STICKSThe snow is gone and what’s hidden beneath is revealed - a winter’s worth of dog poop! So today I headed out with bucket and my handy pooper scooper to eliminate an amazing number of unsightly blobs. I collected almost a full 5 gallons and this did not include that which is still frozen down! Thank heavens for my scooper, basically a stick with retractable jaws.
I got to thinking about sticks and how important they are as a tool in themselves or part of a tool. Sticks are useful just as nature made them. You can stir a fire, roast a marshmallow, play toss with your dog, tie a leaning tomato plant, whatever comes to mind. Shape a stick or add a tool or a point and it becomes a handle with endless possibilities - brooms and mops, axes, cant hooks, splitting mauls, snow rakes, garden tools, back scratchers, violin bows, billy clubs, arrows…
These days you often see me with a stick, a cane that is, an invaluable 3rd leg that eases joint pain and aides balance, or trekking poles with pointy bottoms for walking on uneven ground and ice. We also have a collection of walking sticks called shepherd’s crooks. They are invaluable for catching sheep but the fancier ones, with curved handles made from ram’s horn, are mainly for show. They’re used on market day in the British Isles and by dog handlers at sheep dog trials.
One of my favourite stick tools, inherited from my mom-in-law, is called a dressing stick. It’s supposed to be an aid for dressing but I’ve repurposed it as a grabber. Being vertically challenged (short) I use it to push or pull stuff I can’t reach up high or in the backs of cupboards and to open and close sliding windows out of my reach. Before this stick entered my life I crawled around, used a ladder or hollered for help. Why ask for help if you have a handy stick?
This morning we got a call back to winter, not quite enough snow to require the use of a stick with a snow shovel attached, but we’ll take any moisture that comes our way as fire season approaches. Rain, of course, is preferable. Happy Spring!
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March 20, 2024
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