Nuts and Bolts

Since college boy is off to the Minnesota State Fair for a concert (you wouldn't know them if I told you), hubby and I decided to do something fun.

And by fun I mean finally installing the kayak carriers on top of the CRV. Nothing says fun like two people trying to assemble something with dozens of nuts and bolts – and both of them have their own idea of the right way to do it.

Now I'm not saying that his idea was better, but it just seemed to be more efficient. I'll give myself some credit for laying the groundwork with the installation of the car rack bar thingy on top a month ago. But figuring out the easy way to do these "J" stands was something else.

Naturally, after an hour or so of frustration and sweat, we get down the last set of nuts and bolts and the tread on the inside of the nut is stripped. We don't really keep spare parts around. I looked in the toolbox in the basement and the junk drawer in the kitchen to no avail. So I volunteered to go the hardware store. I felt somewhat responsible because, well, I contributed to the stress with my "strong belief" that I knew what I was doing. Some might call it "stubborn." I don't know. Either way I was trying to make up for it.

I decided to run into ACE Hardware since it might be a more manageable size to navigate compared to Home Depot. Plus, isn't ACE the place with the helpful hardware folks?

And they WERE helpful!

I quickly discovered when I walked in that even though it was a smaller store, it still had a ton of aisles of do-it-yourself stuff. True to form, a helpful young man offered assistance. Now this is where it gets fuzzy. Did I say, "I'm looking for your nuts." Or was it, "Where are your nuts?" I can't specifically recall, but it didn't come out sounding the best. Good thing I can play a dumb blond at the drop of a hat and giggle it off. He just showed me the aisle and quickly scampered off before I could ask another question.

I did find the right-sized nut but that brought on a whole new set of blond moments. There were little plastic bags that said to put down the quantity and price. Well I got the quantity part – one – but I couldn't find the price anywhere. Luckily there was another young man nearby. He was shopping but he was writing down a price on his own bag so I knew he was going to be one of those "helpful hardware folks" whether he wanted to be or not. After my "this is my first time doing this" spiel, I got my answer.

Thank goodness after all that, that when I got home, it was a perfect fit and we got the racks installed. We figured they might be a little tall for the garage, but hubby was able to back in with about an inch of clearance. Whew.

Too bad by the time we accomplished all that it was getting dark. Guess we'll have to go paddling another night.

Of course, we'll have to agree on how we want to securely tie on the kayaks. They did include several adjustable straps with the racks. Hopefully there is only one way to use them.