My Mom's Gift to My Dad

Posted by on

This past summer and fall, I had a bunch of projects that required some power tools to complete.  I built a deck, put up bookshelves, put up a fence, and built a small pergola and gates - all things around the house that needed to get done.

I've begun to build up my collection of tools - like hammers, sanders, clamps, and drills, but I didn't yet have a circular saw.  Anyone who's done any sort of carpentry will tell you that one universal tool that you'll use over and over is a 7 1/4" circular saw.

Embarking on these projects actually required one.  I need to make a bunch of cuts and I didn't want to hack at them by hand.

That's where my family comes in.

First, because he was lending a hand on the deck, I borrowed my father-in-law's saw.  He had a real nice saw with a laser so you could see where you were cutting.  Because the saw is fairly indispensable, he needed it back shortly after I got it because he had projects of his own he had to tackle.  From there, I asked my dad if I could borrow his.  Sure enough, he dropped it off.

The saw worked just fine.  But, inside his case was this receipt from 1980.  It is for a return on my dad's saw. Turns out, after doing a bit of research (asking my folks about it), my mom seems to recall that she bought the saw for my dad as a Christmas present on December 1, 1979.  It is all there on the document.  When I pulled it out, I just stared at it for a few minutes.  If not for the yellowed paper and the old-fashioned look to this, my mom's signature looks the same today as it did then.  That's 30 years ago!

This story has another nice ending.  On Christmas morning, Nat and I made our way to her folks place in Naperville.  When I opened my gift, guess what they gave me?  A 7 1/4" circular saw.

Comments

Post a Comment

Be nice to each other here.

Popular posts from this blog

Lou Malnati's Salad Dressing Recipe as Published in the 60's

Posted by on
Image
Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  The Tribune reporter called it "prized".  We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera. I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd.  I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs.  And they were dirt cheap.  The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces.  We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink. I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentage
Read more

Tom Thayer's Italian Beef Recipe

Posted by on
Image
TOM’S TAILGATER ITALIAN BEEF COURTESY OF Steve Dahl  and  DAHL.COM Ingredients: One 3 ½ to 4 pound boneless beef chuck pot roast One package of Zesty Italian Salad Dressing and Recipe Mix One 16 oz. jar of hot giardiniera One 16 oz. jar of mild giardiniera One dozen baguettes (French rolls) Directions: In a four-quart Crock-Pot, pour in one bottle of giardiniera. Place the roast on top of the layer of giardiniera. Sprinkle the salad dressing mixture on top of the roast. Add the second bottle of giardiniera to the top of the roast. Cover Crock-Pot and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. When fork tender, shred the roast in the Crock-Pot and allow it to combine with the other ingredients. Slice the baguettes in half and pile on the beef and giardiniera mixture. ------------------------------------ For the babe's baptism party, we hosted a collection of family and friends back at our house after the church proceedings. We ordered some of the food from Maggiano's in
Read more

Walnut vs Tree of Heaven vs. Sumac Backyard Identification - June 2020

Posted by on
Image
That's a look *up* from the ground through a young, skinny tree limb as well as a larger, more mature (and confirmed) Black Walnut tree.  The leaves, from a distance look similar.  Back last year, I mentioned that I wanted to try to identify if a couple of young trees were worth keeping or if I should remove them.  And, knowing that I wanted to hold myself accountable, I included it as #15 on my to-do list for the yard this year . After poking around on the web in various places , I think I've settled on this clear cut detail that I found on r/WhatIsThisPlant on Reddit :  Walnut tree leaves have no notches.  Tree of Heaven (an invasive tree), do.  From u/blacksheep998 : Ailanthus has a small notch at the base of it's leaflets. Black walnut leaflets, while slightly toothed, lacked that distinctive nub. So, that's first thing to check:  Does the little tree leaves have those 'thumbs' or notches?   *Looks closer*... Sure, enough.   Thumbs are pre
Read more