Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Nailed!

My family has been running an upholstery business for over 100 years. With that in mind it doesn’t surprise to know that both my brother and myself got into the same line of education. Difference between him and me is that I was the gypsy and he was staying. He still runs the business, even though he is gonna be the last one in our family. His 2 daughters have other interests. I can’t blame them – and there’s nobody else to take over. Kinda sad. Good thing our Grampa never learned about it – not to speak about our G-Grampa Richard.

image

I grew up in this house. The window on the top was my room

Anyway, my brother sent me an email. He’s not the one who does that every day. So when it happens, something’s up. And it was.

He was about to staple (in the old days we had nails) the fabric under a couch. And as one cannot see very well underneath he did it on a “feel”. It didn’t take long and he felt a lot – of pain and surprise. a half inch staple had been ejected from the machine through his left thumb and into the solid beech tree wood of a 1900-style couch.

There he sat with a couch on his thumb and he was alone by himself as his employee had taken the day off. The nearest set of pliers was out of reach and he couldn’t well drag the whole d**** couch with his thumb through the shop.

The rescue came to him through his American-made Leatherman which he remembered he had in his pocket. Leatherman tools have a pliers attached to it. I’m pretty fond of my own which he gave me as a present once. Now, he still had to open it with one hand, get the pliers out, then fumble under the couch and  try to grab the top of the staple. With a hefty pull he got himself freed from the stylish couch.

What he did afterwards?  Nah - he did NOT see the doc. He got into his car and drove to Hamburg to check out a vehicle his youngest daughter wanted to buy.

What a Dad he is!

Have a nice week!

6 comments:

  1. Ouch!!! Just when you think you know what you are doing!!

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  2. My thumb hurt just reading this. Jim also has some kind of tool thingie that he always keeps in his pocket also. Thank goodness you guys do that.

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  3. Ouch! What a tough guy. One of the things my grandpa did way back when he came to visit, was to do upholstery project - like building an ottoman. Good profession back in the day...I like the picture of the house where you grew up. Good memories.

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  4. It sounds like it took quite a bit to get him to finally send you an email. Ouch!!

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  5. At the risk of repeating the above: All I can say is OUCH!!

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  6. OMG, that sounds awful. I hope he doesn't get an infection - hopefully he cleaned the thumb well afterword. :(

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