SHOWING YOUR “OPENERS”

 

As one result of some practical solutions used for common problems as Tim and I were growing up, I am  very “pragmatic” in my approach to life in general. I don’t concern myself with details as long as the desired end is reached and/or the goal is accomplished. This approach has really “irked” most of the engineers I’ve worked with over the course of my 27.285-year tenure with the County thus far. They, of course, are so obsessed with every minute detail, that they miss the “Big Picture” and “Can’t see the forest through the trees.” I just save a lot of time by seeing the forest in the first place. Growing up on the farm firmly rooted me in this approach to life because EVERY farmer I’ve ever known is very practical by nature. Our grandparents, and parents were very practical in their life dealings. I think people of that generation were naturally practical due mainly to living through the Depression. I’m very grateful this attitude “rubbed off” on me because it saves a lot of time in doing things. One of my many “sayings” at the office is, “While you’re planning it, I’m doing it”! I shall illustrate this practical approach to life I learned growing up with some practical examples. When we were kids, we had an old “Hotpoint” refrigerator in our kitchen. (I could never figure out why a refrigerator was called a “Hotpoint”). In those days, refrigerators had doors that sealed mechanically as opposed to todays that merely use a layer of thin magnetic material. This results in a freezer door ajar if something in the upper freezer portion falls forward, thus resulting in causing the freezer door to open slightly causing the warm outside air to ruin the freezer efficiency. (This invariably seems to only occur in the summer when the “Freezer Gremlins” are most active). Our refrigerator had a very thick, heavy door that opened with the pull of a long chrome plated vertical lever. The door would open with a “click” and almost push you over and you had to sometimes give it a push to “click it closed.” Eventually the big handle broke at the pivot point. The break was premature no doubt as a result of me opening the door too much to see if the “light really went out when the door closed.” I have always had more curiosity then any cat I’ve ever met. If something like this would happen these days, most people would just go out and buy another one. Not us! We just used the end of the handle to open the door by inserting it inside the gapping hole and prying up on the inner latch. When the end of the handle got too “gummed up”, we henceforth used a screwdriver. It seemed we opened it this way for years afterward! Eventually, the metal at the pivot point got so worn and mashed that even the biggest thickest screwdriver failed to work. In a stroke of great timing, one of our family friends got a new refrigerator and gave us their old one. This refrigerator was really neat because it had a big “V” handle in the middle and would open on either side depending on which side of the “V” you pushed on! It did take us a while to get used to opening a refrigerator door without a screwdriver. Another shinning example of pragmatic ingenuity was used on the T.V. in our mother’s room. After our Dad died in January of 1961, someone gave our mother a portable T.V. for her bedroom. I remember hearing her laughing when she watched “Candid Camera” every Sunday night. This old black and white T.V. was neat because it had a “remote control” tuner! This consisted of a rubber bulb that had a ¼ inch clear plastic tube on it and hooked into a fitting on the front of the T.V. To change stations, you would squeeze the bulb and air pressure would cause the dial to advance 1 station! COOOOL! This “remote control” tuning was certainly way ahead of its time! Tim and I played with it so much that the bulb eventually developed a crack in it and, thus, the “remote control” tuning no longer functioned. As a result, Tim and I became the new “remote control” tuners. When our mother wanted to change stations, she would call Tim and/or me to come and do it. It’s not that she was lazy; on the contrary, she had incredible stamina. Looking back, I think that was her way of making us “think twice” before we played with other peoples’ things and “wrecking” them, as she would say! The big plastic tuning knob finally broke where it attached to the “D” shaft. From that time on, we had to change stations by using the hanging hole at the end of a pop cap/beer can opener (aka, a “church key”). Although the metal “D” shaft got pretty “gummed up,” we used this “tuner” for the remaining life of the T.V.! Ah, the lifetime practicality I learned! Even at a young age, my mother recognized my incredible talent for doing practically impossible things because most every day she would very emphatically say to me, “You’re practically impossible”!