The Wine Spill
As a landlord of several single family dwellings where I do ALL maintenance myself (I have job experience in several of the building trades), and have even built one duplex by myself, ground up: Of all the tools I own, my Shop-Vacs (I own two) are the most used. There is good reason for this. If you keep your work area clean you will do a better job. It also gives you some time to think about the next step; this is important for a non-professional, none the less an experienced tradesman, as I am.

However, one of my stories involves not a rental house use, but a home use. Sometimes my wife looks dubiously at tool purchases I make. This episode made the first real impression of the usefulness of tools on her, early in our rental endeavors.

My wife, Shelley, and I returned back home late one night after working on a HUD house we had bought and fixed up a nice dinner. After putting the kids to bed, we put a fire on in the fireplace and poured a glass of wine. The next day was a holiday so we didn't have to go to work at our day jobs.

I needed to tend the fire, so I set my glass of Merlot on the hearth; while I was moving a log, I bumped my glass and spilled the wine on our new carpet! Well, my wife was immediately upset and with good reason! How clumsy of me! What to do?!

Two beats, and I was in command! Quick, wife! Run and get some warm water!

Meanwhile, I made good time for the garage and readied my trusty Shop-Vac. Quickly popping the top and upending the contents on the garage floor, I removed the filter, had the vac back together and in-place ere my wife was ready with the water.

"Pour it on the stain", I said.

"What, are you crazy?" replies Shelley, "It'll only spread the stain"!

"The stain is there", I say, "just do it now, there is no time to waste".

Shelley complied, and I immediately applied the business end of the Vac.

"Oh! My hero!" (Words that ring well in a loving husband's ear) says Shelly, "The stain is almost gone!"

"Quick", I say, "Run and fetch some more, I've sucked up most of it, but the edges still need attention".

Now Shelley is animated, and brings me warm water for the operation a few more times. When we are done, the carpet is dry, and completely free of any sign of my clumsiness.

Best of all, she relates this story to our relatives from time to time. I've come to realize that it is because she's impressed with the Shop-Vac and it's many uses - not that I was a silly male to spill my wine on new carpet!

As a sidelight, My wife has been so impressed with the Shop-Vac that she bought all the attachments and uses it to clean house! It does a much better job than ordinary vacuum cleaners. She wears ear protection and counts that small price to pay for a better and faster job well done.

And there are other stories I could tell. Like the time I needed to send a messenger down a piece of conduit and didn't have a fish tape handy. Or the time I bought a burned down house and had to clean out the sewer pipes before rebuilding the house.

My Shop-Vacs have been put to tests I thought they might not survive, and I still have both for ten years now, and they are still going strong.

What electrical tool do you own that you've put to constant use that you can say the same about?

Brandon Mayfield
Kemah State, TX