The Hardware Store

As some of you may know, I have been working on making a grow-light system out of PVC pipe. When it is done, I will have a great place for growing my seedlings and my cuttings. I went down to Lowe's and bought most of the supplies, but they were out of the 4-way fittings that I needed for the center section. Even though Lowe's didn't have these, I was pretty sure I would be able to find them at Stan's Merry Mart, a local landmark & hardware store that serves as the place you go when you can't find what you are looking for anywhere else! As I expected, I found the 4-way connectors among the masses of PVC fittings in a row deep in the bowels of the store. I grabbed four of them and checked out. I left with a happy heart, itching to get started in my project.

Once I got home, I spent much of the afternoon cutting the pipe to the necessary lengths, and after cutting about a thousand pieces (or so it seemed!) of varied lengths, I decided to take a break, and work on tubers instead. So I spent the rest of the afternoon going through the last two boxes of the tubers that our dahlia society had dug at Rocky Reach Dam. I needed to check to see what had survived the winter, and what we would be able to donate back to the dam. The rest of the tubers we will sell at our tuber sale on April 28. By the time I finished with that task, it was time to fix something to eat, and change my clothes to go out to the Eastmont High School production of "Bye Bye Birdie" with my two sisters (BTW, lots of fun!).

This morning I got right to work. I moved everything from the family room into the dining room, so I could use the nice long table we have in there. I whisked off the lace tablecloth, and started to lay out the pieces according to the diagram that I got off the internet. Piece by piece, my fabulous creation started to take shape, until I got to the last few pieces - it was then that I realized that I actually needed SIX of the 4-way fittings, and I had only bought 4 - Yikes! I knew that this meant I would have to make another trip to a hardware store to buy these last two pieces. I didn't really want to travel across the Mighty Columbia, just to buy two PVC fittings, so I headed out to our small local Ace Hardware, a couple miles from my house. I walked in, headed back for their plastic pipe section, and finally found what I was looking for. On my way up to the checkstand, I couldn't resist also picking up a darling little set of scissors, of three different sizes with very pointy tips - THESE will work well for trimming little bits off my tubers when I am dividing next fall!

As I presented my purchases to the nice young lady at the checkstand, she remarked "You smell good!" I was a little surprised, since I was in my grubbiest baggy work jeans, my Larry Bernandez t-shirt, and an old grey Arnold Palmer sweater, my legacy from Dad - I looked a bit like a refugee, so knowing that I smelled good made me feel a little better about myself. I HAD spritzed on just the littlest bit of Tresor this morning, after my shower.....I guess I DID smell better than when I woke up! Anyway, the clerk went on to tell me that she didn't often get a chance to encounter good-smelling people, since most of the guys she works with every day smell more like dirt, sweat, oil or wood. Hmmmm....I guess that it probably true, but since I don't have to work there, I have always found the smells when I walk through doors of a hardware store to be quite appealing.

I can't remember when I first realized how much I like going to hardware stores, but I know it has been years since I first found myself inhaling the smells of fresh-cut lumber and creosote-soaked railroad ties, thinking what a great place this is! Not only that, they have things like L-brackets, wood screws, linseed oil, paint, eye bolts, chain, power tools and bungee cords! Be still, my beating heart! I think if I had been born a boy, I probably would have always been building something. Legos have always been my favorite toy.

I remember that when my kids were little, I wanted them to have a playhouse, but their dad was a perfectionist, which paralyzed him when it came to actually trying to build something. So I took matters into my own hands, got a couple old pallets that I used for the floor, some 2x4s, a few pieces of 3/4 inch plywood, and a bunch of nails, and started to pound things together. OK - I know it wasn't plumb - but when all was said and done, it was a little shed, with a roof, some windows and a door - I was pretty proud of myself! It stood for years, and eventually became the place we stored our lawn mower and garden tools.....But the kids really had fun with it for a few years, and I had the satisfaction of building something from the ground up.

The great thing about hardware stores here in Wenatchee is that they are often the go-to place for gardeners. I am always amazed when I am driving through Snohomish and King County, and see garden centers and nurseries everywhere I look - We have a few, but they are often a bit overpriced, and carry limited stock. So this time of year, I get a lot of joy when I have an excuse to visit and - yes! - smell my local hardware store. Not only do I get great things for building, I am entertained by the evocative aromas of moist dirt, green leaves, humid air and early annuals. Does life get any better than that?

(For directions on building your own Grow-Light System, here is the link: www.gardenabcs.com/uploads/classroomgrowlights.pdf)