Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Ants and Shop-Vacs
When I was a little girl I loved to hang out in our garage with my Dad. I was, of course, a very good helper especially in the area of carpentry projects. My specialty was standing on wood. Recently, while setting up camp at a remote archaeological survey site, I was reminded of this great talent. My two male campmates were sawing and splitting wood like madmen while I watched – feeling like the total chick. Every so often, I would gather an armload of the cut firewood only to stack it neatly in the cook tent. How lame. Then it dawned on me, I could actually be of assistance by standing on the lengths of wood as they sawed. Okay, it was still lame, but, while I stood there “helping” I was brought back to a happy time in my childhood.
With Father’s Day looming and my unsigned card still resting on the kitchen table, I thought I might just write a quick post in honor of my Dad… the man who started my addiction to power tools… the man who I think of when the smell of sawdust fills the air…
One fond childhood memory involves using my Dad’s shop-vac. Shop-vacs are cool as they will never be found inside the house unless some sort of messy project is underway. As a child, I certainly wasn’t into helping my Mom clean the house, but give me a mess in the garage or on the driveway, and I’d jump at the chance to use the shop-vac. I would often shop-vac just for the sake of shop-vacing. It’s a wonder I have any hearing left!
This is where we come to the Father’s Day funny kid story.
Feeding the ants was another happy childhood pastime. I recall crackers and sugar where always on the menu. However, my Mom wasn’t so thrilled with this activity as the ants were, in her mind, a pest not to be assisted. So, with this understanding, part of me felt very conflicted about liking the ants. This conflict led to my combining my love of the shop-vac with the idea of helping my parents with their “ant problem”. I decided to suck up all the little critters marching along the concrete seam in front of our garage doors (after I fed them, of course). Then, I carefully unplugged and coiled the cord around the unit, just like my Dad, and felt very satisfied with myself. I had managed to be helpful and use the shop-vac at the same time! However, the forward thinking of a six year old didn’t allow for what would happen to the ants once they were in the canister. With the garage door closed and light turned off, the stunned ants regrouped and marched back out of the old school 1970’s brown and tan shop-vac. Happily for the ants, they were then much closer to our kitchen and laundry room where they liked to hang out.
In the end, the helpful surprise turned into a “what in the world” moment. I’m pretty sure my Mom discovered the mass of ants all over the carpeted area of our garage when she went to visit our secondary refrigerator that evening. This was indeed a special moment. Thankfully and much to the chagrin of my Mother, my Dad thought it was funny.
Thank you, Dad, for thinking the massive ant population in the shop-vac and on the garage floor was funny. Happy Father’s Day!
Love, Your Favorite (and only) Daughter
With Father’s Day looming and my unsigned card still resting on the kitchen table, I thought I might just write a quick post in honor of my Dad… the man who started my addiction to power tools… the man who I think of when the smell of sawdust fills the air…
One fond childhood memory involves using my Dad’s shop-vac. Shop-vacs are cool as they will never be found inside the house unless some sort of messy project is underway. As a child, I certainly wasn’t into helping my Mom clean the house, but give me a mess in the garage or on the driveway, and I’d jump at the chance to use the shop-vac. I would often shop-vac just for the sake of shop-vacing. It’s a wonder I have any hearing left!
This is where we come to the Father’s Day funny kid story.
Feeding the ants was another happy childhood pastime. I recall crackers and sugar where always on the menu. However, my Mom wasn’t so thrilled with this activity as the ants were, in her mind, a pest not to be assisted. So, with this understanding, part of me felt very conflicted about liking the ants. This conflict led to my combining my love of the shop-vac with the idea of helping my parents with their “ant problem”. I decided to suck up all the little critters marching along the concrete seam in front of our garage doors (after I fed them, of course). Then, I carefully unplugged and coiled the cord around the unit, just like my Dad, and felt very satisfied with myself. I had managed to be helpful and use the shop-vac at the same time! However, the forward thinking of a six year old didn’t allow for what would happen to the ants once they were in the canister. With the garage door closed and light turned off, the stunned ants regrouped and marched back out of the old school 1970’s brown and tan shop-vac. Happily for the ants, they were then much closer to our kitchen and laundry room where they liked to hang out.
In the end, the helpful surprise turned into a “what in the world” moment. I’m pretty sure my Mom discovered the mass of ants all over the carpeted area of our garage when she went to visit our secondary refrigerator that evening. This was indeed a special moment. Thankfully and much to the chagrin of my Mother, my Dad thought it was funny.
Thank you, Dad, for thinking the massive ant population in the shop-vac and on the garage floor was funny. Happy Father’s Day!
Love, Your Favorite (and only) Daughter
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