Hardware

  As a person that likes to do it myself, I find myself looking for parts quite often. Much like my dad I will work on, fix or repair just about anything with the exception of electronics. The world of transistors and resistors are still much of a mystery to me. Oh, I have a very basic understanding of their functions and somewhat understand circuits but know just enough to know this, leave it to someone else. While I was visiting my son his mower needed some repair. That should be easy enough. Well, we needed a simple nut and bolt that fastens the blade to the spindle. Turns out getting that particular nut and bolt isn't so simple to obtain after all. So far, all the places I have tried are reporting that piece out of stock. Needless to say, I'm a bit upset.

 Here's the thing. That mower was manufactured in 2007 and so it's a new mower in my thinking. My car is a 2004 and I think of that as a newer model as well. But things change quickly these days and are considered obsolete. Yes, I've had that phrase pop up more than once in my searches. Then I've come to realize that in some cases the best place to look for my parts is at an antiques auction! Those items are old enough to be considered "just old junk" and can be found in that area. I've heard it said for a long time now, we are a throw away society and that is becoming increasingly evident to me. Build it fast, build it cheap, and make it irreparable to the consumer. That sure seems to be the business model these days. I can't say I wasn't told about that, heard the same thing from my dad.

 Much of the stuff we have today will be of no use in the future whatsoever. That will be true even if that product is still new in the box. I have an older computer that I haven't used in a while. I plugged it in turned it on only to be met with this message, your system is out of date, download the latest updates. Thing was, the system on that computer is Windows 7, obsolete and no support is provided. Had a cell phone that wouldn't work because I now use a 5G network. Heard they are building a 10G network now. Yes, it is almost always a matter of the software and not the hardware that is the issue. I grew up in a hardware world. 

 I do miss the day of the local hardware store. Every town had one and it was packed to the gills with everything you could want. Hardware was everywhere and no software to be seen. Need a nut and bolt, no problem. Yes, you could get all your needs at the hardware store along with some good advice, good conversation and sometimes a helping hand. The shop keeper knew where everything was and was always there to help you out. Now the selection wasn't as great as these giant chain stores, but they would have would you needed to get the job done. And lumber, you bought that at the lumber yard. 

 The hardware store here in Greensboro closed some twenty years ago, a victim of Lowes and Home Depot I suspect. I did enjoy going there talking with Mr. Butler and sharing a few laughs. I remember painting my house and buying some paint from that store while it was on sale. I used what I had and had underestimated how much I needed. The sale was over, but Mr. Butler sold me two more gallons at the sale price anyway. Lowes doesn't do that. Yeah, I miss that store. The drug store took over that building and it remains as a small-town drug store. I like going there for my cards, some root beer barrel candies and shopping a little bit. I occasionally have a prescription filled there as well. It still has that old time feeling, it's comfortable. 

 I've reached that age where I am hard wired. Updates are difficult to install. Some may call that set in my ways, but I don't see it that way. I've been around for seventy years and still have most of my original parts. Yes a few have been repaired but are still serviceable. That's more than can be said for a great deal of this "modern" stuff that gets outdated and obsolete in a few years. Yup I like hardware and software is just a temporary thing. Software becomes useless and you can't even see it! I mean it isn't anything interesting to look at. Plenty of very old hardware will still function, do the job it was intended to do, and if nothing else, is cool to look at.