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I could I suppose, embarrass Evan, Derrick, and Lucas (especially Lucas), by taking this time to tell you how proud I am of them, to brag about their accomplishments, and to tell you how much I love them. But, since I don’t want the collective men of the Chan family running for cover, I won’t. (You can come out now Lucas.)
click on image to enlarge As you’ve probably already gathered from my photo, I’m interested in gardening and I collect antique gardening tools. A good robot would have the garden in great shape in a few weeks, but I am contrary and old fashioned; I like doing the work myself. I like working in my garden: pulling weeds, planting bulbs, digging a new bed with my roto-tiller, raking leaves, deadheading flowers—I enjoy it. It sounds strange, but I find all that work relaxing. I have a sense of peace and harmony when I’m working in my garden that I don’t get from doing anything else. Archeologists will shudder, but I do use the garden tools I collect to work in my garden. After all, that’s what they were made for. rollover to hear engine The pride and joy of my tool collection is an antique Grassmaster model year 2013 Riding Mower in working condition. For the curious and the acquisitive, I was lucky enough to find it up for auction on NetBAY. I’ve purchased the bulk of my collection through the sphere; the rest I’ve inherited or received gifts from friends and family. If you are thinking of collecting, I should warn you; it’s rare to find one of these tools in perfect working order. Be prepared to take them apart, clean them oil them, and replace broken parts. A friend and I took the Grassmaster apart and put it back together before it would run. If you are interested in gardens or antique gardening tools, I recommend setting aside some time and money to talk to Capability, the evolved intelligence behind the Landscape Node’s Garden Round-Up. The finest gardening mind I’ve come across, and a quiet wisdom that eludes most humans. In the sphere, there used to be a site called Collecting and Repairing Antique Garden Tools, by Christopher and Charles Nye. It’s been down for a while, but if you can find archived versions, they had a great section on spotting fakes. |
