URL: http://www.gazetteextra.com/20150812/projectlab_a_roadside_find_becomes_a_valued_tool

ProjectLab: A roadside find becomes a valued tool

It all started while driving down an old country road.

This might sound like it's going to be a romantic tale of days gone by. But it isn't.

This is the story of how I found my favorite tool.

I was rolling down the highway when I saw something in the ditch. "Is that a drill?" I thought.

I continued on my way but told myself I would take the same route again soon. If it still was there, I would stop.

I came back. There it was in a ditch: a DeWalt drill. It must have fell out of someone's truck. The battery was dead and it was beginning to sink into the soil, but it was all there. I took it home and nursed it back to health.

The battery needed to be dried out and was dead. I let it dry out and gave it a charge, and it worked good as new.

For Christmas last year, my future in laws gave me a drill bit set to go with it. Since then, I've used it for seemingly everything: hanging shelves in the living room; drilling holes in a wood table project; installing a new motion sensor light in the backyard; or just tightening the average screw. It's my most prized tool-related possession.

Not only is it my favorite tool because of how much I use it, but also because of how I came to own it.

I hope we will spend many fine years together.

What's your favorite tool? Why? Send me an email at [email protected], find me on Twitter at @Crow_Nick or leave a comment below.