I get High With a Little Help from Werner

Werner Fiberglass Extension Ladder D6224-2

If you have a set of stairs (or two [or three]) in your house, one day you'll realize that trusty six-foot stepladder just doesn't hack it for outside work. Even standing on the top step – which, by the way, is a definite safety no-no – your hands wave several feet short of second-story gutters. Nope, the only way to go is with an extension ladder, and the longest one you can fit in the garage is probably a good start. I already had a sixteen-foot aluminum ladder when I got my first two-story house, but a mere sixteen feet wouldn't cut it there: so I schlepped on down to the local orange hell (they call it "Home Depot," but that's their story) and went ladder shopping. They carry a pretty full line of Werner Ladders: wow: what a wealth of choices!

Now Why Didn't I think of This?

Craftsman Magnetic Steel Bowl

A symptom of my being a geologist is that I tend to look down more than up. As a side effect of that habit, I tend to find an awful lot of things that people have lost: two birth control pill holders, an orthodontic retainer, a Lexmark printer, bunches of flash drives, and a Starbucks card are some of my recent treasures.

It's pretty rare that I go more than a few days without finding a tool of some kind lying in the street, and the most common tool is a socket. As an occasional shadetree mechanic myself, I have a pretty good idea where a lot of them came from. They're the ones mechanics dropped while working on their cars and just couldn't find to get them out. Trust me: I've lost some myself, not to mention the occasional bolt, lots of washers, several gross of screws, and more nuts than I'd care to think about. I don't lose 'em anywhere near as often these days, however; I now have the cure for common "dropsy": a Craftsman Magnetic Steel Bowl.