Looks as if everyone took the weekend off, but I cannot blame you for that, it was so beautiful out the last two days, at least on the Kenai Peninsula. Even took my morning coffee on the deck this morning, first time I have been able to do that in a long time without having to bundle up in my snow suit, gloves, and earmuff hat. It was very pleasant sitting there early this morning, the quietness with the eagles soaring overhead. Cannot wait for another seven hours to pass so I can do it all over again.
We did make a trip up to Kenai today to select the stain for the house painting project and pick up the finishing touches for the "multi-purpose" building. A fantasy that I have had since I watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour came true today. I have been chuckling ever since. Prior to the shopping spree at Home Depot, the little lady wanted to do some shopping at Freddies, which was o.k. with me because they are the only store in Alaska that sells my favorite licorice. She headed one way and I headed to the candy isle, I am not a shopper. I get what I want and out the door. This was especially true today, I figured that if I beat her to the truck, I could consume at least a half bag of licorice before she caught me eating all that sugar and other bad things that are reportedly contained in my favorite candy. By the time I found the candy isle in the newly remodeled store, my leg was hurting so I decided to pick up something to relieve the pain, after going down several isles and not finding anything that looked like it may relieve the pain, I decided it must be at the pharmacy at the front of the store. Although I did find the Midal, but I think that was for a different kind of cramping. So, off I go to the check out stand with my three bags of candy. People are lined up at all three of the ten check out counters. Why they have ten counters and only have three open, I am not sure. I qualified for the "express lane" although it had more people in it than the other counters, I figured it would go faster. Wrong concept, again! After standing in line, very slowly moving through the "express" lane, my leg is throbbing and I can tell the lady in front of me is getting very agitated at the pace the line is moving. I comment, "this adds an entire new concept to express lane", she acknowledge my assessment and remark back it was the express lane but had the slowest checker the store could find. When I finally got to the check out counter, I discovered why. On the lapel of the smock the clerk was wearing was a big name tag, "Hi, My Name is Sue and I Am In Training". I had discovered the answer to my question! Cashing out, I headed to the pharmacy, it is difficult to savor good licorice when you are in pain. The choice of pain relievers was great, you could choose from Advil Capsule or Advil Tablets. Nothing else that resembled a pain reliever. I decided to take the Advil, especially since it was on sale. I was the only customer in the pharmacy and two ladies were working behind the counter. One lady was a few steps from behind the counter, busily emptying bottles of pills into a trash can, the second lady was working on the counter with something else. The lady working with the pills saw me, I was standing there at the counter with a box of Advil in one hand and a $10.00 bill in my other hand. She very politely told me that the other lady would help me in just a minute. Which she did, she was a very attractive lady, in her mid 40's, very neat hair and showing a lot of cleavage which appeared nicely tanned from my vantage point. If you are wondering, her eyes were brown so I was not staring! She looked at me and with a very pleasant voice said, "you going to buy that", my reply back was so fast that it even surprised me, I said "no, I am going to steal it, I just wanted you to know". The lady dumping pills burst out laughing. The lady waiting on me just looked at me funny as I handed her my $10.00 bill. I was still smirking, so I had to ask her if she had ever watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour or heard the jokes about "here is your sign", she had not so I decided not to spoil the moment explaining it to her. It made my day, at least until I got to the Starbuck Coffee Stand which was my 2nd mission of even going into the store. If you are ever in Soldotna, on a Sunday and wanting a cup of coffee, do not, I repeat do not go to Fred Meyers, the coffee stand is closed on Sunday!
As for the Home Depot, an entire new story, but I am now of the opinion that they are very similar to Comp USA in Anchorage, if you have a question, don't ask it because they do not know either. Whatever happened to the requirement when working in a business that you should possess "product knowledge"? My problem there was nails! You can go into any hardware store in the world, go over to the nail aisle, take a brown bag and fill it with as many pounds of nails that you want. I always like to buy them in odd numbers, like 3.25 pounds, that way the clerk has to think. But that option is not available at Home Depot. You can buy a box of nails weighing one pound, which is not many nails or you can buy a box weighing three pounds. That is your choice. The prices of the boxed nails is equivalent to buying six pounds of nails anywhere else that sells nails in the bulk. So, I am standing their amazed at their small selection of nails and high prices, then I spy a little orange smock. I approach him and asked if they sell nails in the bulk. His reply, "yes sir we do have them in 25 pound boxes but I will need to see your contractors license". I was wanting to buy a dozen different sizes of nails to replenish my supply, but not 300 pounds of them in 25 pound boxes. I won't live that long to use them up.
I meet up with Terry in the paint department, she is so much more patient than I. She has the stain that she wants and the clerk is just starting to wait on her. I leave to go find some Thompson Weather Proofing for my project, not finding it after traveling through several isles, I return to the counter where your mother is still being waited on as they have to mix the stain? I ask him, if they carry the Thompson product and he replied that they did not but had an equivalent brand that was even better. He pointed me in the right direction. As I turned to leave, a gentleman was standing behind me with a can of Thompson Weather Proofing in his hand. He was very helpful and took me to the isle where it was located and he did not even have an orange smock. Now you see, why I do not shop! Internet shopping is looking even more appealing!