I found the Barbie Vac when we were packing and I just tossed it into the moving pile. I’m not a big fan of cleaning the cleaning equipment – vacuuming the vacuum or washing the washer; that sort of thing. We have a use for it, so I cleaned it out (and ordered bags). I’m happy to have it back.
It is actually quite small. That’s almost life-sized. In the “nothing is ever easy” category, I washed it in the recycling container, which itself needed to be washed out. I intended to fill that at the as-yet-unused spigot on back of the house. Want to guess what’s wrong?
I have no idea what that nipple thing facing directly at the camera is, but it is leaking. I don’t care what “it saved a child’s life” building code requires a dumbass, prone to leaking nipple on a shutoff value. Whatever it is, there will not be one on the replacement. I am so looking forward to sweating pipe. I have found the blow-torch and solder. It’s against concrete, not wood, so it will not be that bad – assuming I can find the house water shutoff, which I should probably find, anyway.
On the deck front, we got a ludicrous estimate from Lowes. I haven’t posted the plans, but it’s not THAT elaborate. I realized that just because I am imagining my deck, I don’t need to imagine the accoutrements (thank you, spell check).
It has wheels because you’re not supposed to use it under anything, but neither are you supposed to leave it in the rain. Guess what? It’s going to deal with the rain, at least until the deck is instantiated; at which point I will revisit the “not under anything” precaution.
The left side is pellet based. Until I went grill shopping, I’d never even heard of a pellet grill. I am aware that wood pellet stoves exist for heating. Apparently, it’s the newest thing because they’re everywhere and 20lb bags of pellets in various hardwoods are equally easy to find. I seasoned it last night. It’s pretty neat. I guess I’ll be adding a “smoker” category to the cooking section. One pours them into the top (after lifting the lid). The unused supply dumps into that plastic bucket underneath when you shut it down and it burns off the ones left in the auger so they don’t get wet and clog it.
The right side is a typical gas grill. We got $40 off because the burner platform was bent. It’s really a design flaw: It makes the only convenient a handle for rolling it around. Used the anvil on the vise to pound it flat and put some washers over the weak spot. It should be fine. The risk is worth not having to assemble it. I did leak-check all the gas fittings, just in case (they were all fine).
Garage Update: Finished the black trim and The Laird cleaned the grease spot. Tomorrow’s plan is the last coat of white, installing the work bench light, and buying the floor paint.
Time to shower before going out dancing.
Marked Up 