Episode 274 - Tool of the Week: Kingrack 3 Step Aluminum Ladder

My favorite feature of this ladder is the narrow profile when it is folded. It's only 1.5" wide!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is Emma, and Tuesday is Tuesday. The night there
we go, the traffic goes so I can get out.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
So this is Tuesday. And on Tuesdays we talk about
the tool of the week, and I will say that
the temperature this morning is fifty five. I don't even
know what to say about that. My phone is still
saying it's gonna warm up at the end of the week,

(00:37):
niece and sisters. Phone says ninety two. Mine says ninety eight.
I think I'm gonna vote for theirs. We'll see. As
I said, my my phone is uh, weather app is
a little overly dramatic, and so it's like, though we're
all gonna diephone app. Okay. Tool of the week is

(00:57):
the king Rack three step step stool. I keep thinking
I'm gonna run out of tools of the week, and
then I'm using one of them. I go, oh, this
is a good tool. Will do this one. I've had
lots of step ladders in my lifetime, especially since we

(01:17):
moved into this house and had lots of things to
do with the ladder. Anytime you have a house with
twelve foot ceilings, you're gonna need a ladder for something.
I'll stop until a funny ladder story. When we moved
into the house, we just had to move into it
in its unrestored state. And you have to realize that

(01:38):
a house that's been cutting two. Even if we replaced
the sheep rock, especially in the ceilings, we hadn't you know,
we hadn't painted, we hadn't refinished the floors, we hadn't
done anything in the midst And I did do a
series of episodes on Emma Moves a House. You'll have
to go back and seal if you're interested in that

(01:59):
kind of thing. But at one point we moved the
house in January, which is a really bad time to
move a house, especially in Texas. We don't have that
ice and snow that a lot of places have, but
we do have a lot of rain, and so it
was raining the day it was moved, and it was

(02:19):
raining shortly thereafter we had the Great Flood. I mean,
I remember coming home that night, and I believe that
if you can hear that on the podcast, that was
somebody who was real unhappy with me, that I wouldn't

(02:39):
go in fast enough for him, even though I was
bending the speed limit. It's up and folks drive in
Texas anyway, So three days after the house moved, the boat, well, yeah,
three days after the house moved, so it's sitting there
on the property to halves and no roof, and we

(03:04):
had what I call the Great Flood. I remember coming
home that night and it was running so hard I
absolutely could not see the stripe in the middle of
the highway. And so when I got home, sister and
had called the house mover, and between the two of
them they were building troughs of plastic sheeting out of

(03:26):
boards and various things, and channeling the water that was
falling through the ceilings through the holes in the floor
ventce to keep the wood floors from getting wet and buckley.
So there was that, and then about three weeks later
we had about a half a roof. They were still
in the process of putting it up, and we had

(03:49):
the ice storm of the century, literally of the twentieth century.
There were like lots of places in this area that
didn't have electricity. For two weeks, we had electricity, but
I didn't have a roof. So therefore, this time it
was sister and me building troughs of out of plastic
sheeting and boards and stuff and channeling the dripping from

(04:12):
the icicles that were hanging out of the antique ceiling
fans through the holes in the floor vents. Okay, so
great flood ice storm of the century, no roof. So
when I had it, when when we got all past that,
got everything done, had new sheet rock put up on
the ceilings, because of course all the sheet rock fell

(04:33):
in I had took the it has. There are three
original to the house antique ceiling fans that are uh
there by Westing House. They're called a side winder because
the blades are attached to the side of the ceiling
fan and they go around. And I took them to

(04:53):
Dallas and had them restored. And so you know, we
when we moved in the house, they had been restored
and had been brought back and whatever, but we just didn't.
We hadn't. We're gonna have to do one room at
a time at this point. So the ceiling fans were
not hung for a very long time, like years. So
the electricians when they redid the wiring in the house,

(05:16):
they just put up what they call pigtails where the
light fixture would go in the middle of the room.
And literally it was a light socket hanging out of
the ceiling with a bulb in it. Well, the problem
is because it was not attached, it was not rigid.
It's just hanging. You know. You couldn't really even use
one of those poles that you can change the light

(05:38):
bulb with if it's up high. So literally, the first
time a light bulb went out, sister and I looked
up and went, hmm, you know, in this twelve foot ceiling,
we never lived in a house with Ceiland. It's quite
this tall. We looked up and said, hmm, I think
we're gonna have to have a taller ladder. So I
did invest in a tall ladder, just know, a step ladder,

(06:01):
and that came in a hand even when I was like,
you know, painting the cram molding and all that kind
of stuff. So in fact, I used the tall step
ladder to change the light bulb in the kitchen because
there is a ceiling fan there as well, but it's
a new ceiling fan and so it's closer to the
ceiling than the old ceiling fans are. And so that

(06:25):
that letter gets used a lot. That's not the tool
of the week. Twoll of the week is the step ladder.
That's three steps, so it's about my third ladder that
I have purchased. Third step ladder, let me rephrase that.
And the first step ladder I really liked a lot
because it had a higher bar on it, so when

(06:46):
you stepped up on the third step, which is like
a platform step, you have a taller thing to brace against,
and that part I like. But overall, I really like
this last step letder the best. And the reason I
do is because it is extremely lightweight, as it says,
it's aluminum. And then the next thing I like about
it is when you fold it up, it is it

(07:09):
is only an inch and a half wide. It is
very very slim line and it takes its profile when
it's folded is very small, which is great if you
don't have much storage in an old house because you
can stick it like I have it between the wall
and the fridge on the back porch so it can

(07:32):
tuck into little bitty spaces. It's very sturdy. It's rated
up to three hundred and thirty pounds, so you know,
large size people can use it as well. You know
it has the no slip treads on it. And the
third step up is a platform step. Now my problem,
my only issue with it is that that bar, that

(07:53):
the thing at the top that you know you can
lean against when you get on a step ladder, is
not as tall as it is on my original step ladder,
but it's if you're putting it up against something, you
can get up to that third step. Most everything I
only need to get on to the like the second step,
and so that's okay. But it makes a really good ladder.

(08:16):
It's it's fantastic for being able to use around the house.
And over the years we have downsized our Christmas tree.
Used to I had to have the tall ladder to
work on the Christmas tree, to like put the topper
and all that kind of stuff on. But now I don't.
I can because as I said, we have downsized our

(08:38):
Christmas tree, I am able to just do it with
a step ladder. So this other than the kitchen light bulb,
at this point, I can do just about everything I
need to do with the step ladder itself. And so
it is a very handy tool and I am happy

(08:58):
with this purchase. Hill you recommend. It is very sturdy,
it folds up, it's got a little latch that holds
it together, and that's a little bit of a learning
curve unless you read the directions. I guess because niece
used it the other day and she said, well, I
got it open, but I don't know how to get
it closed up. And I said, we'll look over here

(09:18):
on the left hand side. There's this little latch and
you pull it up and you can then fold it
and then it's fine. So anyway, I'll put a link
to the king Rack aluminium step ladder in the description
and you can take a look at it and see
what you think. I do think it's a very it

(09:39):
seems to be very, very safe ladder. As I said,
it's very sturdy. It's ready to three hundred and thirty pounds,
so you know, person weighs more than that the only
be on ladder. But anyway, it's a good step ladder
to be able to use in a variety of ways.
I have some of those little plastic fold up steps.

(10:00):
It's like one step. I have one of those that
I have in the laundering room, and I can fold
that up and then I can get it out if
I just need to get up one step and get
stuff out of the cabinets. But if I need something.
Even in the lounder room. I built shelves all the
way around the londer room at the top. At that'll

(10:21):
I have to have the step ladder for that, but
it's light to carry. That makes it nice too, because
it's not heavy. But what I really like about it
is that it's slim profile when you fold it up,
because it just fits in a little bitty space and
it's a whole lot easier to carry around. It's not
easy to carry a big ladder or a thick ladder,

(10:44):
and I've never had one that was as thin as
this one, and so that part is the thing that
I probably like most about it of anything else, because
I like how it just fits up and it hides
away for storage and that parts. In that part it's nice.
So king rack aluminum three step step later. It's our

(11:05):
two of the week. So what else is going on? Well,
yesterday I met with a couple of guys who are
gonna give me a bed on the driveway, so this
will be my second bed. I'm meeting with another guy
this afternoon, and then I have a fourth one that's
supposed to call me that I hadn't heard from yet,
So we'll see how these bids go. I really like

(11:28):
these guys. They're young, but they were they were really nice.
I liked them a lot. But I'm kind of thinking
that the first guy I talked to you knows maybe
more about what he's doing, or at least he acts
like he does for what that's worth. So when I
get all four beds, I'll compare those bids and come
up with an option for getting a driveway. As I

(11:52):
said to them, I'm sixty nine and this is the
only driveway I intend to do, and then the next
driveway's gonna have to be somebody else's respond building. So
hopefully this will be the I. If this driveway doesn't
last till I'm too old to drive, then we're in trouble.
Hopefully it will. I've been dealing with a whole lot

(12:12):
less driveway for thirty years, so anything's gonna be an
improvement over what I have right now with the washed
out places, and and you know, I really bake it
basically a path up to the house, though on the
side of a hill, which is not good for drainage anyway.
So that's that project. Now, this afternoon, I'll probably go

(12:34):
out and water the peanuts because We're not getting any
rain this week, and it may turn the put the
water on the apple trees. It's been a little bit
while since they've been watered, but we have had water along.
We don't show any rain here for a little bit,
so I'm gonna have to water to make sure everything's growing. Okay,

(12:57):
we have a lot going on. As I said, Uh,
the sister and niece are gonna host their Maugen group
on Monday, So I'm gonna pretend I'm one of the
I don't know what they call them housemaids on downtown
Abbey and clean house that morning and in that afternoon
while they're playing, I'll disappear in my sewing room get

(13:19):
some stuff done. So I will be taking Monday off.
And obviously I'm trying to get stuff in the house
done between now and then, as I talked about yesterday,
and this will be a theme all the way through
the fall, especially as I get ready for this Christmas
party with the Sunday school class is community and I

(13:42):
was reading you know some of that when you talk
about stuff, it comes up on Pinterest. I saw where
somebody I was reading a post from somebody in some
group and they and they referred to the FBI agent
in their phone and as knowing what they said about something,
so therefore they were getting suggestions for it in Facebook.

(14:03):
And that is really the truth. A friend of mine
one time told a joke that said, people in the
nineteen sixties be like, the government's gonna wire tap our houses.
People in the twenty twenties be like, hey, wire tap
can cantsy pancakes, And so we're kind of that way.

(14:25):
In the previous years, we would have been just horrified
and there would have been a major revolt if people
knew that that everything they said it did was being
recorded or listened to or you know, listened it to
or used for anything. You know, it's being used for

(14:45):
advertisement purposes. But still the same thing, because literally we
can be sitting in the living room having a conversation
and then firstly, you know, whatever it is we mentioned
in our conversation starts coming up on our news feed
and our phone, and you think about that. That's a
little disconcerting. Actually it should be a lot disconcerting, but
it is true. So now that we're talking about community

(15:08):
that has come and started popping up in like my
pictures feed, and that kind of thing. So there was
a a like a blog post that was uh listed
on Pinterest about hospitality. So I was reading through it,
and you know, it's like, it's biblical to be hospitable.
Yes it is. Yes, we need to build community, and honestly,

(15:30):
can't build community unless you do stuff socially. And I'm
the kind of person that's like, yeah, but I got
all this stuff I need to do. Uh, you know,
I need I need to inventory in my storage, you know,
my supplies, I need to organize, I need to I
need to be checking my generators, I need you know,
all this stuff that I need to be doing prepping.

(15:52):
And that is true, but it but it takes it
takes time to build relationships with people. And so that's
not just something you can say, Okay, well so today
we're gonna you know, build a relationship. It doesn't work
that way, and it's very time consuming to build relationships,
but it's necessary because we're not gonna do well without

(16:16):
other people to depend on. As I've said, one of
the most one of the saddest things I've ever done
is I had to go to a funeral for somebody.
I'm trying to think if I had if There's been
anybody else of a funeral that I've had to go
to that was as bad as this one, and I
don't think there was. There was a lady that worked

(16:39):
in my organization, and she was when sister worked in
my organization. Also we were in different departments. This woman
was in sister's department and she had heart surgery and
she didn't make it, and she had literally no friends,

(17:00):
you know, not even everybody from the department came. Just
a few people came to her funeral. You know. Obviously
sister and I went to her funeral, but almost nobody
else was there. And the preacher who preached the funeral
didn't know her, and so he just kind of had to,

(17:21):
you know, preach a generic funeral. And the her family
was she was estranged from her family, so I think
there were a few of them there, but not many.
And I thought, you know, this is and she was
a very smart woman. I think she you know, because
she was in an education field. I think she cared

(17:43):
about children, but she had no apparently, you know, community
wouldn't have be dealing her life because she did not
have any. And that's in contrast that with the two
funerals that I went to in July and August of
the couple who were, you know, basically pillars of whatever

(18:05):
community they were in at the time, which in for
their lifetime was not a large community. They didn't even
live in town. They lived out in the country. Uh,
you know, I get I'm will to assume their whole
lives because the only time as I knew them, they
lived in the country. Even when they moved, they moved

(18:25):
to a different part of the country, so you know,
they attended smaller churches and that kind of thing. But
there was when you went to their funerals, both of them,
it was a celebration of their lives of talking about,
you know, what wonderful people they were, how they cared
about others, how they uh you know, especially her, what

(18:49):
she you know, what how her hot gift of hospitality,
how she you know, liked to have people at their
house and she did and and you know, she cooked,
and she was she was truly a picture of the
Proverbs thirty one woman. That was this lady. And so
you know, that's the kind of legacy I think we

(19:10):
would want to live at least I would prefer to.
I that's just a contrast. And so back to this
conversation of how important community is but takes a lot
of time. And part of it not only is the
it's the time it takes to spend time with people.

(19:31):
It's also a matter of getting ready and making sure
that your environment that you're gonna host these people in
is host worthy. Now that does not mean it needs
to be pinterest worthy or instagram worthy or TikTok worthy.

(19:51):
It just needs to be you know, you just can't
have a trail going through the middle of your house.
But as the woman who did the blog post that
I ready yesterday said, your house needs to be clean,
ash okay, And that is probably as good of a
uh description as you know, nobody's house if they actually

(20:13):
live in it and function and expect to have other
people live live in it and come visit nobody's house
is gonna be perfect. And for us to expect our
house to be perfect is not realistic. And I do
know people who live in houses that are more of

(20:36):
a showcase than they are home, and in that case,
nobody wants to come visit them. And honestly, I don't
know that they want people to come visit them. They
just want to be able to, uh have their house
be this like institution or something. Well, that's not gonna
work either. Uh. For example, I have known people trying

(21:00):
to think if they have that now because they live
in a different house than they did when I was
a kid. These were two musicians married to each other
and they so they taught lessons. She was my clarinet teacher.
He was my band director when I was in college.
You know, it's a small area, and at one point
in time they had white carpet in their house. Now

(21:23):
here's a house where you expect to have people come
visit you, and you're gonna have white carpet. I can't
imagine why anybody in their right mind would have white carpet.
That doesn't make any sense at all anyway. So when
you came to visit them, they expect you to take
your shoes off. Well, I don't know that that's awfully
overly hospitable either. So think about it, And that's a

(21:47):
good point, is to think about how you can make
your home attractive but make it comfortable where people are
not afraid to be comfortable in your house. For example,
I've been in I've been in people's houses where they
had so much. And this is probably more of a

(22:09):
baby boomer and older uh characteristic than it is of
the younger generations, because younger generations are like, yeah, we're
not having all that mess in our house. I mean
that's why as the baby boomer generation dies off and
they all their stuff, their children do not want it. So,

(22:30):
you know, all this stuff I've I don't have a
children anybody anyway, but I guess we'll have a really
big estate selle u with all my depression glass and stuff. Anyway,
So I have been in houses where it is it
is it's like they have to they have so much
stuff in it. They have all these little collectibles and
stuff sitting everywhere that you're afraid to turn around for

(22:53):
fear you may, you know, knock something off. And that's
not comfortable either. So it's a matter of making, you know,
have people friendly surfaces, have people friendly floors, have make
it something that makes people want to come and make
it inviting, uh don't it does. It doesn't need to

(23:15):
be a showcase. Neither does it need to be a hovel.
So you know, there's, as I said, there's a happy medium.
We used to host people in our double wide mobile home. Okay,
is a double wide mobile home. It wasn't a bad
mobile home, but it was a mobile home. So it
doesn't really matter where we live is so much as
it matters how we treat people and make people welcome.

(23:39):
So having said all that, I have arrived at work.
I will put the just I'll put the link to
the ladder in the description. Got I say this every
time I stop. I said, you know, it's a busy day.
They've got lots to do. Well yesterday was, and I

(23:59):
will say this, Mason day off's fast. I know I
have at least two, if not multiple, more than two
meetings today and lots of other things to do. So
have a good day and I'll talk to you tomorrow