Farmer H picked up The Pony's USPS pants from the seamstress on Monday. The Pony wore them to work on Tuesday. He's been going in at 8:00 instead of 5:30 this week. He came halfway down the 13 rail-less basement stairs to show me.
"Oh, they look good."
"Yeah. The length is good. But I need to fix my belt. It doesn't have enough holes in it, since I've lost weight."
"You can buy a belt at the Devil's Playground."
"Maybe, when I have time off to go there. I was thinking that if I had an awl,
I could punch a hole in it."
"Is that a braided belt? Just poke it through the webbing."
"No, it's not braided."
"I know Dad has put extra holes in his belt. A long time ago! Not sure what he used. Might have just been his pocket knife. But you can ask him."
When The Pony got home from work, he was pleased with his pants.
"They fit fine. I have to admit, you and Dad were right about the 28-inch inseam. I thought I might step on the back, but I didn't. Even without my belt working. And by afternoon, I kind of regretted wearing them. It was almost 50 degrees, and my legs started to sweat. 50 is the cutoff for me wearing shorts."
"See? We're not so stupid."
"You have to admit, the measurement using those other pants WAS 25 inches."
"Yes. But you know these pants wouldn't look good above the ankle like those others."
The Pony went to the long couch, dug around in his pile of accumulated clutter, and pulled out some money. Then grabbed a few other bills off the floor.
"Here. I'm paying Dad for my pants. Twelve dollars. And that's ALL he gets. Exactly twelve dollars."
For someone who doesn't care about money, The Pony is not overly-generous with us...
I'm glad he is happy with the pants. I have male relatives who have hammered a nail through their belts to make extra holes.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteI asked Farmer H what he used to make his own belt holes, and he said, "A punch." Which is some kind of tool I've heard of from him. Maybe for putting holes in metal? I don't care enough to look it up, and I didn't care enough to listen more then! He's not a leatherworker, so I doubt Farmer H's punch is designed specifically for that.
I've used steak knives to make holes in leather belts. All you need is the start of a hole--and the metal thing in the belt buckle will do the rest...
ReplyDeleteSioux,
ReplyDeleteI have 6 colorfully-handled steak knives in a wooden rack. I wonder which color would be best for putting a hole in a belt. Hopefully they will be better for that task than they were for cutting the pork steak that Farmer H grilled for me on Christmas day. Which wasn't even all that tough.
He did admit that you were right, and that is priceless!!
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteI should have marked the calendar! But I can do that retroactively, by getting the dates from my blog.