You know all those old adages about how women & men approach things differently? For example: Men use brute force, women use a light touch… women make sure to read the directions on a new appliance, men just take it out of the box and plug it in… when lost while driving men refuse to consult a map or ask for directions. All those statements are true – except for the part about maps. I love maps.

We had a pretty good amount of tilling to do in the vegetable garden to get ready to plant the Fall crop, so we pulled out the Troy-Bilt workhorse. Dusty from storage and dirty from its last use, a female co-worker astutely insisted on wiping off the dirt to allow me to easily see the instructions printed on the tiller. That was a big help, since that particular tiller was new to me. These photos illustrate the contrast I described between the male & female approach: manhandling a machine vs. using a light touch.