A keeper

By Christine Tailer
HCP columnist 

So, it is spring. The multiflora rose vines have begun to green. Their thorns dare me to cut them back. I will, but not today, and the grass is growing longer, begging to be mowed. Soon we'll be riding our zero-turns, but this too can wait. Today my spring chore is working alongside Greg in his shop.

Greg is a keeper of tools, and every tool has its place. He has his various sizes of pipe wrenches hanging on his shop wall in what he refers to as his pipe wrench department. His adjustable wrenches all hang neatly from a post. Socket wrenches and their assorted sockets live in two drawers of his large standing tool box. Blacksmith tools hang from his anvil stand. His machine tools inhabit tool boxes alongside each of his machines, the lathe, milling machines, and CNC machine.

Greg prides himself on his tools, and he knows just where to find whatever tool is needed for a particular task. Everyone knows this, and visitors often marvel at the order in his shop. His brothers have known this too, and so over the past two months, first one brother, and then another, gave Greg all of their tools. They figured that their tool using days were over, but they knew that Greg was still happily wrenching, building and tinkering away on his many projects, ranging from mechanical watches, to vintage cars and steam engines, and of course Greg keeps our tractors and farm machinery running smoothly.

It is springtime, and while some folks might be dusting their homes and cleaning out closets as they change their wardrobe from one season to the next, Greg and I are de-rusting, oiling, and sorting through four standing tool boxes, eight five-gallon buckets, and 12 top-handled tool boxes, all packed solidly with tools.

Now Greg is a keeper, in more ways than one. I will certainly stay by his side forever, but Greg is also a keeper in that he does not let go of things easily. I watch as he picks up the 10th pipe wrench of the day. He turns it over in his hands. I have no doubt that he is imagining one of his brothers wrenching away with all of his might. Greg walks over to his pipe wrench wall, adds another screw, and hangs the wrench in place. This is Greg's way. The next time he needs a pipe wrench, he will walk over to his pipe wrench department, choose just the right wrench for the occasion, perhaps one of his own, or perhaps this brother's or the other's, and as Greg does his wrenching, I will know that this is exactly as it should be.

I must say, though, that the 103 screw drivers and 67 hammers might be another story. We shall see.

So as Greg sorts through his brothers' tools, my job is to refurbish the tool boxes. A good scrubbing with soap and water, a bit of wire brushing followed by a fresh coat of paint, and new rubber liners in the drawers, and the resorted tools are ready to be replaced in their appropriate drawers.

Now you might wonder what one fellow might need with so many tools and tool boxes. If you asked, Greg would answer with a smile. We have a pole barn for all of our farm equipment and machinery. We have two show barns, one filled with my tractors and the other with Greg’s cars, and we have Greg's machine shop, and mechanic's shop. Each will now have its own properly filled tool box.

Greg will no longer send me in search of a tool in another building, only for me to return with the wrong tool. He will now be able to roll the box over to whatever project he is working on, and have a complete set of tools right by his side. Perhaps, though, and even more importantly, as he reaches for a tool, he will smile to remember the brother who gave it to him.

My fellow is a keeper, indeed.

Christine Tailer is an attorney and former city dweller who moved several years ago, with her husband, Greg, to an off-grid farm in south-central Ohio. Visit them on the web at straightcreekvalleyfarm.com.