Pa carried a pair of pliers and a
jackknife with him all the time, except when he went to church. He said there was likely no call for either
pliers or a jackknife in church, although he suggested some other tool might
have come in handy on those Sundays when the preacher went on with no stopping
in sight.
He carried the pliers in a little
pocket on the side of his ever-present bib overalls, and the jackknife he toted
in a regular pocket. Scarcely a day
passed that Pa didn't find a use for one or both of these simple, but handy
tools. It seemed a fence wire was always
breaking, the pliers could fix it. A
bolt had loosened, easily repaired with the pliers. A nail needed a little
hammering—once more the pliers appeared.
And at the end of a hot day when it was time for a cold beer from the
ice box, the pliers snapped off the cap.
Same with the jackknife, which
had a larger blade and a smaller blade.
The smaller blade was the sharper of the two, brought into action when a
pencil needed sharpening, a rope must be cut, a sliver needed removing from a
finger, or some whittling was necessary, such as fashioning a new stopper for
the water jug.
The larger blade came into play
as a substitute screwdriver, to scrape dirt and grime from a farm implement, to
slit open a letter, or pry a board lose from a wooden crate.
“You
never wanna leave the house without a pair of pliers and a jackknife,” Pa reminded me regularly.
Simple tools, for a simpler time.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Doesn't take
a fancy tool to fix an ordinary problem.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
June 20, Wausau Historical Society, 10:00 a.m.
Presentation. Stories from the Land.
June 21, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County
9-4.
June 28. Over Fifty High School Class Reunion, Wild Rose
High School.
July 12-19. Writing Retreat, Rhinelander, WI.
July 23.
Jacksonport Historical Society, Mr. G’s, 6:00 p.m. Jacksonport, WI.
Horse Drawn Days
July 26, Wild Rose Historical Society,
10:00-2:00. Booksigning. Part of Wild Rose Days.
July 29, Ephraim Historical Foundation. 7:00 p.m.
Barns of Wisconsin.
Purchase
Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose,
Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):
The library now has available both of Jerry’s DVDs, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps A Farm Story.
Also available are several of Jerry’s book including
The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm, (which are related to the DVD
Jerry Apps a Farm Story).
Contact the library for prices and special package
deals.
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