Charged up: Change isn’t easy for everyone

“The only person who really likes change is a wet baby.”

Personally, I’m fairly adaptable to change, but occasionally I’ve been hurt by being on the cutting edge. Take, for example, the first battery-powered tool I ever bought. Please. It was a Craftsman drill somewhere around 9 volts that couldn’t drive a screw through angel food cake. It might start a hole, but I’d always have to resort to my corded drill to finish the job. I swore I’d never buy a another battery-powered tool.

Fast forward several years and a friend gave me a battery-powered DeWalt drill made in the USA in the 18-volt range, and I was blown away by its performance. Ever since, my corded drills have been in deep hibernation.

Then I went to an estate sale where there was a brand new battery-powered hedge pruner for 10 bucks! The concept really appealed to me because I used to have to prune a lot of hedges and every time I did, I managed to cut through the power cord, causing an electric spark festival and blowing a fuse. I started with a 50-foot extension cord every year, and by the end of the year I had it cut down to a 10-foot cord. So the idea of a battery-powered hedge trimmer really charged me up. Unfortunately I didn’t take into consideration the fact that the $10 pruner didn’t come with a charger or battery, which only cost me $200!

But it was worth every penny because a smaller one-handed pruner came with its bigger brother, and my wife loved trimming all the hedges and bushes with it. She got so good, she was soon making topiaries of horses and cows! So now I don’t have to prune anything!

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