Looking at Ventura County

(The following delightful little editorial appeared- recentlv -in "The Ventura Siar Free Press." It was vt'ritten by Joe Paul, Jr., County Editor of that paper. It is one of the most delightful boosts for thi local building maierial men that has ever come to the desk of "THE CALIFORNIA LUMBER MERCHANT," and deserves thoughtful reading.)

This is a column of commendation and praise for a group of men whose talents have long gone unheralded.

These are the men who man the counters of the lumber yards and hardware stores. To these men, f owe all of uly success as a backyard carpenter and kitchen handyman.

It is the understanding sympathy of these men when I come in to order something that has made it possible for me to shine in the eye of my wedded mate when it comes to being a tinkerer and fixer of household gadgets. It was with their guidance that I was able to lay the bricks for a garden terra,ce, to constru,ct a wishing well and paint the window screens.

It was their know-how being used second handedly that was responsible for the door stops, planing ofi the front door and building a fence around the front yard.

Thev directed, remotely, the installation of shutters, the building of a barbecue table and erection of clothesline poles.

I don't want to take all the credit for their achievements.

Without their advice, instruction and warnings, nothing could have been accomplished.

Not once did they snicker when I came to them with a cluestion and a puzzled look. All of my problems they took seriously and gave aid.

When I explained to the hardware clerk that I wanted some of those crooked little metal things that you drive in with a hammer to hold two pieces of wood side by side, he thought for a moment and went to the shelf and handed me a pa,ckage of the fasteners.

When I explained to the plumber that I wanted one of those things that goes on the bottom of that long shaft and fits in the hold where the water runs out, he knew just what I wanted.

The clerk at the lumber yard wasn't baffled for a minute when I said I wanted a paint brush that wouldn't lap over and paint the screen while I painted the frames' He gave me one with an angled bristle and, by gosh, it worked like a charm.

When I order nails about this long (indicated by holdir-rg up a thumb and forefinger) and enough to put together a projgct which is hastily described, he gets me the right size and the right amount.

At the mill, the lumbermen are equallv clever. Oh, it's rrot only that they can operate all that big machinerv; it's that they understand what it is I want.

I need so many boards, this thick, and about this long ancl so many this wide, I tell him. After he gets the project clear in his mind, he explains to me some of the things that might rvork better and suggests how he would do it and then produces the material. The amazing thing is that the projects usually come out even, only a minimum of pieces left over.

This garden terrace I was telling you about' My helpers get the ,credit for the right mix in the mortar' It will holcl long after the garden is petrified. But the irregularity of the structure, the easy, rolling curves of what was supposed to be a straight line, can be credited to my skill as a brick layer.

This undulating feature makes the terrace wall different, I always say.

When the garden hose broke and I asked my hardwa:e man for one of those things that looks like a metal spider and holds two pieces of hose together, he came up with it immediately. When I told him the hole in the hose was about the size of my pointing finger, he even selected the proper size.

After he showed me how to put the hose back together, I was able to manufacture one of the longest garden hoses in Ventura county from odd pieces that had been accumulating around the place.

I didn't listen, apparently, when the fellow told me how to hang a screen door because there is more space at the bottom than at the top. As a matter of fact, I had to rasp off the top after sawing off the bottom. Like the absent minded carpenter once said, "I sawed it off twice and it's still too short." But it works.

All in all, when I dig into a project with my full battery of advisers, I'm a demon of a household construction man. And I want them to share in the glory of these monumental achievements.

All that f am around the house. I owe to a host of well infolmed clerks.