Keep Your Hammer Clean
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Grandpa Vincent Prater, Sons and Others at Ole Home Place |
This past Saturday we completed a
project for one of our neighbors. It was
late when we finished and I was tired. So,
the tools did not get a proper cleaning.
Some were sprayed off with water and others left in a bucket to
soak. Sunday; Church and a day of
relaxing came and went. The tools were still
uncleaned in the garage. Monday morning
arrived and the tile cutting wet saw, trowels and other tools with dried mastic
and thin set, starred me in the face. As
I set to work scrapping and cleaning I was reminded of something my Grandpa
used to say to me.
“John, you need to always keep your
tools clean.”
He’d also through in a tag like; “Especially
your hammer.” It wasn’t until many years
later as an adult that I understood his double meaning in those phrases. Both of which were my very first lessons in
work ethic and personal hygiene.
Continuing to work on cleaning my
tools, I thought about other things I learned from my Grandpa. When I was just 18 months old, my older
sister and I went to live with our Grandparents. Dad was in the Marine Corps and assigned to a
deployed unit on the west coast. Our
Mother had been forced out of our lives - another
story. During the nearly two years
that we lived on South Fork, in Eastern Kentucky I’m sure I acquired some of
Grandpa’s idiosyncrasies. Needless to
say, he was a great influence in my life.
So much so, that throughout my childhood and teenage years I spent as
much time as possible with him.
Preparation For Fishing Trip - Get bait
by looking under rocks, rotted logs and turning over rich soil to find worms
and crickets. Seine for minnows in the branch/holler
with a burlap sack and two sticks.
Patience – Spending the necessary time
to untangle the fishing pole lines. They
had not been properly prepared for storage after the last fishing trip. Then, waiting quietly for the red and white
bobber to bounce, indicating an interested fish.
I could go on and on with the list of things
learned from my Grandpa, but I think you get the point. I thank God that I had this wonderful man in
my life. If not for him and for the
things he taught me and shared with me, I know not where I would be today.
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