Remember reading about this old plasterer in Akron who told a young guy to stop measuring water with a bucket and just go by feel. The kid was mixing for a ceiling repair and the plaster kept setting up too fast on him. Old guy had him add water a splash at a time until it moved like pancake batter. Turned out the kid had been mixing it stiff because the bag said so, but the bag was printed for a different climate. The old timer knew the local sand and humidity better than any instructions. Sometimes the guy who learned it before mixers had numbers on them just knows what right looks like. Funny how that stuff never makes it into the manual.

Ha, that squeaky hinge story cracked me up! A buddy of mine once fixed a stranger's garage door opener with a $15 part he bought at Home Depot, and six months later the guy emailed him a photo of his kids playing in the garage saying "you saved Christmas." He'd completely forgotten he even answered that question, still keeps the screenshot on his phone. That delayed gratitude hits different, right?