Sockets

It will come as little surprise to anyone who knows me that I have a thing for tools. No news there! But I have a special place in my heart for socket sets.

It goes back a long way, apparently. When I was two, my dad was working on adding a back porch to the house (hm...who would do that?) and I, being 'helpful' decided to rearrange his socket set...around the backyard. I still remember the set...chrome sockets, one ratchet, a socket driver with a green handle, and green metal case.

The next socket set I got at least twenty years later (dad, if you remember when, let me know). It was a Popular Mechanics set that was at least 3 times the size of the set I first 'used.' The PM set has been great. If you stop by the house and I'll show you where all the bolts are that I've turned...they're holding the second floor up at the meoment, actually. It turns out, though, that the plastic case latches didn't age all that well. Even without the help of a two-year-old, the sockets fell out and have been scattered around in various nooks and crannies. Truth is, I think I have about 90% of them somewhere. But it causes me angst to think that I might have a need to turn a specific bolt and that bolt just might require one of the 10% of the sockets I'm missing. What if there was some sort of emergency bolt turning that had to be done?

The idea of buying a new set has been on my mind for a few years now, but the ridiculousness of the idea of the previous paragraph managed to ward off the purchase. But this year I gave in...a check from the Norfolk Heybrocks, a gift card from the Cleveland Lueckes, a check from the Arlington Heybrocks, and another check from the Fremont Smalls started to burn a hole in my wallet. Out a frugal desire to save my wallet, I made my way to Home Depot and bought myself a primo socket set for my birthday!

So far I've removed four lag screws and used the large extender as a lever to unscrew a big eye-hook. Oh, the projects we'll do!

Thanks family!