Anything's possible, right?
That's why I don't know if I can ever go back to Home Depot. And all because I tried to save money. Suitably confused? Fine. Here's the true-life tale of woe.
There are some stones only partially buried in my lawn that chip away at the blades of my lawnmower. I cannot afford a new lawnmower, and it will be tough even to shell out the bucks needed to have the blades professionally sharpened. Of course, I could always just avoid those stones when I mow, but I'm usually half asleep and forget. I may even have mowed the entire lawn once while dreaming of the day when I can hire someone else to do it. Anything's possible.
Anyway, I decided to try to remove the rocks instead of attempting to remember to avoid them. I grabbed a large shovel, a small shovel, and a hoe, and went to work on the first of several stones. It wasn't easy. At one point I was trying to loosen up a hard mixture of grass, rocks, clay and dirt that was surrounding the stone, and was doing it with such force that the wooden handle of the hoe broke in two right in my hands. I knew that my wife, who loves to garden and does a lot of it, would not be happy. But I couldn't hide it from her, either. After all, he might have wanted to garden moments later. So I told her about it. She asked me to please go to Home Depot to pick up a new one (just for her), but to her credit and my relief she added that it didn't have to be an expensive one. She knew as well as I that our dollars must be watched, and since she uses garden tools with much less violent force than I, she knew she wouldn't ever break it, regardless of how little it cost.
So I drove to the store, walked in, and approached the nice lady who greets customers. I was sweaty, dirty, and had a crabby look of misery on my face. "Can I help you?" she asked. "I'm looking for a cheap hoe," I said. My first thought was that I'd never be allowed back into the store. My second was that she'd actually find one for me. Anything's possible.
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