The Powder Room

Sometimes when faced with a challenging project; there are challenges.

Be sure to follow this blog for more home repair advice.....

 

 

Grilling

Last year the hot tub was disconnected and went away.  This year I determined that the concrete slab were it had previously been associated would best be repurposed as a patio and grilling platform.  Its placement on the north side of the screen porch with a commanding view of the late afternoon sun, cocktail ambiance and easy access to the house thru one door made it a suitable location for grilling. The problem was that all of my grilling accoutrements were stored in the garage.  Charcoal, utensils, lighter chimney, side board and more were all stored on a couple of shelves with the automobiles and were not particularly accessible for ease of access, hosting a party and efficient grilling.  What was the solution?  A deck box.  On sale at Fleet Farm. A Suncast 72 gal Wicker Deck Box. 

Apparently these plastic boxes are kept on a deck for storing chair and lounge cushions and other items useful for entertaining on a deck.  They're not load-bearing so you cannot pick them-up and move them when filled with heavy contents.  Nevertheless, I figured I perfect for storing all of my grilling apparatus and more.  It was basically critter-proof, weather resistant and could live outdoors within arms-length of any of the grills.

After using it for a month and all of the stuff it held (and more) my repurposing idea took hold and was reinforced.  The deck box made grilling much easier. 

Nevertheless, I began to think ahead to winter.  With the arrival of snow grilling does not take a vacation.  The deeper the snows the tougher the going.  And when the going gets tough - the tough get grilling. I figured if I could get that deck box above the surface of the concrete it could ride-out the snows.  If Jill and I moved it to the shelter of the covered porch during the worst of times - better yet.  Furthermore, raising it a foot and a half saved some bending and stooping.  The solution would be sublime.

So, the other day I fished-around in the scrap lumber stored in the barn for materials. 

Leftover deer stand parts are perfect.  Fetching power tools from the workshop, tape measure, square, pencil and assorted deck screws I pieced-together a stand for the deck box. 

Admittedly, it is over-engineered but what else is new around here.  Robust is best.  I figure it will outlast the cheap plastic deck box and can easily be surfaced as a table for a Smokey Joe grill.  Waste not = want not.

It holds everything I need with plenty of room for more. 

That evening I grilled baby reds and a whole chicken on the throne.

click on images to enlarge

Everything was convenient and worked smoothly. 

It was sublime.....

Pony Express

Not really.  The mail will come by means of vehicle driven by a rural mail carrier for roadside delivery.  The Post Office Box in town will be abandoned after the lease is up this summer. 

With the advent of retirement and permanent, year-round living here at The Platz we now sport this handsome-looking mail box on the north side of the road and at the end of the driveway.   We up-sized so that it can handle small packages.  It's going to be interesting wrangling the forwarding of mail from the former address in the Naked City and the PO Box to this address.  But that can be figured-out later.

Anyway, mail boxes in rural America have a limited life expectancy - with most of them suffering a violent death at the hands of the county plow.  

Don't take my word for this - just drive around and you will find all sorts of mail boxes held-together with bailing wire, splints or elaborately constructed of almost indestructible (and very expensive) hinged, steel posts and arms that can stand-up against the wrath of the snowplow. 

For these reasons that this installation (and possibly first iteration) went to the lowest bidder.  The most expensive item happens to the be the box itself.

The post was crafted from a 4 by 4 length of cedar.

click on images for a closer look

I added some long lag bolts to the post to serve as rebar.

The bucket was free - I fetched it from the ditch a couple of years ago .

And I mixed-up 120 pounds of QUIKRETE^® concrete mix to fill the bucket to over-flowing.

There's buried power lines and phone lines underneath this location so there's no way this hombre was going to dig a hole.  Moreover, my hypothesis is that there's enough ballast in the five gallon pail to prevent the contraption from tipping-over in a gale.  And theoretically, if the county plow comes barreling down the highway at 70 miles an hour kicking-up a wall of flying snow - at worst the box and post will simply fall-over.  And it would be a small matter to lift it upright as it's not attached to the ground.  That's the theory anyway. 

Stay tuned.....

Deer Stand Soliloquy

If a deer stand falls in the woods and there is nobody there to hear it does it make any sound?  Ponder that.

 click image to enlarge

My ancestral deer stand.

I killed my first deer from this stand.  First bow kill was from this stand.  And many more deer died at the hands of this hunter and others from this stand.

The original version was already located here when we purchased the property in 1994.  It was rebuilt several times but with the growth of the surrounding forest it was no longer optimal for hunting.  You cannot easily relocate something attached to a tree.  Abandoned, it fell into disuse and has rapidly deteriorated.

It's a safety hazard, an eyesore and it really needs to come down.  Some of the treated lumber can be repurposed and the ladder can be utilized somewhere else.

The Meat Pole

It was last year during the gun hunts that a crisis emerged.

We had killed so many deer that we were running out of places to hang them.  I'm not making this up.  They were hanging in the shed and from a couple of apple trees in the yard.  

Don't believe me?  Check out this ghastly image...

click on images to enlarge

See?  I told you so.  What a sight.  And right in the yard no less.  Dead deer hanging everywhere.


Long story short, when you're out in a deer stand with your thoughts a couple of us spend a great number of hours brainstorming  a more efficient way of hanging the deer.  Maybe a permanent fixture or something that rolled around on wheels.  We settled upon a contraption that could be assembled and disassembled seasonally - and stored in the barn when hot in use.

A proper meat pole!

One of my pals - New Guy - sketched some plans for this complete with a list of materials.  The implementation part of the plan was to acquire the materials and build the pole sometime in the summer so it would be ready and handy for deer hanging by the time deer season rolled-around.

Since November I have misplaced the plans twice.  Therefore I'm posting them here in case they are misplaced again or worse case - permanently lost.  

Unless the entire world wide web goes down I think the plans are safe here.  

 click to enlarge

Driveway Upgrade

Having battled years of gravel being tracked into the house, or gravel being pushed by the plow into the yard and dogs scratching their backs by rolling in the gravel - especially wet gravel - The Frau and I decided to have the driveway paved.

In asphalt.

Sure, it will be hot in the summer - but the snow won't stand a chance in the winter.  Moreover no more grit and dust blowing into the house when the windows are open and no more stone getting tracked all over the place.

Here's what it looked like before the project began.

Making sure the base is prepped and the grade is correct.

All ready for paving when the conditions are right.

Newly paved road out front will be connected with a newly paved driveway.

I should go purchase a skateboard.