Tag: hardware store

I’m A Gardening Moron

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Sit me at a desk and I can not only build you a computer but I can also make a slow computer fast again.  Put a lawn mower in front of me and I’m completely clueless.

Darrin bought this lawn mower from the local family owned hardware store maybe 6 years ago because we just couldn’t afford to keep paying a gardener to mow our lawn every week so the job fell into my lap.  Well, that sucks for me because I have really bad allergies.  When the gardeners came and I could smell the fresh cut grass, my eyes would start to water and burn and my nose would get stuffed up and I’d start sneezing.  So it wasn’t good that I had to start mowing, for me anyway.

So every year we have to bring this lawn mower back to that hardware store to have them service it before summer comes because all of a sudden it wouldn’t start up again for me.  We usually have them change the oil and spark plug and clean the filter, you know, the usual maintenance.

So Darrin has been paying them up the nose to do all of this work every year and I get 3, maybe 4 mows out of it then that’s it for the rest of the year and we have to have someone mow our lawn for us because our lawn mower doesn’t work.  We can only afford to have the hardware store service it for us once a year.

Our lawn has gotten so out of control with the high grass and weeds that Darrin decided to ask our neighbors across the street if they could mow it and he paid them $30 (for 2 houses, our lawn is HUGE) and also paid him $20 to look at ours to find out what’s wrong with it and fix it.

He said that the filter really needed to be cleaned so he cleaned it.  Well, I’m so stupid, I didn’t even know how to access the filter to clean it.  Darrin kept telling me it was the filter but I didn’t believe him and I had no idea that that’s what was wrong with it.  All these years he could have saved $60 every time they serviced it because all I had to do was clean the filter.  And, they would keep it for 2 weeks.

And you know, I’ve asked that hardware store to tell me what was wrong with it and they wouldn’t tell me.  Why wouldn’t they tell me?  Because if they told me what was wrong with it then we wouldn’t keep bringing it back to them to have them clean the filter out.  We’d continue paying them every year.  So telling me how to fix it isn’t good for their business.

So, I’m feeling stupid right now but at least now I know for future reference so I can clean it after every use so I never have to worry about it giving me problems starting up again.

You know, I had an issue with our weed whacker.  Every time the line would get small I’d have to unscrew the thing that had the spring in it and pull out some of the line.  Edging with the weed whacker took forever.  I had no idea that all I had to do was smack it on the sidewalk so the spring action would pull out more line lol.  I didn’t even know why it had a spring until I saw a video on YouTube.

Look, I’m not a gardener.  I am so stupid when it comes to that.  Well, knowledge is power and it saves $60 every year.  So screw you hardware store for not telling me how to find the filter lol.

Pain Patches

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I got my check today and I went to the grocery store immediately as soon as I found out that I got it (direct deposit).  I got a package of Ben gay pain relieving patches.  It has 5 patches that work on the neck to arm (why don’t they just say shoulder?).  I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to put it on myself being in the back and all but I managed.

Oh boy, I feel the heat already.  My shoulder is on FIRE!!!  It’s just like Icy Hot but the icy doesn’t dull the pain at all lol.

I was going to buy the ones that last 12 hours, forgot the name already, but they were expensive so I just bought the Ben gay ones.  These only last 8 hours but that’s ok.  I also bought a Icy Hot stick, it’s like a stick of deodorant but you put it on your pain and not your pits.  Oh I better hide it so I don’t accidentally put it on my pits.  I’m not that really bright.

I was gonna go to the bike store for new handlebars but I don’t want to be in the heat so I’m just gonna force er um I mean ask Darrin to take me tomorrow.  It’s his day off so he can drive me.  I hope they are open tomorrow lol.  Then I wanna buy a new gel seat for my seat from Target or Wally World.  Actually they have them at Floyd’s the town hardware store.

The heat isn’t so bad on this patch so I’m happy.  Although the pain is going down into my elbow so I’m getting worried now.  I see the doctor again on Thursday so if I’m still having pain then I hope she has a solution for me.  Maybe she can give me a magic elixir that will turn the dial back so I can get younger and stop feeling like I’m elderly.

New Purpose for Stakes

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

Years ago we bought these stakes from the garden section of the local hardware store.  No, we don’t have a vampire problem.  We were putting grass seeds on the grass to grow new grass and to prevents people from walking all over the new grass we put the stakes in the ground and used this green tape on the stakes.  Although, that didn’t do much good, people broke the green tape and walked on our lawn anyway.

We still have all these stakes though and don’t really know what to do with them so they just sit on the patio collecting dust.  I just got an idea today…

I’m going to take the sander and sand the sides of them then use those zig zag type of metal nail things that you hammer into 1 piece of wood on the side then you hammer another piece of wood onto the other side of the zig zag nail to join the 2 pieces of wood.  I’m going to put some wood glue in there and attach maybe 5 of the stakes together then press them tight and let the pieces dry.  I’m going to do this with several of the stakes so I have more than just 1 or a few pieces.  I’m going to keep 1 stake for every board that I make so I can use them to stake the board into the ground.

Why would I need to stake boards into the ground?  Because I’m thinking that maybe I can use these boards for wood burning projects.  I can wood burn patterns for gardens as gifts for Christmas.  I think it will be neat.  I could burn maybe a picture of fairies sitting on or flying around mushrooms or maybe some gnomes or something lol.  I think it’s a neat idea and it gives me free wood to burn on since we already have the wood lol.

Pez Dispensers

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

This Christmas I was given 3 new Pez dispensers to add to my growing collection.

I actually started this collection in 1999 when Star Wars Episode 1 came into theaters and the stores started selling the Star Wars Pez dispensers.  I decided to buy each individual Pez dispenser which were just under $1 I think.  I can’t recall.  But when we got home I didn’t have any place to put them so I placed them side by side on a very large mirror which was on the wall where my desk was so as I sat at the computer I’d be looking at Pez dispensers.

I told a few people about them and next thing you know people are sending them to me in the mail and when I visit people they are giving me these Pez dispensers.  I never asked for them but I won’t refuse it either lol.

All of a sudden I had a huge amount of these little things that I went to the hardware store to buy wood to make a shelf and found these really thin and small pieces of wood so I got a bunch and some little nails and built me a shelf.  When we moved to Bakersfield in 2000 I put the shelf up in the kitchen right next to my desk and at first there were maybe 20 Pez dispensers but now there are 104 Pez dispensers on the shelf in my bedroom.

I have 5 Pez dispensers that are in their original packaging (although the packaging is getting too old and is tearing) because they have no feet which means they are valuable.  And I have the 3 newer ones still in their tin which I will never take them out of because again, it gives them value.  When I think about it I should have never taken any of them out of their package but that’s ok, what’s done is done.

Here is a picture of all the Pez dispensers on the shelf as well as the new ones in their tin.  Click the image below for full size.

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Bike Light

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I think it was the day before yesterday or something but I noticed that the light generator wasn’t touching the tire when you flip the switch and so I fixed it and then checked out the lights to make sure they were ok by pushing the peddles.  I noticed that the back red light was working fine but the headlight wasn’t working at all.  I flipped the bike upside down and pushed the peddles with my hand to make the back tire turn and the light was just not coming on.

I took the light fixture off the bike and took it apart to see if the light bulb was just out and when I went to turn it to remove it the glass part came off and the metal was just not unscrewing at all.  I’m pretty sure it’s because the light set that I bought was old, it was made in 1991.  I searched high and low trying to find a new bulb, I went to Albertson’s, no go.  I went to Walgreens, not there.  I figured that maybe an auto parts store might have them because they have little tiny lights too but alas the car lights were the same size but no threads.  The guy at the counter told me to try Home Depot or Floyd’s hardware store.

I decided that since I can’t use my bike anyway I might as well wait until I can to worry about it.  But then I noticed a Halloween tap light sitting in a drawer and noticed that the light bulb looked the same.  I unscrewed the 3 screws on the bottom and was able to unscrew the bulb and sure enough, the exact same light bulb.

I brought it to the bike area (this was yesterday) and screwed it in and flipped the bike over and plugged the wire into the generator and pushed on the peddles but unfortunately it didn’t turn the light on.  I put it back in the tap light and put some batteries in there and tapped it and it turned on just fine.

I went searching in a computer drawer with old computer stuff and found some old mic’s from when I got my first computer and never used the mic’s and was all ready to strip the wires to use it but it was late at night and I couldn’t find my scissors so I waited until today.  This morning after Darrin went to church I got up and went out there and my scissors were by the bike so I got all the stuff ready and sat down on the stool out there.  I tried it one more time with the wire that came with the light set but this time I stripped the wire that touches the light to see if it was just messed up there but no go.  I then thought, well what if the light has to be on the bracket on the bike frame so I just placed it on there and turned the peddles and sure enough the light came on.

At this point I’m not quite sure if it’s just sheer stupidity or if my ADD is really that bad lol.  At any rate I’m glad I finally figured it out and got one more problem out of the way so I can get back on with my life.

Kitchen Faucet

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

For the last 4 years that we’ve been living in this house I have been bitching about how bad the water pressure is in the kitchen. I thought it was the pipes and it was an internal thing so we just never went out and got a new faucet.

Yesterday we were at the hardware store for something totally unrelated and while we were there Darrin said while were here let’s get a new faucet so we did. About half hour or so after we got home I went in there, took everything out from under the sink and that was a lot of stuff and changed it.

It was very difficult getting the old one off because the hot and cold hoses were screwed right next to each other because the old faucet was the kind with 1 handle that you move up then right for cold then left for hot.

So I finally got it all off and put the new one on and the water pressure is so much better now. I almost had a hard time doing the dishes last night because the pressure was so good, I wasn’t used to it and I was trying to make it so I didn’t get too much water going for fear of wasting it hehe.