Self Sufficient

I was thinking today all the things my husband and I do that I am sure other pay people to do. We installed the new furnace ( ok, he installed it). We go pick up load of the corn for it instead of having pellets delievered. We fixed the dishwasher this morning armed with a useless users guide ( it said if there was a clog to call a plumber). We took it apart and snaked it out, ran some main line cleaner in it and voila! Fixed. We do all our snow removal and roof raking (I just came in from cleaning snow off all the roofs. This old victorian has lots of porches that are lovely in the summer, but in the winter, hold lots of snow on them). We fixed the fridge last year. I googled the make and found out it had a desgin flaw, too many sealed drawere, no air flow, the bottom half froze things. Pulled out on drawer, put in a suction cupped temp guide to moitor, and again, voila! Fixed for the cost of the temp guage.
A couple of weeks ago I was chaperoning a basketball game at school. Some guy had a dead battery and had asked countless people if they had jumper cables. Nobody had them.......except me. I went out in the cold, got the cables, pulled up next to the guy and as his kid help up his cell phone for light, we jumped his car. Came back in and everyone was astonished that I could help. Hello.....isn't anyone self sufficient anymore? I asked what everyone did for dead batterys.....they all said they had AAA. Well, so do I for roadside rescue, but for batterys and tires, I can fix those. My VP said " oh that's right, you grew up on a farm." I would have expected the guys to have jumper cables. I mean, we live in the north country. It's pretty country out here.
I am glad I am self sufficient and that I have some basic skills. The guy whom I helped jump his car, his son goes to my school. I think he thought I was some kind of super hero for being armed and knowing how to use them. I am going to pass my skills on to my daughters. Miranda already likes to help in the kitchen and they love to help Brian on projects. I want them familiar with power tools, car maintenance, and just be able to help themselves.