And I'm 60. I figure his lumberyard and hardware holds down a corner of my fragile neighborhood. I can bike or even walk to it for the supplies for projects that I also can walk to. And he employs people I know that live in this area. He buys lots of his material from local mills. Their store is in an old house and the yard and sheds are just old barns.

They'll bring me anything, anytime. Straight lumber and even nails by the pound at a price that preserves this business and my neighborhood.

HD and Lowes are less than 10 miles away. Lovely big metal box stores, acres of them, planted in a sea of asphalt just outside a struggling downtown. I can save a buck buying their twisted sticks imported from China.

Hmm....what a tough choice.