The cabinets are now painted white. Primer in the morning, semi gloss in the afternoon. WTF??? The 4″ roller is a one use deal? With wet paint in the pan a-waiting, I somehow pulled off the well attached roller, smashed off some plastic and metal something or other keeping me from taking it apart and I’m painting. The thing is, the new roller didn’t roll. It was like I had a 4 inch brush. It worked OK to me!

I rowed in college. Port side as a freshman, and then starboard after an early-season injury sophomore year. It was a low budget program, meaning we had dated equipment, plenty of out of pocket expenses and not enough people. Basically, plenty of adversity.

All four years of my time there were during a severe drought. When I started, the walk to the lake was a hundred yards or so. Normally 20 feet. Beginning my sophomore year, the commute from the boathouse to the dock was so long that we didn’t have time for all eight people to carry the boat and then go back and get oars, so six people carried the shell and two the oars. Ultimately, the walk was over a quarter-mile before and after practice, and in the winter we needed flashlights. We told ourselves the adversity made us stronger, though, as with the non-rolling roller, the facts did not support the statement.

I also took a drive to the famous Harbor Freight hardware store, recommended by the four wheeling dude working at the Reuse Store in West Chicago. I had asked if the place also sold tow chain, as the bus getting stuck in the mud incident has been on my mind since. The guy helping me went and found a coworker who apparently is a 4×4 enthusiast and we got to talking.

Perhaps enthusiast isn’t a strong enough word, for as I explained what had happened and asked for his opinion on how I could be better prepared, his eyes lit up and grew wide. Then, like a bulleted presentation being read by an impassioned pastor, he started listing off things that could be used in that situation. I needed bailing wire, a packing blanket, a 4” tow strap, 2 VHS tapes cuz their strong, D rings, a come along, a high lift jack, a shovel (first thing on the list I actually DO carry) along with a trench shovel for digging under the car, a Badlands winch and I should seriously consider getting fore and aft winches. Also, if your tires are spinning, you need to put rocks under them. You should write that down. He was awesome!

After the half hour drive and at last inside the hallowed Harbor Freight, it was fascinating how just how small it was compared to the establishments I’ve been frequenting. To be blunt, the big warehouse stores are basically where you go if you want to shop on good old Randall Road. I would say it is a manageable size; I was able to slowly and partially randomly meander around whole place in an acceptable amount of time. Plus the bathroom wasn’t like a quarter-mile away and help was always close.

I’ve got to take at least a star away though because the checkout gal wouldn’t let me use another customer’s membership barcode which would have given me some money off. There’s some kind of annual fee or maybe it’s a one time thing and it was definitely a lot more than the discount. Another negative, maybe a half star off, is it’s so manageable in size that I couldn’t get away from the sounds of the obnoxious customer.

It is majorly raining. Can’t hear anything else.

It’s true! I picked up my first ax and pitchfork set. I chose an ax with a real hickory handle because its blade was sharper than the others. Is that how you choose?

These two guys are going to be used along the route when we have a sweat. From the sound of it, it’ll be pretty often; at many of the places were going, it is customary to ritually cleanse through a sweat first.

All gone rain.

I actually rode my bike today on the path along the river. It was nice to be out peddling plus all the other goodies which come with it.