Duct tape

[Shari]

So I was gonna add to Nancy and Star's avatar/duct tape thread, and I decided it was rude to hijack it, but Star has a funny duct tape story, and I have a funny duct tape story, and I figure we're not alone.

So, here's Star's funny duct tape story about plumbing.

http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11664

And here's mine.

Wee difficult child can never wait to put up the Christmas tree, so this year we put it up right after Thanksgiving. After searching high and low, I finally found the tree stand. We got the tree secure, and wee difficult child filled a pitcher with water and poured it in the stand...and it promptly came out the bottom. Seems our stand had some "issues".

However, without missing a beat, wee difficult child jumped up and said "WE CAN FIX IT MOM! WE JUST NEED SOME JB WELD AND DUCT TAPE!"

He's 5.

Apparently, he's heard this somewhere before...

We live in a rural area. Some might say we're red neck (ish). Some might say our necks are solid crimson. I dunno.

PS - We put the tree in a 5 gallon bucket for a couple days so difficult child could decorate it. Then guess what we did? If your guess involves duct tape and JB Weld, you win the prize. (and it held)

So, I need a laugh. Tell me your duct tape stories.

 

[klmno]

In my early 20's, there was no way I was going to sew (because I couldn't- I was lucky to do enough to get a button to stay on). For some reason, I never had much luck getting the iron on tape to work to hem my pants. So, the inside of my pants had duct tape on them, to shorten them.

To tacky to tell- but hey, I wouldn't admit it to just anyone!!

 

[daralex]

i once lived in a state where your car wouldn't pass inspection if it had holes. i taped my BIG holes in my '84 vega with duct tape and spray painted over it to match the car - passed inspection no problem! Go you one better - my twisted mom had a bush in the front yard that died. She sent me outside with a can of green spray paint and told me to "bring the bush back to life!" We had a neon green bush in front of our house for two years! Duct tape and spray paint are a mainstay in my family - embrace them and be creative!!!

 

[Coookie]

There was a time that difficult child made everything out of duct tape. Backpack, wallets, key chains, gum holders. :crazy1: Even made many things for his friends. :crazy1: I still have several of those little treasures.

 

[Star*]

Another -

Years ago - I put on a pair of shoes I used for cleaning houses. I was in the elevator of a high rise in a nice end of town - and a woman riding in the elevator with us looked down, saw the toes of my shoes bound with duct tape to keep them from "talking". She opened her purse and after digging for a while when getting off the elevator she turned to me and shoved $20.00 in my hand and said "Here honey get some decent shoes."

I had shoes - I just wasnt' going to wear good ones to go clean someones house in.

 

[hearts and roses]

We are Duct Tape junkies. I have a roll in my car, several in the house, bought a roll for easy child to take to school with her, H as several in his truck, there's even a roll in our emergency terrorist attack pack! You just never know when you're going to need duct tape - it is the most versatile household staple ever made in my opinion.

Last week I bought an inexpensive but very soft blanket for H and me to use on the couch when we're watching tv. I washed it and it came out with something like 8 million little stupid pills. I kept putting it in the dryer in the hopes the pills would come off, but instead they got worse. H said to throw it out. I said, "No, bring me some duct tape". He rolled his eyes and said, "We're all out" as he snuggled deeper into the couch cushions. I just KNEW he was lying. So I dug through everything, even his truck and my car and couldn't find one roll of duct tape. I swear, my heart starting palpitating at the thought. After begging and begging H to get me a roll, he FINALLY got up, went to his truck and brought me up the very last giant roll of duct tape. Apparently he's been using all the others!

Got just about every pill and fluff ball off my new blankey.

difficult child's ex gfgbf made a cigarette pack out of it. He rolled his own cigarettes and had his own 'pack' to hold them. He also had a wallet. Made one for difficult child. His backpack had duct tape all over it to cover the worn spots too.

I ♥ Duct Tape.

 

[Star*]

OMG Jo -

I am so going to try that on my blankie too! Thanks

 

[Marguerite]

I shaved our pills off sweaters & blankets.

A young friend of ours was on the first series of "Australian Idol". She did fairly well - would have done better if she hadn't been such a mouth. Darn good voice, ego to match.
Split her new leather black pants, right before a filming segment. Her brother is a network sound technician (different network) so she knew to ask the techs for some gaff tape (aka duct tape). They refused to give her any, unless she explained, to the camera, why she needed it.
Lucky for her they never screened that bit!

Her brother once said to me, "Duct tape is like The Force. It's got a dark side, a light side and it holds the universe together."

We use tape in our family, but we have a range of tapes for different purposes. I use a wide, clear, bookbinder's tape for labelling jars of jam and pickles I've made. We also use it for bookbinding. We go through rolls and rolls of clear contact, covering books (it prolongs their life a bit, considering how much we read).

But our family's BIG thing for fixing ANYTHING - fencing wire. husband got it from his father, who was a genius for fixing things (and often used fencing wire). And now our kids are doing the same thing. I make little windmills for the garden, using drink cans and fencing wire.
The latest thing with fencing wire in our weird family - husband & easy child 2/difficult child 2 have been knitting CHAIN MAIL. I kid you not. easy child 2/difficult child 2 has almost enough for a pixane, or coif. The hauberk will take more time.

And you can't do THAT with duct tape!

Marg

 

[ScentofCedar]

Well, this isn't so much funny as TRUE. I had this wart (nevermind where) that I had cut off.

It came back.

So, I used duct tape on it?

And it went away.

And came back.

So, I used the duct tape again and today, I am wart free (nevermind where).

True story.

Barbara

 

[ScentofCedar]

And I just remembered another use for it.

It is an excellent wood tick AND flea catcher/killer. If you put it over the wood tick before he bites you, there he is in the duct tape and all you have to do is fold it up and throw it away. (We used to live in Wisconsin, wood tick capital of the world, I swear.) Now that we are in Florida?

I use it for fleas.

When we first came down here, we had no idea what the flea situation was in Florida. Before we knew it, our house and dog and cat were totally infested. Before the medicine finally started to work and the fleas began to die off, the nasty little buggers, I would pick them off the dog and stick them to duct tape.

The cat would have none of that, of course.

I just love duct tape.

Barbara

 

[Shari]

When I was still living at home, my parents got this great idea to take our 18 foot boat down the Mississippi river to St Louis from mid-Iowa. Since we had NO idea what we were doing, how to follow the channel, how to navigate the river/locks and dams/where we'd get gas/ANYTHING, we decided that we had better take a land vehicle and the boat trailer along with us (which we took turns driving along the river roads for the duration of the trip).
We learned that boat trailers are made to be loaded - not drag down bumpy, holey, wash-board-y gravel roads for days on end with nothing on them. Cause when they go down said roads, they bounce themselves apart.
Our boat trip went fine, but the trailer trip...not so much. I think we used 6 rolls of duct tape in that 4 day trip to hold the trailer together til we could find the next farm and pay $20 or $30 to use the welder to weld the trailer back together, only to repeat the process 3-4 times a day...

 

[Star*]

http://www.fugly.com/pictures/12926/duct_tape_kid_to_wall.html

And the babysitter of the year award goes to.......

moving?

 

[Coookie]

OMG...

Well that is one way to keep track of him. (or her).

 

[hearts and roses]

I have heard that duct tape is great for warts and skin tags.