Power tools and potatoes are on my bucket list. One I want to use. The other I want to grow. I'll let you take it from there.
There's an allure to ripping wood with a band saw or being locked and loaded with nail gun. Ka pow! Pure, formidable, wieldy, strong - power tools.
Likewise, there's a certain appeal to planting tubers and waiting for them to sprout. Ka ping! Mashed, baked, fried or cheesy - potatoes.
I hadn't thought about combining the two - potatoes and power tools - until I read up on potatoes on Pinterest. Then the connection became clear.
One enticing post described the ease and functionality of growing potatoes in a large plastic container. You don't even need a garden. Just dirt, sunshine and water. And a large plastic container (or garbage bag in a pinch). It's practically magic.
Before I could wave my wand and start the show, I had to prepare the container. Potatoes like water, but they don't want to sit in it. In order to avoid soggy spuds, I needed to create a means of drainage by boring holes into the bottom of my container. This took me from potatoes to bucket list item number two: power tools, or more specifically an electric drill.
I needed to find one.
I don't own a drill. Luckily my husband does. He owns lots of power tools. When we do home improvement projects, he gets to hold them. I am the assistant.
But not last Tuesday. I had my potato project and he was conveniently not at home. I found his drill and assorted bits (the spiral doohickeys that do the hole making). The bit currently in the drill was that of a Phillips head screwdriver. I'm no power tool aficionado, but I sort of figured a screwdriver was not the preferred bit for my boring job. I found a smaller one and set out to figure how to remove the Phillips and replace it with the little bit. Simple enough.
Not really. This turned out to be more complicated than it sounds. It required multiple views of various YouTube instructional videos as well as a thorough understanding of the anatomy of a drill. I learned the section of the drill that holds the bit in place is called a chuck. My solution rested in loosening chuck to release the bit. Unfortunately my chuck was not a cooperative sort.
I went back online and watched another video about dealing with stuck chucks, which seems to be a common problem with drills. After an additional 30 minutes of prying and prodding, my chuck proved to be an unyielding, immovable piece of metal. He refused my attempts to get him to turn (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey) and I was beginning to think chuck didn't want me to use the drill while my husband was unavailable to supervise my power tool proficiency (or lack thereof).
Still, I was determined and wasn't ready to chuck the project just yet. The Phillips head sat immobile as I contemplated my options. I did not want to let the darn drill win; but my back was against the wall and my choices limited.
I plugged that bad boy in, gave a squeeze of the trigger and felt the satisfying vroom of the drill in action. I indulged in a moment of power-tool induced euphoria. And then I went to work.
Turns out the Phillips head drill bit is not the logical or preferred choice for boring holes into a plastic container, but it works in a pinch. I got my drainage job done and had the potatoes planted before my husband returned home. When he did, I showed him my project.
He nodded appreciatively at my handiwork and said, "Too bad there aren't drainage holes in the bottom."
"There are," I said. "I made them myself." (Pause.) "With your electric drill."
"My drill?" His look was disbelieving. "I thought you didn't like power tools."
I got a chuckle out of that.
- Jill Pertler's column appears Thursdays in the Times. She can be reached at pertmn@qwest.net.
There's an allure to ripping wood with a band saw or being locked and loaded with nail gun. Ka pow! Pure, formidable, wieldy, strong - power tools.
Likewise, there's a certain appeal to planting tubers and waiting for them to sprout. Ka ping! Mashed, baked, fried or cheesy - potatoes.
I hadn't thought about combining the two - potatoes and power tools - until I read up on potatoes on Pinterest. Then the connection became clear.
One enticing post described the ease and functionality of growing potatoes in a large plastic container. You don't even need a garden. Just dirt, sunshine and water. And a large plastic container (or garbage bag in a pinch). It's practically magic.
Before I could wave my wand and start the show, I had to prepare the container. Potatoes like water, but they don't want to sit in it. In order to avoid soggy spuds, I needed to create a means of drainage by boring holes into the bottom of my container. This took me from potatoes to bucket list item number two: power tools, or more specifically an electric drill.
I needed to find one.
I don't own a drill. Luckily my husband does. He owns lots of power tools. When we do home improvement projects, he gets to hold them. I am the assistant.
But not last Tuesday. I had my potato project and he was conveniently not at home. I found his drill and assorted bits (the spiral doohickeys that do the hole making). The bit currently in the drill was that of a Phillips head screwdriver. I'm no power tool aficionado, but I sort of figured a screwdriver was not the preferred bit for my boring job. I found a smaller one and set out to figure how to remove the Phillips and replace it with the little bit. Simple enough.
Not really. This turned out to be more complicated than it sounds. It required multiple views of various YouTube instructional videos as well as a thorough understanding of the anatomy of a drill. I learned the section of the drill that holds the bit in place is called a chuck. My solution rested in loosening chuck to release the bit. Unfortunately my chuck was not a cooperative sort.
I went back online and watched another video about dealing with stuck chucks, which seems to be a common problem with drills. After an additional 30 minutes of prying and prodding, my chuck proved to be an unyielding, immovable piece of metal. He refused my attempts to get him to turn (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey) and I was beginning to think chuck didn't want me to use the drill while my husband was unavailable to supervise my power tool proficiency (or lack thereof).
Still, I was determined and wasn't ready to chuck the project just yet. The Phillips head sat immobile as I contemplated my options. I did not want to let the darn drill win; but my back was against the wall and my choices limited.
I plugged that bad boy in, gave a squeeze of the trigger and felt the satisfying vroom of the drill in action. I indulged in a moment of power-tool induced euphoria. And then I went to work.
Turns out the Phillips head drill bit is not the logical or preferred choice for boring holes into a plastic container, but it works in a pinch. I got my drainage job done and had the potatoes planted before my husband returned home. When he did, I showed him my project.
He nodded appreciatively at my handiwork and said, "Too bad there aren't drainage holes in the bottom."
"There are," I said. "I made them myself." (Pause.) "With your electric drill."
"My drill?" His look was disbelieving. "I thought you didn't like power tools."
I got a chuckle out of that.
- Jill Pertler's column appears Thursdays in the Times. She can be reached at pertmn@qwest.net.
