HOW TO BUY THE BEST WHEELBARROW IN THE WORLD

It might be surprising to realize how seldom you purchase wheelbarrows, but when you do go out and buy a wheelbarrow it's pretty straightforward, you generally just go right out and... buy a wheelbarrow.  When I recently came up against the gardener's curse of sudden wheelbarrow inadequacy, I gave it a bit of thought and realized that in over seven decades, I had purchased only one wheelbarrow! Talk about frugal.

So, I thought on, why not make the most of such a lifetimely rare occasion and buy the best wheelbarrow in the world? That would require young granddaughters, who are the goddesses of small things. Luckily, I would be blessed with the Trio of Brio on Sunday, who would be at the house ready for some gardening and general handiwork.

Being only 11, 9 and 9, the Trio have never bought a single wheelbarrow in their entire lives, either collectively or individually, so I figured this was a unique chance to spring it on them, put their inborn skills to work. I was surprised, though, to see how jumpy-up-and-downy they got as soon as I said "Let's go buy a new wheelbarrow," somehow triggering instincts the Trio didn't even know they had.

They had loved using the friendly lunky old one, getting rides in it and carrying each other now and then, until only a week ago, when old Wheelie, held together with cotter pins and baling wire as the bottom rusted out, had been on its third or fourth tire with its second inner tube and got a major flat just when I was doing the most important thing in the history of the world; isn't that always the way. The metal recycling guy was glad to have the remains.

Wheelbarrow purchase being one of life's special experiences for little kids, they are super great to have along when selecting which wheelbarrow to buy from among all those on offer, with all the different colors, depths, weights and materials, handgrips and other features that the tired elderly gentleman in some kind of hurry is willing to overlook for the sake of just getting this business over and done with it's too hot and crowded, a cool drink in the shade would be nice, but those new minds will not stand for weakness at such a crucial moment in life, which is good for said guy, who will be using that wheelbarrow, which is why in the first place he selected his young granddaughters as wheelbarrow advisors.

They didn't look at the rows of wheelbarrows, or the groups of wheelbarrows, or the categories, models and prices of wheelbarrows; they looked at each wheelbarrow. All over. Pulled them out and tried them. Tipped them. Said this one's got plastic here, this one's scratched underneath, this one has a dent on the front, this one's yucky blue, this is a nice green though, and has cute yellow handles, besides it's not too heavy, no scratches or dents, easy to push, this is the best one.

That's how I got the best wheelbarrow in the world.

It looks really perky at home in the garden.

THE FRUGS

Some things never leave you. In our case, one of them is simple frugality. Back when Echo and I were traveling, before the kids were born, as I've mentioned a few times in these long chronicles, we made our living as we went along, lived many years at a stretch without such niceties as utilities, so when up here on PLM our old faithful kerosene-powered water heater blew a pipe the other day we almost automatically went into low-mode living and began making necessary adjustments for the duration until repair, during which time we'd be doing dishes/laundry/bathing a la our time in Spain when we had no hot water, and even in winter bathed each with a bucket of water heated over the fire. The body steam was impressive out there in the field. We'd also grab the soap and shower in rainstorms.

When we slipped so effortlessly into that mode the other day, even these decades later, it was heartening, comforting to know what we knew and could fall back on, regressing without regret, without negativity or stress, knowing that we could adapt, we've been there; and now that warm weather is here, no hurry to repair...

That's another of the treasures that simplicity bestows again and again on the long brown road that leads wherever we choose. Traveling on foot, of course.

BIG CITY STRANGE

Big city folks are strange: all day they use the elevators for free, then go to the gym and pay to use electric stairs.