Ace IS the Place!

I’m sure you have all heard the slogan said and sung, “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man.” Well, believe it.

Over the last few years, there have been several times where the people at the Seffner Ace Hardware have helped me tremendously. They’ve cut keys for me no one else even had blanks for. When I couldn’t get my old rusty mailbox off the crosspiece, they removed it for me – and didn’t even charge me for it.

Today, they came through again. Well, not exactly yet, but they are going to tomorrow.

From yesterday’s post you know that I planned to make templates using 1x4’s for my 4x4 posts so I could take them to Lowe’s to have them cut to the right size and angle. After measuring and cutting the 1x4 templates, I called Lowe’s to make sure they could do it and was advised that while they will cut lumber to size, they don’t cut anything as big as a 4x4.

I then called Home Depot and was told that they do cut 4x4’s but only if I bought them there. Well, I didn’t and told them that, so that avenue was blocked.

Next, I called the Ace Hardware in Seffner. They were happy to do it, but couldn’t do it today. I’m taking the four posts over tomorrow around noon time. When the clerk I talked to warned me it would be $1.00 per cut, I told her it was worth a lot more than that to me – it probably wasn’t too bright of me to say that, was it?.

After all, I really didn’t want to cut those posts myself. I had just had the experience of cutting the 8-foot 4x4’s in half. My trusty Black & Decker power saw would only cut through about 2 1/2 inches of the post. I then had to turn it over and cut the other inch or so. With something that big and heavy, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. The second one I cut was very smooth—almost perfect, but you could see on the first one I cut that it took more than one pass. I can only imagine the mess I would have made trying to cut it on an angle.

So, tomorrow, I’m off to Ace Hardware and will probably be able to install the posts on Monday.

This afternoon, I took a nap (I can do that now that I’m retired!) – I think the heat combined with carrying those heavy posts got to me this morning. I also finished a great Sue Henry book (I’ve also started another by her today). I’ve read several of hers – most take place in Alaska, although one of her characters (Maxie, to be precise) travels around the lower 48 in her RV. She’s also flown to Hawaii in one of the books I have – maybe, sometime she’ll be able to afford to fly in an airplane :). If you ever get a chance to read any of hers, I can almost guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

Until next time…