An American B-47 bomber accidentally dropped an unarmed atom bomb on a farm near a Florence, South Carolina. The bomb’s conventional explosives exploded, injured six people, leveling a farm house, and blasting a thirty-five-foot-deep crater.

♥~ 1986 – Popsicle announced its plan to end the traditional twin-stick frozen treat for a flatter, one-stick model.

♥~ 1997 – Paul McCartney was knighted by the Queen in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Hundreds of fans, some wearing T-shirts that read “Arise Sir Paul,” cheered his arrival and stayed outside the palace until he emerged.

★~  Born Today:

♥~ 1903 – Lawrence Welk bandleader: The Lawrence Welk Show.

♥~ 1934 – Sam Donaldson TV newsman: ABC White House correspondent; host: Primetime Live

♥~ 1946 – Mark Metcalf, Actor (“Animal House”)

♥~ 1952 – Susan Richardson, Actress (“Eight is Enough”)

♥~ 1952 – Douglas Adams author: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; died May 11, 2001

♥~ 1963- Alex Kingston, Actress (“ER”)

★~ Did you know: 

♥~ To sharpen a pair of scissors, use it to slice up several pieces of sandpaper.

♥~ Have you ever wished for another hand to hold small items that you’re putting together or soldering? Make a convenient holder by wrapping a rubber band around the handles of a pair of long nose pliers. It will pull the handles together, which will keep the jaws closed on the item you need held.

♥~ Use sandpaper to clean a stained wooden chopping board. Lightly sand the surface with fine-grit sandpaper. When you’re finished, though, coat the wood with olive oil to keep it from drying out.

♥~ Wipe fine-grit sandpaper over a sweater in one direction—gently!—to lift pesky pills.

♥~ Don’t chance hitting your thumb or finger when hammering a small tack or nail. If you slip the fastener between the teeth of a comb, the comb holds the nail while you painlessly hold the comb. You can also use a bobby pin or paper clip.

♥~ Put the feet of a ladder into empty coffee cans to steady them when the ladder is standing on soft earth.

♥~ Fill the upper part of your hammer handles with snug rubber bands. Whenever you have a nailing job that requires a limited number of nails, insert them under the band of the hammer you are using. That way, each nail is right at hand whenever you are ready for it.

♥~ When does a knife blade, a chisel edge or saw teeth need sharpening? When it looks bright. A really sharp edge doesn’t look bright because it is so thin. A dull edge is wider and thus more reflective.

♥~ A screw that is too tight will sometimes come loose if you heat the edge of the screwdriver.

♥~ To prevent a screwdriver from slipping, rub chalk on its blade.

♥~ To transform a hammer into a soft-headed mallet, cover the head with the sort of rubber tip used to prevent furniture legs from scratching the floor.

♥~ Tighten a cabinet or dresser knob by dipping its screw or screws into fingernail polish or shellac and reinserting the knob. When the polish or shellac hardens, the screws will be set.

♥~ Fix a small leak in a plastic hose by touching it very lightly with the top of a hot ice pick. The plastic will melt and seal the hole.

♥~ Invest a few minutes of time to make sure you always have a reasonably accurate measuring device around. Simply measure different spans on your body and memorize those calculations. Among the most useful measurements are:
The distance between different finger or thumb joints (experiment and you can probably establish a 1 inch length)
The spread of your sprayed hand, from the tip of your longest finger to your armpit.
The length of your foot.

♥~ When you want to measure something at home or in the store and you don’t have a measuring tape, try using a dollar bill. It’s 6-1/8 inches long, 3-1/16 inches when folded in half, and almost exactly 1-1/2 inches when folded in quarters. Its full width is 2-5/8 inches or a fraction more than 1-1/4 inches when folded in half lengthwise. Ignoring minor fractions, this gives you a ruler of 6, 3, 2 1/2, 1-1/2 and 1-1/4 inches always in your pocket.

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While writing El Morno I asked people what tools they worshiped and the answers ranged from a miter saw, to a Phillips screwdriver. The most worshiped tools in our house are duct tape, safety pins, the hot glue gun, and a pair of needle-nose pliers. And while it’s really not a tool, I could not live without WD-40. I just learned about this really cool product called  Ultra-Ever Dry and I want some! I’m not sure what I would do with it, but I know I would think of something!

Do you have a tool or perhaps a tool tip that makes your life easier?

Hope you have a Meritorious Monday!

Odd Loves Company!