Magpie #44

Charles, my future brother-in-law, was 16 the first time I met him.  In an unheated garage attached to the house, he was elbow deep in the guts of his Bombardier Ski-doo; tinkering, puttering, tuning up and just fiddling with the engine to get it to function the way he wanted it to.

Like his dad, Charles was good with machines.  I admired him that, but I didn't envy him.  No, the desire to fix and or repair is not part of my genetic makeup.  It's not that I can't do it, it's just that I don't want to.  Tools?  Yes, of course, I have tools.  I even have some power tools, but given my druthers, I prefer hand tools to those with the inherent ability to maim quickly and severely.
Friends and I cut our own wood for a few years and I discovered that I couldn't sharpen my chain saw evenly, so  it always cut in a curve until I took it to a professional to right it.  I couldn't keep a lawn mower running smoothly for more than 3 years without an expensive repair bill or just replacing it.  My rototiller gave out after a few years.  I was never able to master the string outlet of my multiple weed whackers.  I say multiple because whenever the one I was using ran out of string, I'd just go buy a new machine.  Machines are great time savers but I find them to be unreliable.  So in time two things evolved in my approach to tasks around the manse:  I was well enough off to be able to hire someone to do upkeep tasks and alternatively I could do some tasks myself with hand tools.  It takes much longer to spade a garden by hand, but the spade doesn't break down, I get a good physical work-out and an overwhelming sense of satisfaction for a job well done.

Some years back, my youngest inquires: "dad, you make more money than most of my friend's dads, and I was wondering how come they all have things like snow-mobiles, 4 wheelers, motor bikes, and motor boats and all like that there, and we don't."

"There are a number of reasons for that Jay, but honestly the main reason is simply that I won't waste my money on something that is guaranteed to break down and I don't know how to fix."

I do have a car.
I do have a laptop computer
I do have a cell phone
And now I have a blasted Snow blower.

No, I don't have a clue as to how to fix any of them should they malfunction (and you and I both know that they will indeed malfunction.)

Sometimes you compromise your principles; it's part of being human.

I think perhaps I'll Christen my kayak Rosebud!