Presenting the Crittergators in: Tool Time!

When we started dating, back in the mid-1980s, one of the first things I bought the man who is now my husband was a Craftsman ratchet set from Sears. Of course, I didn't know what I was doing, and I bought a set that had bigger parts for trucks, etc., that he would never use.

He immediately took that set back to Sears, and he traded it in for a smaller ratchet set, with just the parts he'd need. He bought me a lovely silver necklace with the difference.

Fast forward to: a week or two ago, we brought home a 2010 Chevy Impala (gift from my mother-in-law upon her purchase of a newer car). Long story short: my husband BROKE the ratchet itself trying to get the lug nuts off that car, as they were WAY over-torqued. He had to borrow a breaker bar to get them off.

On this day, we had plans to meet my mother-in-law in Altoona for lunch. We stopped at Sears at the mall, and took back the broken ratchet. And came home with: a brand new Craftsman ratchet (free, of course; lifetime guarantee!); the set is once again complete.

The Crittergators admired the shiny new tool, and we decided we needed to do a little photo shoot with the new ratchet. I picked it up. It felt slim and cool and shapely and strong in my hand, the way a good tool should.

Then I wiped all of our finger prints off it, and we set up this little tableau. We all admired our reflections in the tool. We invited in our little friend the driving bear, whose fancy ride is the psychedelic VW from the Austin Powers movies. If the little bear should ever need work done on HIS tiny car, now we're ready! We've got the ratchet; we've got the tools!

I challenge you to find me a decent song about a ratchet set. ;-) I don't think there is one; believe me, I've looked. So here's a song by a group with the word mechanic in their name instead: Mike & the Mechanics, with Silent Running, a cool 80s favorite.