Love in the Hardware Aisle

By Nancy Pickard

You, poor things, were supposed to get a guest blogger today, a very very nice guest blogger whom you already like from a previous date you had with her, but she is in the worst kind of deadline hell (there are degrees, yes, there are) so you get me for two days in a row.  Hey, it could be worse, you could get shingles.

 So  we're going to talk about tools.

 No, not the Anthony Weiner kind of tools, or the fact that Anthony Wiener is a tool. 

 We're going to talk about real tools.  Tool tools.  Black and Decker and Dremmel and Sears type tools.

I love them!  Without actually owning any until very very recently.  Like, oh, Monday.

I don't know if you know this, but I'm a girl.  The name Nancy probably gives that away. Not only that, but I am girl of a certain age--AGAIN, the name Nancy gives it away--which means I had to take home ec when I'd a hell of a lot rather have been sawing boards with the boys in Shop.  But those were the days of Girls Shop; Boys DO Shop. This is a familiar story, right? You've heard it before, even here on this very blog.

 

My tool knowledge is severely, nay, tragically, limited.

But those days are over! This week, Monday to be exact, I bought my first DRILL!  It was a THRILL!

First, before doing such a daring thing, wildly breaking gender roles and such,  I begged for advice on Facebook.  I asked my Friends--if you were buying your first drill,if you were a drill virgin, as it were--which one would you buy? 

 Oh, the deluge of recommendations!  It was gratifying, but stupifying, kwim?

 My head swam. Dutifully,  I went to Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears, and saw all those really expensive drills, and all those millions of choices of drills, and I felt as helpless as if somebody had used one of them to give me a frontal lobotomy.  (Not meaning to make fun of frontal lobotomies!)  I saw that the fabulous drills that had been recommended to me were too much drill for me, and if I owned one I'd look like like somebody who has donned an inflated muscle suit. You'd just know I wasn't for real. Plus, expensive! So I gave up and went home, feeling advice-drowned and decision-impaired  Also, sadly tool-less.  Oh, I did buy a cheap portable power shrub trimmer as a consolation prize, but it's really hard to drive screws into a wall with one of those. 

 But then--hallelujia!--one piece of all of that advice kicked up to the surface and grabbed my chin and demanded, "Pay attention to  ME."  A Facebook friend who lives in this area had suggested  that I drive up to the city of Leavenworth and go to their old hardware store where, she promised me, they would kindly take charge of me. 

Wait, that picture was supposed to illustrate "take charge, " not "CHARGE," but that'll work. . .

All I want to accomplish, really, is to drill holes for bird feeders, planters, and pictures, so we're not talking about building a tri-level house here.  Still, if you've never had the thrillah of the drillah, you need help.

 So. . .yesterday, because I've been driving miles and miles lately, in random directions,  to get my plot lines rolling in my brain, I just happened to point the car north.  I rolled up Highway 7.  It meandered through Lansing.  It reached Leavenworth.  I saw--and gasped at--the Missouri River which is scarily high and downright terrifyingly fast right now.  I toured old Victorian-house neighborhoods, and then I pulled out my iPad and typed into the search window:  "hardware store, Leavenworth, Ks."

When "Gronis Hardware" popped up, I had a feeling it was the one.

 It was.  It is!  I found it, and went inside, as timid as a mouse, hopeful as a hungry mouse.  It had (has) wooden floors!  They creak!  There are rooms of STUFF, kitchen gizmos, shop thingamajigs, it's hardware heaven.

The nice woman who showed me to the drills, pointed to the exact right one--a B&D reversible, portable, with drill bits included and a re-charger--and then, bless her, she called over another woman who opened the box and showed me exactly how to work it.  A man who works there came over and helped, too, and by the time I left, I felt ready for that tri-level house.  In fact, I thought about stopping and offering my freelance drill expertise to some construction workers I saw on the highway, but hey, I don't work for just anybody.

 What's your relationship with tools?

 Did your daddy teach you how to saw a board?  Or maybe your mom taught you how to hang a planter? Or did you teach yourself like I'm about to do?  And if you've already answered those questions here, before today, how about this one: is there anyone who does not love a hardware store? Or this one: why is nobody named Nancy any more?

And here, TA DA, is my baby drill, at rest. . .

 

 

Comments

[gaylin in vancouver]

I was my dad's helper so I learned all about drills, wrenches, etc. I have a great B&D drill - I didn't get cordless, I wanted more power. I also have a complete set of drill bits. I have 2 (count 'em) 2 hammers! One is a tack hammer that I MADE in metal shop in Grade 10 (1975). I don't own a pipe wrench to remove sink drains but one may be in my future. I love my laser level! I have hung rows of photos, built in shelves in a closet, repaired shelves already in closets.

I love to try to figure things out before asking for help. Unless it involves electrical work - that is always someone else's job.

[Margaret Maron]

As you know, Nancy, I helped build our house from the ground up and the first power saw here was mine. (My husband's favorite tool is the telephone.) I don't use the phone till I've tried my other tools first. Pretty much self-taught. There are books. And now the Internet will let you find how-to videos on YouTube. You go, girl!

[Ramona]

My dad says that anything that can be plugged in or runs on batteries is not a tool, it's an appliance. Some of that thinking has eeked onto me. My husband has a garage full of useful chain saws, power drills, table saws, nail gun, etc., but I won't allow him to buy a leaf blower or snow blower. And yes, I said "allow." :)

As for me, the only tool I hanker for is a hand-held blow torch, so I can make my own creme brulee.

[William]

Growing up, the Tool Department at Sears was to my father what Barnes and Noble or Movies Unlimited is to me. Drills, saws, a table saw, ShopSmith, etc. No car ever parked in a garage in any home we lived in; it was The Workshop (please note the capital letters). Every weekend was spent on some sort of home repair, project, or just puttering.

Me? I go to hang a picture on the wall, and people start dialing 911. I am allowed (there's that word again!) to change a light bulb when needed, but otherwise tools and I have a distant relationship at best.

Whenever I see a commercial today for a Laser Guided Drill, or a Level that talks, or anything like that, I grin and think my father would lose his mind with today's technology....:)

[Reine]

Nancy, "a drill virgin." Heh. Love that little red drill.

I love tools and hardware stores, the kind that have everything. There is one I used to go to every week, three or four times, in Kernville, California. If you walk in there and ask for one of those metal top thingies, with holes in it, that's stuck on a cork, that you put in a coke bottle, so you can sprinkle the ironing . . . they will know what you mean. And they will have it. The glass coke bottles too. And they will remind you not to let the cork dry out. Then on the way home you can stop off at Nelda's Diner in Lake Isabella and have a cowboy sandwich. Nelda's daughter, Reba, makes them with grilled sourdough bread, fresh roast beef and aged cheddar or ham and swiss. It is a huge three-piece affair - big enough for one mom and two big kids. I guarantee that. When we lived on the ranch I drove my twins 40 miles each way just to prove it.

Why don't they name girls Nancy anymore? Don't know. Nelda wants to know why they don't name girls Nelda anymore. Where'd Noreen go? Nelly? Nanette? Naomi? Must be an anti-N bias. Yup, that's it. Gotta be it.

[Nancy Pickard]

gayiin, you MADE your own hammer?? ::makes "I am not worthy" gestures toward you!::

Margaret, how-to vids, what a great suggestion. I hadn't even thought of doing that.

Ramona, I hope you get your torch!

William, so few hobbies have the sensory impact of Workshops, do they? I'll bet you entered those garages and the scent of wood and/or metal was overwhelming. That's one of the great things.

[Reine]

Oh yeah . . . my favorite tool is a little root cutter bought at the Kernville Hardware. And I love my old backpacking saw with the folding blade. Folding hex key sets, US and metric. And an off-set screw driver - real handy.

[Reine]

Did I forget the giant biscuit cutter Steve made in lower school? His mother, NANCY, gave it to me. Well, her name was really Anne, but her parents called her Nancy - because the maid's name was Anne - and she was there first.

[Nancy Pickard]

Reine, yes! You've hit on the secret of a great hardware store. It's a place where you can go and use the word "thingie" with a pleading question on your face, and they'll nod and then pluck just the exact thingee you need off a shelf. Or they might say, "You know, these thingies are good thingies, but I think what you might like better are these thingies over here."

I love them. Love thingies, too.

A homemade biscuit cutter! What an adorable heirloom.

[Sally Goldenbaum]

You are amazing, girl with the Nancy name. What a great post. Doesn't everyone love hardware stores with floors that creak? I wish I'd been with you at that store. A return trip some day? I love tools--my father sent a lot of his life in his workshop building model ships with every kind of tool known to man. I loved it down there, the smells and sounds and being close to him. But I made nothing. It took another generation to produce another product. My daughter built a table--a beautiful tall, smoothly sanded wooden table, the kind you want to rub your hand across. I don't know if she used a drill but I will ask. I hope this percolating Nancy book has a hardware store in it. And maybe a drill or two...

[Tina]

William, your father and mine must have been related. I spent at least 1 day a weekend at Sears in the tool section. Until I became an adult, I don't know there were other departments at Sears. My sister says she still has nightmares and can't step foot in one.

I have tools. From screw drivers and hammers to drills and saws. Thanks to my dad I've done quite a few projects around the house and in the garage that have saved a ton of money over the years.

[Nancy Pickard]

Sally we absolutely must go up there together. There's a lot to see. We'll get lunch or coffee, walk along the river path--if it's not underwater by then!--and go look at circular saws.

Tina, lol. Your dad really indoctrinated you guys, but I think it's so cool that you can do those things.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Hopeful as a hungry mouse is the CUTEST phrase I have ever heard, and I am smiling smiling smiling.

Tools. NO. My husband LOVES them, and every time he picks up a saw I have to leave the room in terror.

But I do remember, in my first apartment, hanging all the pictures on the walls by myself, measuring and hammering, and I was thrilled.

NANCY!!! Congratulations on your Mscavity nomination!! WHoo hoooooo.

[Sheila Connolly]

I have my own tool box, with a little plaque on it with my name. But it is filled with real tools that work (and my husband keeps "borrowing" them). Some of the tools belonged to my grandmother, who also had her own tool box (although she used it mainly for hanging pictures).

Every woman (heck, every person) should know the basics of how a hammer and a screwdriver work. I love hardware stores, and yes, my father used to take me along.

Let me add my congratulations on the Macavity nomination. We are so looking forward to having you at Crime Bake!

[peach]

Knesal's Hardware store located in Petersburg, Ohio, a tiny town near to my town, is a step back to a bygone era. The clapboard building dates from the 1870's and the interior features oiled wood plank floors and a tin ceiling. The shelves are filled with items from yesterday's gone by and the most modern of conveniences. Going into the store is akin to being in a living history museum. I'm not sure if it's always been a hardware store, but that's what it's been my entire life. I do know there has always been some sort of business in operation in that building. The clerks are very helpful.

We mostly go there to buy certain varieties of seed for our garden. After asking what seeds you want, the clerk opens a glass fronted drawer in the old wooden seed display. Measuring out your seeds approximately with an old metal scoop, they are poured into an old analog scale from the 40's or 50's which is capable of weighing in partial ounces to several pounds. Depending on how much seed is purchased you may get your seed in a resealable envelope or in the case of larger seed, old fashioned tiny brown paper bags. Writing the price per pound on the bag and the weight we then time travel back to present day when they use a calculator to figure out what you owe and a credit card modem so you can pay for those seeds. The best of both worlds in my estimation.

The store also seems to be the gathering place for local men to stand around and gossip as I've never been in there and not seen two or three of them standing around "chewin' the fat."

[Nancy Pickard]

Hank, thank you! And, yes, there is something thrilling about hanging pictures, I totally agree. Once it's done.

[Cheryl in STL]

My Dad and grandfathers always had lots tools, so they weren't a mystery to me. When I went away to college, I even took a small toolbox with me. It's amazing how much use they got in those 4 yrs. When both my kids went to college, I made sure they had a toolbox with them too. Even now, I keep a toolkit in the kitchen that is just mine. Woe be the person who takes something from my toolkit and doesn't return it.

[Nancy Pickard]

Cheryl, what a smart thing to send off to college with a kid. I wonder if anybody ever gives toolkits as wedding gifts.

[Nancy Pickard]

Reine, I forgot to say--I love it that the parents deferred to the maid's claim to the name. :)

[Ramona]

I forgot to mention that I have my own toolkit, a gift from my mother. It's pink. The hammer, the measuring tape, the screwdriver, the carrier, the other doohickies I can't ID--all pink. I think she got it as a giveaway from a casino.

But hey, the pink hammers hammers as good as a black hammer.

[Judi]

Love hardware stores, even though I am a former home ec. teacher! There used to be a wonderful old, old hardware store in Schenectady - sadly that treasure is gone now. I could spend all day there just looking, touching, and yes, smelling.
Once I bought my own house I too bought a drill and it was very handy for any man in my life to use for me, but it was really too heavy for me to do much with. I just wanted to put up a plant hanger and couldn't do it. The neighbor lady showed me her special drill and I had to get one like it. It is wonderful, fits very comfortable in the palm of my hand. My son, who has all kinds of big, powerful tools even likes it.

[Alan P.]

The princesses love coming with me to Home Depot. They have helped me with some projects, but don't have their own tools yet, but they will. They have an Uncle Bobby who has spent a week of his vacation time working for Habitat for Humanity each year for the last 12 years. Most of my tools are the esoteric metric tools for my bicycle. They were doubly handy when I had a FIAT and needed a thin walled 15mm hex wrench.

A friend (male) is so tool inept he does not own a screw driver. His first wife took her tool box with her when she left him.

Nancy, I used a Black and Decker cordless drill for a PhotoShop project one day, http://theportmans.name/photoalbum/main.php?cmd=imageview&var1=photoshop%2Fbend%26decker.jpg

[stuckinmypedals]

15 years ago I got married and my favorite wedding present was from my Bible study leader. It was a big, bright yellow toolbox stuffed with every kind of tool I could imagine. The card read "Women are expected to fix everything so every woman deserves her own set of tools." I love this woman dearly and I love my yellow toolbox.

[Reine]

Nancy, yes, Nancy's parents were like that. We still visit the man who was caretaker at their house in New York. Steve's grandfather let him plant a number of acres for himself and then as he made a profit, allowed him to buy it. He still has the acreage and did very well with it. I'd never really experienced that kind of relationship, not having that background. It was obvious how much he and his family cared for Steve's family, by how welcoming he was to us and how he talked about those years with the family. Steve's grandparents were gracious, kind, and fair. Nancy was, as well.

[Holly Gault]

Hardware stores, like fabric, art supply, and stationery stores all give me the tools and supplies for my life -- I guess grocery stores, too. The only kind of shopping I love.

I learned power tools in theatre shop and from my dad.

A great tool: the WonderBar http://tinyurl.com/q8obn
My girlfriend is a girlfiend with that -- she took down a wall for me in one short evening.

[judy merrill larsen]

Welcome to the world of tools, Nancy! I learned like you, on my own, when after my divorce I got the very old house with (among other things) door knobs/locks/thingies that needed to be replaced entirely too often. Luckily, I have a little local hardware store within walking distance and Jeff, the guy who owns it, has an answer to everything (and, if he has a spare part for something I need on his workbench (like that doohickey thing space bar for the you know-what on the door) he'll just dig around and give it to me, gratis).

I know tons of Nancy's but they're all my age or older . . . it's such a friendly name, I don't know why it went out of style. But then again, no one uses "Judy" any more either.

[Marcia in OK]

I grew up as the unpaid apprentice of a finish carpenter and furniture buidler. I put in hinges and hardware, door stops and door knobs with a hand screwdriver. I was too small to hold the drill. It was heavy!

I don't do plumbing or electrical, but most of the rest of home remodeling I can handle with assists for heavy stuff and things requiring a ladder. When my dad and I roofed my house, I wasn't allowed to use the pneumatic nail gun because I double tapped too often and wasted nails.

Need the furniture refinished - I'm your girl.

I have 3 tool boxes, one drill, a disc sander and rubbermaid tubs for painting stuff, tiling stuff, refinishing stuff, and I have the most out of control junk drawer imaginable.

FYI - when going to Sears, I still park near the lower level Craftsmen tool door. Even when I know I want housewares upstairs. They really will swap out a broken hand tool for free.

Kansas isnt' really that far of a drive. Hardware store worth it?

[Reine]

Holly, heh I learned power tools in a theatre shop too, when I was an apprentice . . . million years ago!

[Paulina]

Tools and I are two incompatible things. I can do NOTHING even if you generously pay me. My level is to change battery. That’ it. I fall asleep in hardware store.

Sometimes given my incapacity to do any manual work, I remember Rhett Butler speaking about Ashley Wilkes: “that breed is purely ornamental”. I must be sort of like this.

[Nancy Pickard]

Peach, that store sounds lovely. A tin ceiling!

Sheila, I'm really looking forward to it, too!

Ramona,yeah, the hole doesn't know it was drilled by a pink drill, lol. God, there were so many ways to go so wrong with that sentence.

Judi, yeah weight was a big factor in my purchase.

Alan, lol! Too funny. Big drillin' Ben.
You're raising those girls right.

Aw, Stuck, what a cool friend and gift.

Oooh, Holly, I couldn't be trusted with that WonderBar. I would have to find a wall to take down, lol.

[[email protected]]

The birthday I got my first Barbie, my dad gave me a Jr. Ace tool kit. He helped me to build a bird house and later a tree house. I still have the tool kit, but I have no idea what happened to the Barbie.

[Diane Zimanski]

The right tool, be it for the house, garden, bike, car, is pure bliss.

[Karen in OH]

I can't believe no has said it yet, Drill, baby, drill!

Love tools of all kinds: power, hand, kitchen, yard, sewing, and cooking. My husband says the best tools are your hands, but I notice he dearly loves his big old tractor.

Learning to use a drill kicked my confidence level up a notch, as I'm sure it did for you, Nancy. Now my three favorite tools are my coverstitch serger, weed whacker, and snowblower, and I'm pretty darned proud of myself for learning to use them. Although I can never get the weedeater to start by myself.

[Karen in OH]

P.S. Pink handles on tools ensure that they never walk away from where you left them. I was forever missing things until I bought a set of the girly-looking ones, which never, ever get borrowed. ;-)

[Joshilyn Jackson]

It's like -- the Indie Bookstore of Hardware stores! :)

[Margaret Maron]

Ramona, the great thing about pink-handle tools is that 1) He can't claim it's his and 2) You'll always get them back!

[Storyteller Mary]

I love the way "blog sisters" step in for each other in time of need -- I met Susan McBride when she filled in for Elaine on book tour.
Congratulations on the nomination!
I love your new little drill (and Al's photoshop!) -- I may have to find one like it . . . (cost?)
I get most necessary things accomplished with the Handy Help Her set I bought (in blue, the pink was just too pink) when I moved into the condo.
Aaah, good hardware stores. The closest store to my condo was lovely Hackmann Lumber, where employees staffed a help desk and happily located and explained whatever was needed, along with reassurances "no, there is no electrocution danger in replacing a doorbell button." -- the sort of thing one does need to know. They would even refer me to other sources for things they did not carry. I had a pry bar (crowbar?) that I bought to remove carpet tack strips when I took out the carpet in the condo bedroom on allergist's orders. (I couldn't do the job, though -- had to have a stronger friend come help. Now I have "Borrow Bob" for bigger jobs). I gave it to my nephew-in-law when I moved -- I hadn't used it in many years . . .
I have noticed that the big stores are starting to expect their staff to be more helpful; I guess they caught on that expertise is needed, not just random stuff.
I should visit Hackmann sometime soon, for old time's sake, even though I will pass two big boxes on the way from my house. .
Dad never let me use power tools, old-fashioned guy that he was, but he did buy me a typewriter and lessons the summer after eighth grade ;-)

[Nancy Pickard]

Joss! Does that mean it's going to close soon?! #sad&feeblejoke, because "my" indie just announced yesterday that it's closing in August. I think classic old hardware stores can live longer. Fingers crossed!

[DebbraSue]

Hubby teaches the two dds how to use tools properly and they each have some starter tools. He doesn't really like the girly sets because he feels they are an inferior product. What we've done is give the girls the tools and then their own brightly colored duct tape to wrap the handles -- makes it really easy to pick out when you have lime green and neon pink tie dye taped handles.

The younger one is helping with a small remodeling project and has cut metal ceiling grids, removed sheetrock, cut carpet and used a sledgehammer to move a wall six inches. Only one small hole in the wall where she missed the stud, but that's okay cuz that's also how you learn.

[marie]

I grew up with a Dad who had a garage pit..the kind where you rolled your car over and fixed the chassis yourself.
I was in a constant state of awe of my father and would watch him wield all the necessary tools to fix and build. He even designed and built his own wood sander.
Then along came DH who had a dad who was a carpenter, fisherman and handy with tools. DH inherited the gene.
Now, I have memories of DH and his Dad fixing a car and DH and his sweaty t-shirt..man that was a turn-on.
Things are more antiseptic now. Less muscle is needed to fix things.
In the early nineties when the Gulf War started my DH laid our ceramic tile floor and his legs nearly gave out.
Now, we roam the Home Depot aisles and covet all the great innovations.

[Peach Blossom]

Oh tools...I love them. In my junior and senior years of high school I started collecting tools for a tool box I was given. I got the standard pink 'girl' tools. I also had a craft staple gun and a utility knife. When I packed for college, that tool box was a definite yes.

I was the only person in my dorm to have any type of tool. Everyone came to me to borrow a tool (even the guys). I used them all the time.

A few years down the road, I get tools for Christmas instead of girly things (now, don't get me wrong, I love those girly things like purses, jewelry, clothing, etc...but I love me some tools!) I saw a drill go on sale Thanksgiving day two years ago at Kmart, and made my Dad go and buy it for me for Christmas. That drill is awesome. It is a Craftsman 19.2 volt C3 drill/driver. I love it. Not to big, but still powerful enough to do what I want it to do. It also came with the flashlight that fits the battery. Last year, I got a second battery and charger to go with the set.

My Dad also got me a new sturdier staple gun along with a bunch of other tools. Now, I am looking for a new toolbox.

[Peach Blossom]

I forgot to say: every guy who has found out I have my own drill and know how to use it thinks it is pretty cool.

I am the youth leader at our church, and last week I was using my drill for something with the teenage boys in the group around me, and they just thought it was the coolest thing that I owned my own drill.

[Josh]

I "lost" all of my tools in my divorce. Oh, I stupidly live less than a block away, and she says I can use them, but whenever I have asked, she tells me in so many words to fuck off. ("Would you please go get my drill so I can put together all of the shitty new furniture I had to buy at IKEA because you wouldn't give me anything from the 14-room house you live in alone, even though your parents are moving in with their whole apartment of things?" "I'm too busy to look for it." "It's right on the workbench in the basement." "Stop arguing with me.") So, I've been gradually gathering new ones, but how much does an apartment dweller need? A power drill, with a battery rather than cord so that we can steal road signs that irk us ("This area is monitored by video cameras" Oh yeah? I lived within six blocks of there for 25 years. Fuck you.); and what else?

Re-reading this before posting, I am thinking that this might be a good time to take a break for lunch.

[Storyteller Mary]

When I retired, I gave my friend in an adjoining room my WD-40 and deicer and the scruffy old emergency umbrella, so she could take care of small emergencies. Gave away my pink step stool to another teacher, art supplies to another, posters to many -- gave away many other goodies . . . a Wopila in the words of storyteller Dovie Thomason.

[Nancy Pickard]

One of you asked me--but I can't find who now--the price of my little 12V B&D? It was $49.00 plus tax. I don't know, maybe I'll "get what I paid for," but the other ones I saw at other stores were so much more expensive, and for my little jobs? It just didn't make sense to me to pay $150 for a drill, for me, or even $80.

[Harley]

I have had a power drill for TWO YEARS NOW and the most exciting thing is, I've never had to recharge it. It's like magic. I use it everywhere. I've gone a little mad, in fact, and now have to have the handyman come and plug up the holes in the wall.

No one taught me anything except how to sew. All that boy stuff? Nope. WHich is why I live in a house with holes in the walls.

I shall name my next child "Nancy" . . .

[Deb]

Tools: do tweezers count? That's about the extent of it my tool supply! I am all thumbs when it comes to doing anything other than changing light bulbs, and I've had my "moments" with those, too. I'm not proud of it; I really do wish I could handle things around the house. Oh, I do have a hammer that someone gave me because she was shocked to find out that I have NO Tools ("what do you mean, you have NO Tools?")

I take after my dad, who could barely handle changing over to storm windows for the winter (I'm better at that than he was). I sure wish I were like my mom's father, who built a house in his spare time around the time I was born!

Oh, about Nancy: my dad's nickname (used mostly by family and people from the neighborhood where he grew up) was "Nanny". It's a LONG story, but basically his older brother could not pronounce my dad's real name, and Nanny was as close as he could get (it doesn't sound at all like Nanny, by the way), so that's what people called my dad. When I was about six years old, a neighbor and her son, who was my age, were at our house one afternoon, and the son asked me if it was true that my father's name was "Nancy"! I was SO insulted on behalf of my dad! How could anyone confuse "Nancy" with "Nanny"!

And, Nancy, congratulations to you!

[Nancy Pickard]

Harley, hahaha! I would say, "Oh, don't go that far," but I'm talking to a woman who already went wild with her power drill.

[Mo]

My grandfather was a carpenter and I was his shadow and "helper". I also grew up in a very old house and every year we would strip a room to bare studs and rebuild it and my Mom was right there next to my Dad cutting wood and banging nails. So I grew up using tools and loving them. I too wanted to take shop and like you Nancy I was forced to take Home Ec which was nowhere near as much fun as shop. When I moved into my own place my Dad gave me my first tool box full of hand tools many of which I still have 40 years later. I have a great little tool box at work too. People around me are always borrowing tools you wouldn't think you need in a white collar office but you do.

[Ramona]

You all are 100% correct about none of the males in my household wanting to touch my pink tool set.

Which makes me think that my next step should be to go into my wallet and dye everything in there a bright pink.

[gaylin in vancouver]

Yes, Nancy - I did make my own hammer. The year I was going into Grade 10 was the first year that school offered shop classes to girls. The wood shop class filled too fast for me to get into so I took metal shop. We made scoops for flour bins, those were easy, I sucked at welding and then we got to use the lathe to make the aluminum handles of the hammer. So cool! Also knurled on the handles on the lathe. Alas I got a B not an A because my handle was a bit off kilter when the head wasn't on. I still remember my shop number D04 . . .

I too was given a tool box for Christmas one year, a classic red Craftsman tool box, with tools. Does anyone else think duct tape is a tool? I certainly comes in handy. I have always wanted a socket set because I love that ratchet noise it makes but have no use for one . . .

[Dru]

I was lucky that I got to take wood shop in high school and thus began my love affair with tools. I have a drill set with many bits. I have a hand saw. I have a 5-drawer tool chest filled to capacity with all kinds of tools such as screw drivers, measuring tape, allen wrench, monkey wrench, pliers, to name a few.

[Becky Hutchison]

I too had to take home ec instead of shop, and all it taught me was how bad a homemaker I'd become. My father would hang pictures, change knobs and other little things like that, but anything bigger and he'd have a carpenter to handle the job.

When I was single, I learned to fix a toilet, hang pictures, and do whatever smaller projects needed to be done. I owned a screwdriver, hammer and wrench...all I needed at the time. My husband learned from his father how to build and fix all kinds of things, and one summer DH worked on a building site. So he's the handyman around our house.

Both of our children have worked with DH around the house and on Habitat for Humanity projects, and we sent both of them to college with a toolkit. It was on the list for dorm supplies, along with blankets, towels and other necessary items.

Annapolis has a family-owned and run hardware store downtown at City Dock. Stevens is in an old building with wood floors and a gazillion items to discover. As far as I know, it's still going strong.

Paulina, funny comment about falling asleep in hardware stores!

[Margaret Maron]

I've always heard that the best place to pick up a guy is in the tool section of a hardware store on a Friday or Saturday night. The reasoning is that the guy was probably unattached if there on a date night and a good catch because he could and did fix stuff. True or false? I have no idea, but it does sound logical.

[gaylin in vancouver]

I have a great little Home Hardware store a block from where I live. Yes, I said, a little Home Hardware store. It has been there for over 60 years and is getting squeezed by higher rent rates and trendy, yuppie stores. It is constantly busy and I am sure the whole neighbourhood hopes it manages to stay open. The next closest hardware store would require a bus trip or driving. You can go in there and get anything from electrical, plumbing or get a key cut. The store has the original wide plank wooden floors. I may go there today!

[Karen in OH]

There is a tiny, locally owned hardware store not far from our house. The previous owner was great, and could find anything for you, give advice about anything you needed to do, and he would give you as much time and help as you needed.

Then he sold it to this guy who follows customers around so they don't pinch anything, presumably. And he just does not have the same helpful and savvy demeanor. But what really sent me to the much farther away chain stores was his extremely crude sign of Obama wearing Muslim garb, an ammo belt, and holding a machine gun. The day after the election he put up huge signs about how he was now selling guns, and sponsoring concealed carry courses.

[Harley]

Ramona, you really are a genius.

[Shannon Baker]

I was a drill virgin when I divorced and moved on my own. The first thing I did when I got my drill was put up garage shelves... poorly. I left blood on that garage wall. Soon after meeting my partner, he took down those shelves and put them up right. I don't love my drill, but I love my partner. And man, does he look cute in a tool belt!

[Diana in STL]

I, too, am a hardware store junkie. My father built all the houses we lived in while I was growing up. I still have the red & white striped carpenter's apron my mom made me when I was 5 along with the real hammer and saw my dad gave me. I was in HS when we built the last house so I did all kinds of things. I was the baby with the others long gone so I was Dad's helper. My love of woodworking comes from those days. Needless to say I have many hand tools and power tools ranging from a simple drill to a table saw and router. I also have my dad's chisels and hand cranked auger (drill). I have his big red level that I still can't bear to part with even though the bubble lines are too faded to use.

My dad had all kinds of tools but my mom also had a box in the kitchen that had all the hand tools you might need. Her tools stayed in the kitchen.

When I was teaching I kept lots of tools at school. In fact the building custodians would stop by my room and borrow tools instead of going to the maintenance building. When I retired I asked them what they were going to do without me and my tool box.

Since our big Walk to Defeat ALS was last weekend (all my volunteers showed up on time and worked so hard Amen!)I'm ready to relax by building a 3 drawer TV/storage cabinet.

Nothing beats a real old fashioned hardware store where people actually know what they are talking about. I try to patronize our local store (unless the price difference is huge) instead of the big box stores.

[Nancy Pickard]

Marcia, I want to be sure to answer you about whether it's worth it to drive from where you are to Leavenworth to the hardware store. I'd say not unless you are in the neighborhood anyway. It's a wonderful place, but small, even with several rooms, and the merchandise is a little sparse on the shelves, so I think times are hard with all the competition from the Big Guys. For somebody from around here, yes. From farther away? Honestly, maybe not.

[Nancy Pickard]

Deb, omg, your dad must have the world's greatest inner strength, lol. Nanny! It would even worse if he were growing up now, because of the phrase borrowed from the Brits, "Oh, don't be such a Nancy-Boy." I heard my son and his friends use that one time and I said to them, "You do realize all of your moms are named Nancy, right?" They all looked stunned and then they burst out laughing.

[Nancy Pickard]

Ramona, lol. Go wild with that pink paint, girl.

Mo, this whole thread makes me think we should all carry around our toolboxes everywhere we go. Surely, it would be a happier world. :) Or at least one in better repair.

Mary, when a person gives away her WD-40, she means business!

Josh, I tiptoe in carefully to say with obnoxious brightness: "But look what fun it is to have brand new tools!" Actually, it probably isn't. You'd like to have the ones that feel comfortable (and are already PAID for.)

Peach: boys are so easy. :)

DebraSue, what a great idea to use the colored wrapping tape. Lucky girls.

Diane, yes!

Karen, yes!

Brunonia, you got to keep the best one.

Judy, thank you for the welcome!

[Nancy Lauzon]

I know, seriously, there are no more Nancys. It's such a 50's/60's name, along with Susan, Donna, Barbara and Jean. In keeping with that, tools were never a part of my life. They were strange objects in my father's garage. Now they're strange objects in my husband's garage.

[Danielle, Quebec]

I'm surprised that your B&D is red. In Quebec,they all are yellow.
I only have manual tools. When needing electrical ones, I ask my daughter who knows very well how to use them.
Working for a building supply and hardware retailer, I can vouch it is not the best place to meet someone
intersting.

[Storyteller Mary]

Nancy, not that saintly by far -- I gave away my school WD-40. I had plenty more at home ;-)
Actually, our need for emergency WD-40 went way down when the school got a new maintenance person, who quickly tore through a stack of work orders that had been piling up, including many things that were "impossible to fix, you'll just have to live with it."

[Heather Mellott]

Great blog! I was laughing from the get-go. Being a resident of Heavenworth myself, I am a huge fan of Gronis Hardware! So glad you discovered it for yourself.

[Nancy Pickard]

Heather from Heavenworth? lol! We're practically neighbors.

p.s. I hope the river does you no harm. It looks really, um, scary, the other day.

[Heather Mellott]

Lol...Heavenworth the name I give to our town when my new military clients show up every year and look around like "where the heck are we?" Puts a smile on their faces. :) Luckily, I live off of twentieth street in Leavenworth, on probably the biggest hill in town, so im safe personally. I sure hope our local businesses fair well though.

[Kim]

I've learned to do many of those things on my own, mostly from putting together Ikea-type furniture. So now I'm the go-to girl for anyone wanting something put together.

Also, the "I Hate To Cook Book" is my favorite cookbook ever. I often re-read it just because Peg Bracken is hilarious. The copy I have is so old the pages have yellowed and then browned, but I still adore it.

[KD Easley]

I was always a tool girl. Always out with my dad working on cars or taking things apart. It must be genetic. My mom gave me a tool box full of tools for my wedding shower and I did the same for my daughter-in-law. No woman should have to wait for the man to come home to hang a picture or make small household repairs. They should however let them take out the trash.

[Sharon Duff]

I grew up playing with my father's toolbox; married a man who can do anything and expects me to help. We have designed and built five homes. I have a hrad time identiying with your search since I have always had tools around. However, I love the Peg Brackins "I Hate To Cook" Cookbook! I have search out of print sources for copies to replace mine every time I give it away to someone who REALLY likes something I have cooked from it.

[Marcia Talley]

I laughed out loud at the cover of the I Hate To Cook Book! Love the recipe, and Peg Bracken is a hoot! Love the chapter called, "Leftovers, or Every Family Should Have a Dog."

I'm a hardware (and stationery!) store junkie. Always finding things there that will organize my life. Ha ha ha.