Tools

New tools become available on a regular basis. Some are mechanical devices, and others come in the form of software. We become so dependent on this shiny new stuff that we forget about the primary tool in our tool chest. I’m talking about our brains. Sometimes the best solution to a problem is the simplest one. Explore all possibilities before committing to a plan of action and remember to make use of what you have on hand. I’d like to give you a few of examples from my own life.

Building an Airfield with Few Resources

Back in the 1940’s, during WWII, I learned a lesson that has stayed with me throughout my life: Use what you’ve got. At that time, when you went to the movies, the list of items viewed was always the same. You saw previews of coming attractions, one or two short subjects, a cartoon, and the feature movie. One of the short subjects might be the latest newsreel from the war. One of the newsreels really impressed me. The film opened to dozens of Chinese villagers, shoulder to shoulder, in a straight line and moving across a field. Each person had a hoe or rake or some kind of gardening tool, and they were leveling the field and removing the rocks and debris. They were making a landing strip for the Flying Tigers of P-40 aircraft. The P-40 was the hottest fighter plane of the time, but was useless without a place to land, refuel, and re-supply the ammo for the machine guns. Resisting the attacks of the Japanese, the Chinese couldn’t wait for Chiang Kai-shek or FDR to send bulldozers or road graders to build airfields. They had to do something now!

Robo-Dad!

My next example has to do with my dad. I wasn’t as big as my dad yet. It must have been about 1950 or 1951. One Saturday morning, Dad said he had promised to do a chore for someone downtown and asked me to come along. We drove down and parked on State Street in front of Cooper Drugs. Our town of 5,000 had a business district that was about 4 blocks long. Most of the stores had apartments above them on the second floor, which was the top floor. We saw a refrigerator sitting on the sidewalk next to the opening for the stairway leading to the apartment on the second floor. Dad said that one of Mom’s lady friends had asked if her husband could help her get the fridge upstairs. Mom said, “Heck, yes,” so that’s why we were there. The stairway was wide enough for the fridge, but there was no room for helpers to carry on either side. It looked like a stalemate to me. Dad rocked the thing back and forth to test its weight and then went to the trunk of our car. He returned with a strap about 4 inches wide and 15 to 18 feet long. I helped work the strap under the fridge and then across the ends over the top. Dad backed up against the fridge, pulled a strap over each shoulder, and then crossed them over his chest. He got a good grip on the straps and then gave me a warning. “Don’t get on the steps! If I lose control of this thing, it will crush and kill you!” My dad was 5’11 ¾ inches and 170 pounds. He and that fridge went up the stairs like it was nothing. I don’t mind telling you that I was mighty proud. There was no dolly and no freight elevator. There was just a good man with a good plan.

My Backyard and Plan B

In 1960, I was in the third year of my four-year Navy hitch. Pat worked, too, and we were able to buy a new 4-bedroom home. Like a lot of San Diego homes, the property backed up onto a small canyon. I wanted to put a redwood fence around the back yard, but the last 4 or 5 feet of the lot sloped off into the canyon. It might take a couple of truckloads of dirt to fill in the yard properly. As I said, we were doing okay, but with two kids to feed, there was no money for dirt. I had discovered soft dirt at the bottom of this canyon, maybe 20 or 25 yards downhill. There was the solution! I had a couple of 5-gallon buckets, so for the next few weeks, my spare time was devoted to carrying buckets of dirt up the hill and making a level yard. Plan B solved another problem. Again, always consider alternative ways of doing a job, and make sure you make use of what you have.  

Dave Thomas

7/10/2025