My uncle's a mechanic who can tell engine problems just by sound. Some skills get baked into your hands after a thousand repeats.

My local farmer's market went cashless last month and the first Saturday, their card reader went down for two hours. People were just standing there holding baskets of tomatoes they couldn't buy. Suddenly my wrinkled twenty from the bottom of my bag looked like a golden ticket.

Man, I just spent a whole weekend moving gravel for my own patio, so I feel this lol. Your dad is 100% right on this one. That gravel base isn't just for fun, it keeps everything from turning into a wobbly mess when the ground freezes or gets soggy. The sand and stones will sink and shift without it, and you'll be re-leveling flagstones every year. My last patio turned into a trip hazard because I skipped the gravel, so I'm doing the extra work now. Listen to the guy with 30 years of experience, not the guy who probably just doesn't want to hear a shovel going next door.

That fake alarm box idea is probably already a product somewhere.

Wait, is that much buildup really a fire hazard though? I mean my six inch brush seems to get the job done fine.