I don't feel fully dressed unless I have a pocket knife on me. I started carrying a Swiss Army Knife around with me when I was eleven. (Even to school. My teachers knew I had it and were always borrowing it. Those were the days!)

But Karen one-upped me, as she so often does. The other day, I noticed that one of the waterers wasn't working and needed to have the crud flushed out, a task that requires a pair of pliers. So I resolved to come back and do this, and promptly forgot all about it.

Karen came along and saw the same thing, but she was carrying her Leatherman multi-tool, as she always is. A Leatherman is like a folding pair of pliers with a Swiss Army Knife built into each handle. She fixed the waterer on the spot.

This is not the kind of arms race that I'm willing to lose, so I went right down to the store and bought the fanciest Leatherman they had, the Leatherman Blast (who comes up with these names?).

The reason I'd resisted the temptation in the past is that the Leathermen are a little oddly shaped, and the few times I'd used one, the blades had a distressing tendency to want to fold back when I didn't expect it and nip my fingers. But the higher-end Leathermen all have locking blades these days. Problem solved!

My new Leatherman has already covered itself with distinction. It's also covered itself with mud, which makes me just as happy that I'm carrying it in its nylon belt sheath rather than in my pocket. The bigger ones are not very pocketable. The smaller ones aren't too bad.

Anyway, if you're like me, you are constantly finding yourself faced with jobs that are far away from your tools, even assuming that you know where your tools have gotten to, which I generally don't. It's important to know how to accessorize. The Leatherman is my first major cutlery fashion upgrade since I started carrying my first Swiss Army knife. I recommend it.