Up The Creek Without A String Trimmer

I feel guilty.

Friday morning someone called asking if I had a manual edger, one of those half-moon blades on a shovel handle, they could borrow.

Yes, but I haven’t used it in ages because the handle is split; I use an electric string trimmer to edge our yard. I said I'd come edge their yard for free with it if they’d drive over to pick me up.

No. They did not want me to do the job. But, could they borrow my electric trimmer instead?

This placed me in a dilemma because on one hand I try to follow the Scripture, “Give to him that asks of thee; and of him that would borrow, turn thou not away”. On the other hand, I use the electric edger two or three times a week. It takes about six hours to mow and edge our yards and I’d really be up the creek with out this edger.

Besides, the person who wanted to borrow my tool is notoriously unreliable.

So I baulked.

I’d edge their yard myself but I'm not about to let my tool go off in the hands of this person.

They got huffy and said they’d use the manual edger themselves, then talked about working in this 98 degree heat, etc. Then told me to just prop the edger against the gate so they could pick it up without “bothering you any more”.

I dug through the shed to find the old half-moon edger. The handle is iffy but I sharpened the blade and propped it against the gate… it’s still there this morning; they never did come by to pick it up.

So I feel like a stingy creep.

But I figure I can live with my guilt easier than I can live without my tool.

For our Friday Night Date, Ginny & I went to Jimmy’s Fried Chicken, got a corner booth by a picture window to watch a firey sunset, and gorged while talking about various contract problems at her office. Back home, we watched a library check-out video made in 1980 by some African film company; The Gods Must Be Crazy has to be one of the greatest movies ever filmed. That scene with the Land Rover in the tree is one of the funniest ever. And the girl who plays the school teacher is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen.

(And yes I did notice that she had flowers on her panties).

Ginny & I got so tied up in the movie we forgot to watch the weather report about Hurricane Dennis which at six o’clock was a Category Four with sustained winds of 150 mph.

O well, if it comes up this side of the state, we’ll probably notice.

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One other thought about lending out my tools:

In such situations the Scripture says I’m to be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove.

So... Next time somebody wants to borrow one of my tools -- if I’m in serpent mode, I’ll sink my fangs into his ankle; if I’m in dove mode, I’ll fly over and crap on his head.

See there, I am too a Bible-believing Christian! But nobody fiddles with my tools!