Spring Cleaning, Chainsaws, and the Wisdom of Steve D’Angelo

North Sea Hardware Store Located at 1411 N Sea Rd, Southampton, NY 11968

Spring has arrived, which means I’ve spent the entire winter glaring at my yard, silently cursing myself for not raking it. On the other hand, my wife has spent the entire winter out loud cursing me for the Everest-sized piles of leaves accumulating around our property. With the warm weather rolling in, my usual excuse of “It’s too cold to rake” had officially expired. So, last Saturday, I bravely ventured into the leafy abyss that every homeowner in North Sea knows and fears.

Armed with nothing but a rake and low expectations, I started the battle. But just as I was getting into the rhythm of pretending to be productive, my wife hit me with a new order: “Those boxwood bushes look terrible. Cut them down.” Now, normally, yard work isn’t my thing, but cutting something down? That meant one thing—chainsaw time.

“I have to go to North Sea Hardware and talk to Steve,” I declared, already halfway to my truck, five minutes into my so-called raking session.

Now, if you’ve ever been to North Sea Hardware, you know that Steve D’Angelo is basically the all-knowing, all-seeing guru of home improvement. He’s always there, and whenever he spots me walking in, I can practically hear the thoughts running through his head: “Oh no, not this guy again.” But despite that, he always greets me with a smile, fixes whatever tool I’ve managed to mess up, and—more often than not—manages to sell me something I didn’t even know I needed.

This time, it was a giant tarp and a life-changing lesson in leaf removal known as “The Tarp Method.” (Pro tip: Rake the leaves onto a tarp, drag them away like some kind of yardwork genius, and save yourself hours of misery.) With my newly tuned-up chainsaw and a newfound appreciation for tarps, I spent the day cutting, raking, and hauling, making multiple dump runs. Landscaping is hard. I now have immense respect for landscapers—this job is no joke.

Of course, I also made at least three more trips back to North Sea Hardware because every time I thought I had everything I needed, I somehow didn’t. But good old Steve was always there—whether I needed chainsaw wisdom, a tarp, a Red Bull (because yard work is exhausting), or even a hat to block out the sun. The man knows everything there is to know about keeping a house in order, inside and out.

Without Steve and North Sea Hardware, I’d probably still be out there, bagging leaves until next winter. So, if you need anything—tools, supplies, moral support—North Sea Hardware is where it’s at.