Nuckin Futs

My buddy called me this afternoon to see if I wanted to go for coffee. Whenever I am asked if I want to go for coffee, the answer is yes. Sometimes I have previous commitments, but those commitments don’t alter the fact that I want to go for coffee, I just can’t at this time.

Today I didn’t have any previous commitments so I told him sure, I can make it for coffee. I turned off the TV, grabbed my cell phone and wallet, and locked the house on the way out. I walked to the corner to the sound of Buster going ape shit back in the window. I don’t know if he is just saying that he is going to miss me or if he’s telling me to bring back an extra large double-double from Tim Horton’s. If it is the first choice, then he can just suck it up and if he wants a coffee, then he can give me the cash. I’m tired of carrying the little freeloader.

I generally will meet Ken at the corner because if he is driving the truck, it is easier for him to drive straight than to turn the white beast around. I’m sure he doesn’t care, but it’s one of those things I do that make people love me. As it turns out, he was driving the truck and I saved him the effort of turning around. Ken told me that he wanted to drive up to Airdrie to go to Home Hardware where he is hoping that they would have what he needed for his trailer.

 

The Rona had what he needed, but they only sold them in a six pack and all he really needs are two which you should be able to buy individually. We talked about how these big box stores rip you off by either charging too much (.37cents for a washer) or packaging items so that you have to buy far more than you need. In the smaller towns, like Airdrie, the hardware stores retain some of the charm that the big box stores have lost. The small stores even have people who are knowledgeable and can give you alternatives or options.

Airdrie is about fifteen to twenty minutes north of Calgary, and just as we were coming into town, Ken admitted that he wasn’t 100% sure where the Home Hardware was. Not 100% sure in Ken – talk means that he didn’t have a clue. The only thing we could do was to go to Tim Horton’s for a coffee and use the WIFI and Google maps to locate the Home hardware. The thing about the internet is that sometimes you get wrong information and other times you get out of date information, and sometimes (like today) you get both. In the end, Google was useless and we ended up following a FedEx truck until it stopped and asked him how to get to the Home Hardware.

 

It turns out that Home Hardware moved a while back. We went back to where we had been about ten minutes earlier and found that if we had just turned our heads to the left we would have seen the huge red and yellow sign that said HOME HARDWARE. We parked and went inside the store. The people were friendly and knowledgeable as we suspected, but they only had the Clevis pins in packs of six just like Rona. We thanked the knowledgeable, friendly people, but Ken was determined to find individual Clevis pins and I agreed with him. It is a matter of principal and the line had been drawn in the sand.

 

It didn’t matter that a pack of six was under $4, or that he had used at least half that in gas driving up to Airdrie. It didn’t matter that the whole world seemed to be against him, he is going to find individually priced Clevis pins, or just make do with a nut and bolt. That would have been my first choice, well that or a bent nail, but I do understand what happens when crazy enters into your head. Ken is going to text his son-in-law who lives in small town Saskatchewan to see if he can find individually sold Clevis pins. I’m pretty sure that Todd will just say no problem and buy the six pack, give Ken two and the next time Ken needs a Clevis pin Todd will give him another two.

It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one that’s nuckin futs in my circle of friends.