The Call of the Wild

[atgcpaul]

Anyone else see a scene like this or hear a power tool in the distance and want to follow and check it out?

[capncarl]

Usually when I see someone pulling out from the lumber yard or box store I back off a couple hundred yards! Folks around here haven't got enough sense to tie anything down in the back of their truck (everybody in Ga. has a pickup truck) and I don't particularly want to have their plywood, fencepoles, refrigerator or 5 gallon of paint blowing off on the hood of my truck!
i will admit,that I am drawn to the sound of a power tool though!
One of neighbors was using his chainsaw and it was dulllllll, it sounded like the chain was on backwards. I put a couple of my saw files in my pocket and headed his way, When they saw me coming they took a break, I asked if they knew how to sharpen the chain? They didn't so I said, watch this, and sharpened it for them and gave them the file.

[cwsmith]

Our area is pretty spread out, with three small cities (the "Triple-Cities" of Binghamton, Endicott, & Johnson City) and the housing communities connecting and surrounding them. We have two Lowes, one Home Depot, and a few small hardware/lumber/home improvement stores. Rarely do I see a homeowner type with anything more than gardening and landscaping supplies. Contractors galore though. I live on the west side of Binghamton with it's now very old, but once elegant middle and upper income houses. Most lots are in the 60 x 120 range (middle class) with a few that go maybe up to four times that size. Very few men in our area seem to have the skills or interest to build much of anything on their own.

I live next door to a Doctor and Surgeon. He's a pretty nice guy (Chinese fellow who grew up in Brazil). He does a few projects on his own and seems to be challenged in some mechanical areas, I offer, and on occasion have been able to help him, but he's pretty private with that sort of thing and I don't like to bother him unless it appears that he may be having some difficulty. Such interest on my part may well be considered and an unwelcome intrusion. For example, a few weeks ago I see him out looking at the front steps, which are sort of rotting. We talk and I offer a few suggestions to his questions and tell him it would be a nice afternoon project if he'd like to tackle it with my help and tools. This weekend I hear some noise over there (they went away for the holiday) and I see two guys ripping out the old stairs and putting in new. While sturdy enough, they did a lousy looking job and they left all the the debris in the side yard. I don't know how happy he's going to be with that, but hey, I offered.

Unfortunately any time I hear a tool running around here, it's a contractor and they're not particularly friendly or well crafted; and they don't take to having someone stop by out of curiosity. There are rare exceptions of course, at least to the craftsmanship. One of the things I wish I had was someone with interest in woodworking in the area. We do have a place called "Makerspace" over on the north side of the city, but every time I drive by, the parking lot is empty. A tremendous idea though as I understand that they have everything from woodworking tools to a 3D printer. (I found them when we here on the forum were doing that 3D project to make SMT slides several months ago. But with a few phone calls, no one has ever answered.

As far as vehicles carrying stuff, it's usually a contractor. Exception are those who try to load too large of a purchase into a vehicle that is too small for the task. Usually wide-screen TV's, mattresses or the like. That's when you slow down and hang well back until you can reach an intersection to take another route.

CWS