As we age, and as some of us begin to have trouble doing things physically that used to be a piece of cake (mmm ... I could go for some cake), there are certain aids and tools that clever people have invented to help us out.
The first one I want to address is the reacher-grabber.
If you do not know what a reacher-grabber is, it is a tool for picking things up off the floor, usually, or pulling something that's not too heavy down from a high shelf, or getting into a tiny space behind a heavy piece of furniture or an appliance.
It consists of a long metal stick with a claw at one end and a
handle that opens and closes the claw at the other.
The original concept of the reacher-grabber was the Long Arm, a wooden pole with two slats that functioned as fingers that were manipulated by a cord. The Long Arm was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1768 for pulling books down from high shelves. Sometimes I wonder if there is anything Benjamin Franklin did not invent.
From Franklin's retriever of books, the idea was developed and the tool was changed and refined, until today we have these lightweight aluminum reacher-grabbers in many different styles, and even in colors, which are inexpensive. Most of them are 26 inches long, though some are 32 inches. Some of them fold, for easy transport.
There are different styles. My favorite has serrated “teeth” on the claw (the better to hold on to you, my dear), and a magnet at the claw end of the stick, which really comes in handy sometimes.
There are other styles that do not have teeth but have smooth
little pincers. They work most of the time, but things slip out of those smooth
pincers easily.
You do not have to be old to use and appreciate a
reacher-grabber. It is handy for all of us when something is just out of reach.
I still have the ability when I am standing to bend over and
pick things up, but if there are like six little pieces of paper on the floor,
and I am in my wheelchair and not excited about standing up on my aged knees, the
reacher-grabber becomes my best friend, and I pick things up with it.
So you can see what a nifty helper the reacher-grabber is. I try to have one or two in every room of the house. Because one of anything that is good is never enough for me.
Reacher-grabbers are good. You might want to pick one up.
