Reed's other July Projects

A few other accomplishments this month:

Refurbished Grill

When we bought our house, the seller offered to sell us her gas grill and lawnmower. The mower has been great, but when we uncovered the grill this spring, it was effectively unusable, since the heating elements were completely rusted out. We debated about trying to replace parts or just buying a new grill, which seems like a reasonable option since the parts were looking to cost about $165. Percent internet searching, however, eventually uncovered an eBay seller (all signs point to South Korea), which shipped the parts to me at less than half that initial cost. Grill is now up and running.

Brush Clean-Up

I borrowed dad's pickup truck and spend a weekend hauling brush to the dump, which also helped me learn a bit more about how the dump works - a double win.

Cleaned Gutters

This was so unpleasant, time-consuming, semi-dangerous, and generally disgusting that it should have been an official project. At least for the moment, our gutters are clear of the complete ecosystem that had temporarily sprung up in them.

Checked Bathtub Leak

Joanna has had a legitimate concern that our sagging kitchen ceiling might collapse down upon us at any moment. I delayed CM’s departure after his visit in order to get his support opening up the access panel in the upstairs bathroom to do a bit of archaeological digging under the tub. We uncovered: 1) a burn-out light bulb sitting under the tub; 2) newspapers from 1986;  3) evidence that there was some sort of leak years ago (best guess: 1986); 4) confidence that the ceiling won’t be dropping down upon us anytime soon.

Front Floodlights 

It only took 8 months to figure out that the old lights were just burnt out. Somehow it required CM's wisdom to bring me to this realization. New bulbs and, voila, easy fix.