So we’ve been renting a house for a bit over a year and a half. As a techie and an obsessive tinkerer, this means an excuse to start buying tools and other things in the name of “maintaining the house”.

How it all began

One such tool which we recently bought was an electric weed whacker. About two months ago, the weed whacker needed it’s wire spool replaced. In the interest of speed, I popped the plastic cover off of the spool, and removed the screw in the center of the spool (thinking it was necessary to get the spool off), all while standing in the grass.

Big Mistake

I set the plastic cover down in the grass, and put the screw right in the center of it as I replaced the spool. Meanwhile Q is running around and playing with everything in his sight and grasp. I should have been paying more attention to him, but I didn’t.

Really… Really BIG mistake

When I got the new spool in, I looked down to the grass beside me expecting to grab my screw and plastic cap and reassemble the weed whacker. But it was gone..

I yelled to Q and he came running, plastic cap in hand.

The next 30 minutes or so consisted of me interrogating the poor boy on the whereabouts of my screw, and then a futile search for it in the grass.

How I became a vandal

Which brings us to today. I was in Home Depot picking up some misc. stuff, and thought I’d try a last ditch effort to find a replacement for that screw. Since it isn’t a wear part, and you aren’t supposed to remove it when replacing the wire spool, they don’t sell a replacement.

Fortunately though, they DID have the exact model that I bought on display.

Do you see where this is going yet?

So here I am in a Home Depot with no available replacement for my screw, but a new weed whacker of the exact same model right in front of me. If only I could somehow see the screw I had lost and go over to hardware to find a replacement.

So it begins

So, I casually wander over the the tool department and grab a screwdriver. I then saunter back over to the garden center with my screwdriver in hand.

Watching over my shoulder, and setting Q as a lookout, I quickly remove the screw from the floor model. Next stop, hardware.

With my ill gotten screw in hand I head over to the hardware department. I identify the size and thread pitch of the screw, and grab a couple screws that match it.

Then it’s back to the garden center to return the screw I “borrowed”, and back to the tool corral to return my screwdriver.

Mission accomplished

I am now happy to report that I now have a fully operational weed whacker again, thanks to a quick covert operation in our local Home Depot!