Saturday Karma or How many times do you goto Lowes in one day?

April 28, 2008

Posted in: Family, General

Tags: Alex, blade, craftsman, father, Hitachi, Impact, Jenni, Karma, law, lawnmower, Lowes, Luckily, oil, Pneumatic, Round, Saturday, screw gun, sod, Tool, trip

It’s Saturday again, and we all know what that means around my house - well what it means when the weather is nice.

It’s project time!

We started out knowing we needed to goto Lowes (trip 1) for some supplies. We got some fertilizer for the lawn, some paint brushes, various other little things. We also decided that since our ~7 year old craftsman screw gun has failed (I suspect the batteries) we better get a new - enter Karma (round 1).

There just happened to be a sign by the power tools that read something to the effect “Power Tool and Pneumatic combos 20% off”. My wife and I figured this would be great to help get us into a new one. So we grabbed one of these off the shelf. A WH12DAF2 12V Cordless Impact Driver. Which I thought was the right tool for the job.

So we went through the self check out and then noticed on our receipt that we didn’t get our 20% off. So we headed up to the front desk to get it. The lady had me go back to where I picked it up to talk to the manager. I explained to him the sign said power tools and pneumatic tools 20% off and showed him the sign. I then pointed to the device and said “Power Tool”.

He said “well, let’s get you the discount”. Though I sensed a disturbance in the force when he said it, but was happy to get the discount.

We got home and started unpacking and I was looking over my father in laws screw gun which just happened to be another Hitachi, but it was different. It was a 12v just like mine, but there was a difference. Let’s see if you see it right away.

Never mind the flashlight and other things there on the second image - just look at the guns. See that black part on the second image at the front, the chuck? Yeah I missed it too at a quick glance and brought home the first one. No chuck.

I almost decided I didn’t want to go back to return it because I figured I wouldn’t get the discount again. But I knew the one we got just would not work for us, so I went back to Lowes (trip 2).

I get there and guess who gets to help me, yep the same manager from before. Luckily I’m pretty well humored most of the time. I told him I was back because I wanted more discounts, and he explained how I had read the sign wrong and wouldn’t be getting any discount. It was “Power Tool and Pneumatic combos” meaning one kit, instead of how I read it meaning power tools or pneumatic combos. Honest enough, and there’s the Karma return (round 2).

So I went back and found what I wanted, and of course it was out of stock, it was the one pictured above and it was $79 bucks. So I had to get the bigger 14.4v kit for $99 - exactly what the other one cost with the discount (Karma round 3).

So back at home, we started working on the lawnmower. It needed an oil change and a blade sharpening. I hadn’t done on it before, last year Jenni took care of it. So I stepped up and started doing it. Super easy though.

Try to get all your gas out first, otherwise you’ll leak it every where. Tip the lawnmower up on one side, and you should see the drain plug. Unscrew it and then place a drain pan under it when you put it back down. There’s really not a lot of oil so it should go quick.

While I was trying to clean out some old dry grass around it, I checked the air filter. Something I don’t think it’s been changed in years (probably since new). It was pretty dirty!

I thought I’d just clean it out because I didn’t want to go back to Lowes (Karma round 4).

Now let’s bring in a few other key players, like my father in law who was helping us hang up our new gate doors. We got a door in place and realized since we rebuild them the bolts we had were too long. Yep, that means I’m heading back to Lowes (trip 3).

I take Alex with me and we get a bag of bolts, and luckily I remember the air filter on the lawnmower. So I pick one of those up. We get back and my father in law asks me if I got washer and nuts too (trip 4).

So I’m back at Lowes getting nuts and washers. That’s it, I’m not going back no matter what! Luckily, I didn’t have to. We got the gate doors hung and found a few issues there, but I’ll get that squared away this week with my new screw gun!

While we were hanging them, my wife and her sisters and mom transplanted some sod to cover some bad spots on our front lawn.

It’s about a foot wide in a backwards L starting in the bottom right corner in the picture - looks good huh? The sod came from the patch we’re digging up to put down a parking pad. Which brings me to the final part of the work.

While we were dumping out the dirt we dug up at my father in laws, I sharped the lawn mower blade (thought I forgot did ya?). Look at the sweet job I did!

Well that concludes this installment of Round The House Saturday Projects!

Posted in Family, General