Several months – maybe a year or two – ago, somebody sent me a care package containing, among several other useful things, a ball of string.
And I admit I thought at the time, ‘well, that’s a rather silly thing to go to all that trouble to send. I’ve got a big spool of 550 cord, I’ve got probably a thousand feet of bailing twine, I’ve got three different kinds of rope, I’ve got nylon strapping, I’ve got every sort of…’
I tossed that ball of string in my junk drawer, not knowing what I’d ever do with it.
And damned if I didn’t use it up, on one little thing after another.
Reminds me of the time I cut my finger. Just a little thing, nothing special, except it wouldn’t stop bleeding and I couldn’t find a bandaid anywhere in the Lair. I’ve got enough gauze and bandage and tape and antiseptic to treat a light platoon’s worth of sucking chest wounds, but I didn’t have a frickin’ bandaid.
Or the time I threw out my back and didn’t have so much as an aspirin.
That ball of string is down to a little marble now, and next time I go to the hardware store I’ll be replacing it. Don’t know what I’ll use it for. But I’m reasonably sure I’ll use it.
It’s the little things you don’t think about.
So very true.
If it was in with the shield hanging on your wall, it was me that sent it. Hopefully you found a use for all the rest of the crap I stuck in there.
It occurred to me as I was filling that box that you might think I was a moron for a bit.
Stephen! Welcome back. I see your blog is back active, but can’t comment there. Glad you came by.
Unless your’e in desperate need, you might want to hold off on your string procurement; a few rolls are headed your way.
Nice moron-ing, Jay Ater. 🙂 String. Paper clips. Hose clamps. Masking tape. Duct tape. Elmer’s glue. WD-40, Goof-Off. Misc. screws and nails. And yes, of course, Joel — Bandaids.
Can’t ever have enough.
My wife has a pair of cows and a donkey kept at her pasture that we feed a bale of hay every now and again. That orange cord that keeps a bale bound together is very light but tough and strong. You can unwind a piece of it if you need something lighter or less bulky. And its free. I keep a couple of hanks of it wound around one of my wrenches in the tool bag – it gets used every now and again for simple things.