I was hoeing and the hoe wasn't sharp enough. I stood there in the baking sun trying to remember where the rasp file was -- shed? garage? actually in the toolbox where it belonged? I couldn't picture it. I looked down, and there was a handy looking rock. A dip in the watering can and a couple of strokes on each side, and it was Bastille Day for the weeds.
I was trying to chop down a branch that was too big for the hand pruner. A spit or two and a few strokes with a handy rock, and the blade cut through the thick branch like butter.
I was trying to put up a bamboo stake but the ground was too hard. I had a rebar handy to make a "pilot hole" but both the hammer and the mini-sledge were back in the house. A handy rock that fit my hand just right has become my favorite "hammer" -- I keep it in a special place in the garden. It's starting to get chipped each time I use it, and a hollow area is starting to form on the bottom of it. I plan to keep it as a stone sculpture eventually.