A godsend...

There are legions of women who are comfortable with using power tools, pounding in nails and tiling bathrooms. Women who laugh at hard yard work and who take great pride in being capable at doing many things that are considered reserved for the male gender...some women even do those things professionally.

Still, their life simply would not be complete without this little publication: The Reader's Digest Women's Guide to Household Emergencies.  How it ended up in my deep desk drawer is a great mystery.  It was published in 1973 when I was a teenager and it is as indispensable today as it was then.

It contains such vital, viable and compelling information that it requires no introduction after the Table of Contents...it launches directly into 'How to Deal with Plumbing Emergencies'.  After a sub-chapter of explaining how to locate and confirm your house's main shut-off valve, it continues to educate in the area of frozen pipes, burst pipes and every possible pipe scenario...all good to know.  Appliance malfunction, heating and cooling system failures, car problem trouble-shooting, disaster procedures, fire, poison and first aid drills...it's all there and still good after thirty six years, reminding us that we, as women, never do enough.

It must have had a companion booklet which I seem to be missing: The Reader's Digest Man's Guide to Household Chores, which would include Bathroom Protocols, a thick chapter on Appliances, their Basic Operation and Maintenance and an even beefier chapter on Deep Cleaning, how to know when you've achieved it.

Maybe it's in my other deep drawer.


13mm extension tube on lens