Friday, May 22, 2009

Cleaned out the garage

Last Thursday, our friend Erin came out to babysit Jake for us. This allowed me some time for myself. I made the best of the rare opportunity of free time sans baby and took the first step towards the completion of my garage mahal/man cave - I cleaned everything up. There wasn't too much in there per se, but it was becoming a black hole of disorganization. Things were being set down wherever, tools and other stuff were taken out and never put back etc., etc. The whole thing was starting to become a mess so I made sure that it didn't get away from me.

I basically moved everything out into the driveway, swept all the old leaves and dirt up, then shot some water down along with some cleaner/degreaser. I scrubbed with a stiff broom and pushed it all down the driveway. Once dry, everything made it's way back inside in an orderly fashion.

It's nowhere near any sort of completion at this time. The plan for now is that whoever does eventually re-wire our house, the panel will likely go in the garage. I will have it wired up at that time as well so it doesn't make sense to do too much right now before the wiring goes in. It is giving me something to look forward to though.

Currently, I am debating on whether or not to coat the floor. The images of these products make everything look so clean and sanitary but there's a certain charm to a rough concrete floor. One of the previous owners actually cared enough to put down what looks like some sort of rubberized coating, but it's chipped up pretty bad. There's also a slight downward slope towards the back of the garage which would surely end up in large cracks in the coating. Plus there's many long and large cracks to be filled before anything gets put on top of it. I'm thinking I'd rather be wrenching on the Dart rather than sanding a concrete floor. Floor coatings are also pretty expensive. I suppose as long as the rough floor is relatively clean it should be livable. I have a vision of the ultimate garage and it definitely includes an epoxy-coated floor. We'll see!





Thursday, May 7, 2009

All up in your grill

We've purchased a new grill here at 31 Sherman, a Weber Spirit 3 burner. It's killer. Cooks evenly and is a breeze to use. Nice construction and simple controls. Amy also got us some grill tools - a fish/vegetable basket, scraper and a cover to keep it dry. Hopefully it will last a good long time.

My birthday was Saturday May, 2. We had some friends over for a low-key affair. Spag and Myk helped me put the grill together. Well, Myk ended up doing most of it. Took a little under an hour. The kids played in the box afterwords.

Pics below.

Removing parts from box. Master builder Myk on your right, back to camera.













Proud Papa


















Birthday crew, first backyard BBQ at 31 Sherman.













Spag needs a timeout