Steve Fernlund and The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home  Despite the recent winter storms, spring is coming. We looked forward to spring at the Home Center--with some uneasiness, but with the certainty that we would soon have stories to tell. Spring means the return of snowbirds and seasonal property owners. And that means they’ll need to be doing home improvements and repairs. So guess what, they come to the hardware store and leave us laughing--at ourselves most of the time. Last spring a woman came in looking to get a longer toilet connection--one of those flexible, braided pieces of plumbing to get water to the toilet. In her case, it was for a bidet. So who does this poor woman get stuck with to help with plumbing? Me. We made our way back to the plumbing area and soon found the length of connector she wanted. I thought I’d solved a plumbing problem and was pretty happy with myself. The fittings on the connectors come in only a couple of sizes, most commonly ⅜” or ½”. Strange that the shorter piece she brought in ...