Harbor Freight, How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways:
1) If I can imagine it, it’s on one of your shelves.
2) You provide the “basics” at reasonable prices.
3) No one has ever asked me “What are you looking for?” in the same tone that a mother would ask her 3-year-old if they have to go potty.
4) No one has posed that question and then contorted their face into a confused look and responded to my answer with, “Huh?”
5) You’re willing to acknowledge that maybe I do have half a brain. When I have asked for a specific item, no one has ever questioned my judgment with “What are you using that for?”
6) You’ve got a location not that far away from This D*mn House.
7) You’re open seven days a week. And with hours that allow me to actually make it there.
8) Everything I’ve ever purchased at your store has performed at above or expectation.
9) I’ve never had to return a purchase.
10) The only odd looks I’ve ever gotten as an “unattended” woman within your doors have come from other patrons, not your staff.

Clearly, I had another successful venture to Harbor Freight on Saturday. My primary goal was to get a squeegee to use for the driveway (if it will ever stop raining so I can seal the driveway). Lowe’s and Home Depot had a standard 24-inch for about $20, some kind of supposed higher-quality one for $25.

Sears Hardware cost: $24.99. For a squeegee. I’m not looking to bronze this thing and hang it on the wall. When I’m done with it, it’s getting tossed. (Driveway seal is pretty unforgiving and whatever I’d use to clean it off with would probably kill any surface that happens to be left after raking the poor thing across thousands of inches of driveway.)

Squeegee almost identical to the other stores’ offerings: $12.99 at Harbor Freight.

Not everyone shares my enthusiasm for Harbor Freight. Earlier this summer, Toolcrib.com posted some good info with a series of links highlighting HF purchases. I agree with many of his assessments. I don’t think I’d want to trust all of their power tools, but some of the standards I’ve held and run inside the store seem OK.

Other things I’ve purchased from Harbor Freight include:
• Foldable, adjustable workbench, just big enough to hold my compound mitre saw.
• 8x8 iron tamper
• 14-pound sledgehammer
• Respirator masks
• Nitrile gloves
• Trowel
• Nylon rope
• Gardening handtool set
• Bungee cords

Tip-Toe Through the Tool Aisle

OK. I have officially dispelled the myth that I am a power tool junkie. I'm just a plain ole tool junkie! No cord or battery required.

Case in point: I just stood awestruck staring at a 48-inch pipe wrench. Why would I ever need a 48-inch pipe wrench. Well, I'm hoping to go the rest of my life not needing one. But that's not the point. The point: It's huge. It's to be respected. It captured my attention. And, if I ever did need one ... I could get it at Harbor Freight.

That's right. I was there earlier, not long after they opened. The only woman in the store, save Monique, the young, black cashier. Very nice girl. Working her way through nursing school and introduced a few years ago to home ownership. She seemed surprised to see me amid the die-hard car enthusiasts, some of whom were probably waiting for the doors to open, and the other Weekend Warriors, all male.

When I told her what I was doing, she shook her head. "WOW! I need to learn to do more stuff myself." I offered a little advice. She asked a few questions.

A future houseblogger, maybe?

I planned the trip yesterday. I thought I'd bought a tamper when I created my stone patio a few years back, but, apparently not. So, I needed one of those. And I hoped to get a longer prybar to help try out the alternate plan for ridding myself of the sidewalk.

So, for $30, I got both of those things, a box of 100 thick latex gloves, a roll of nylon rope, and a four-piece gardening handtool set for the mother.

It's been raining again. Just a string of brief showers, but enough to soak everything down. I'm giving it a bit to dry out and hoping that the last little cluster I see on the dopplar is it for the day. I've got work to do!

Amazon, You’re Killin’ Me

There aren’t many things that draw my attention like a moth to a flame. Pens come to mind. I’ve got hundreds of them. This is not an exaggeration. Ask my mother. (I’d buy a Mont Blanc if only Jonny Depp came with it.) I can’t walk by a pen display anywhere without at least looking. I think it might be a sickness.

Clothes – not so much. Occasionally, I’ll see something I just have to have but it’s rare. Shoes – pretty much the same story. (Well, there were those cute sandals last weekend ...) Sorry, Carole. I didn’t get the clotheshorse gene, much to her dismay. But somehow, I did seem to get an overabundance of the power tool gene. I’m a regular freak of nature, I am.

I can spend hours in Sears Hardware and get lost in a Harbor Freight store. So that’s why when Amazon recently sent me an email touting their latest power tool sale, I purposely avoided opening it. I’m not really in the market for anything right now, but once I start looking, you just never know. It's serious danger, Will Robinson. It's the equivalent of putting a loaded crack pipe down in front of a junkie.

I tried to get a fix by cruising and admiring tools at Lowe's last night. (I bought the first round of gravel and the metal edging for the walkway. ) I thought that reading a few boxes, parking my palms around some power would be sufficient. It wasn't.

I finally broke down and opened the email. In under a minute, I had a few things on my wish list. I looked at a Black and Decker cordless drill (something I don’t really need but would be nice to have) … or maybe I’d prefer something a little more powerful like a DeWalt. In any case, I don’t need either of them really. I checked out an assortment of handtools, some of which I do need. (I'm currently using an almost 30-year-old hammer, for instance.)

Then there was this fantastic little power cutter, “ideal for wallpaper.” Hmm ... there are two bedrooms waiting to be done.

Someone please stop me before I kill.