summer 2012

If you need me over the next few weeks, you'll be able to find me sitting on my @$$ watching the Olympics.  I don't know why, but I just can't stop watching it.  I'll watch just about any of the sports, it doesn't really matter.

Last weekend, Karen and I made a quick beach trip....  in Indiana.  Yes, it was a great lake instead of the ocean, but it has a sandy beach, water as far as you can see and waves (not really tall, though) so I'm counting it as a beach trip.  On Saturday, we went to the Indiana Dunes State Park and the beach was packed, full of families enjoying a hot (90 degree+) summer day.  On Sunday, we went to the adjacent Indiana Dunes National Park.  We got to the National Park at about 9:00 am and beat a lot of the crowd.  We walked the beach, hiked up some of the dunes, and stood in the water.  Here are a couple photos from that trip:

The view from the top of one of the dunes, all the trees you see are growing in sand, which is pretty amazing considering the wind that comes off the lake.  The tall dunes were over 130+ feet above the water level.

Beach level view, with a steel mill's smoke stacks visible in the distance.  It looks just like the ocean!

Me enjoying the waves.

And, the CFO found a cupcake shop (her favorite), so we split a "Big Texas" chocolate cupcake with a chocolate cream in the middle, chocolate frosting with chocolate chips on top. 

Unfortunately, the big city to the north of us made some news this week when a council member targeted my favorite restaurant, Chick-fil-a.  Several people have brought up the topic to me and it is definitely getting me wound up a bit.  Everyone knows that company is, and always has been, a Chirstian, religious based company.  Hence the fact that they are closed on Sundays and many locations play Christian music inside the restaurant.  Based on the fact that we know it is a southern, faith based, privately owned company, are we really surprised that the owner said what he said?  I sure wasn't.  I'm pretty surprised that it is creating such a stir.

Do I agree with his opinion?  No.  I have many gay friends and I totally support them being able to get married, adopt kids, share benefits, etc.  What ever makes them happy.  While I do disagree with his position, I'm still going to eat there.  Why?  Because they sell a great product, they put a lot of their young employees through college with scholarships and they allow their employees to be off on Sunday for church and/or family time.  They could make a ton of money if they were open on Sundays (I, for one, always seemed to crave it the most on Sundays), but they are following their values and are sticking to them.  I am not sure when believing in your religion suddenly became such a negative thing and makes you a huge target. I don't think this is a good thing.

 If you disagree with him and feel like you need to make a statement, then don't eat there.  Go get a crappy chicken sandwich at McDonalds instead.
Do I think his statement is something that a city can use as a reason not to grant a business a permit? Absolutely not. It is totally, 100% anti-religious, against our right to free speech and it isn't the American way.  Allowing them to reject a permit based on this would be a huge step backwards and would open the door to other opinions becoming factors.  If they do reject a permit, I expect that it would get overturned in a court of law. 

Based on my personal experience on helping businesses get  building permits, I don't think the city of Chicago can keep them from getting a permit based on this.  It isn't like there is a series of check boxes on the application for your business's opinion on gay marriage, guns, the death penalty, ObamaCare, etc.  That would be ridiculous.  If someone can afford to, and wants to, open a business then the government shouldn't stop them.  If they get enough traffic, they will stay in business.  If they don't have a great product or piss off everyone, they won't make any money and will close down.  Welcome to the free market, the basis of what made the USA what it is today.

After all the bad press, I guarantee you that the council is wishing this issue would just disappear.  If they do reject the next permit for a Chick-fil-a, they will try to say it is because of "traffic" or some other Bull-$hit excuse, but we'll all know the real reason.  

Just Say No

Hello all, I hope this post finds you well. There wasn’t much going on in Blo-No this week, so I don’t have too much to report…. Since I spiraled down a hole of self-pity last week, I’ll try to spare you and stick to the facts this time. How about this crazy weather? It has been hotter and dryer up here than back home in Georgia. This is not the way this relocation was supposed to go. I was supposed to be able to look at the summer temps in Georgia  and laugh, being grateful for the moderate temps and nice breeze…


The high temps and lack of rain has all of the farmers concerned about their crops and, judging by my small planting of corn, I can see why. Some of my corn is less than 24” tall, but it is tasselling anyway. Who knows if we will get any ears out of this planting or not. Even the sweet corn that we’ve bought at the farmer’s market hasn’t been nearly as good as it was the previous two years. The rest of our veggies are still doing well and we’re continuing to harvest more than the two of us can consume. In fact, I just picked two zucchinis and a cucumber this morning while I was watering.

Last Saturday evening, we went to a country music concert at the Corn Crib (the baseball stadium) and had a good time. The area was hit by a big rain storm about an hour before the concert, but it blew through by the time we found a parking space and got ready to walk to our seats. The good news is that the storm cooled the temps down into the low 70’s, which was perfect for an outdoor show. Of course, that meant that the CFO was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt… I swear that there is something wrong with her internal thermostat!

The “people watching” at the concert was particularly entertaining, as we had seats on the isle that everyone with floor tickets had to walk down. I really wish that I had the nerve to take pictures of total strangers, this blog post would be WAY more entertaining for you if I did. The movie title, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” would definitely apply to what we saw. The Good: My wife (of course) and some of the college students/young professionals. The Bad: some crazy hairy biker dudes and Larry the Cable Guy look-a-likes. The Ugly: well, just keep reading…

I’m no fashionesta, but there were a few instances where I really wanted to stand up and exclaim, “Just because you can squeeze (vacuum pack?) yourself into it, doesn’t mean that you should wear it.” It is a known fact that Americans, on average, are getting fatter. Not that I’m calling any of you fat, I’m just saying on average our society is getting a bit plump. Evidently some people just aren’t willing to accept that fact.

I am sure that, in everyone’s mind, we all know where the limits are. Unfortunately, some people decide to ignore them… I’m not quite sure how these people don’t realize that they crossed the line about 10 sizes ago, but they do.  Is what I'm saying unfair and somewhat discriminating? Yes it is. Does it promote a healthy figure? Yes it does. (by the way, I don’t understand why promoting a healthy, in shape figure has recently been so heavily demonized by the media, but thats a rant for another day)

Heck, even I know, and accept, the fact that there are limits that apply to me. For example: I don’t walk around outside without a shirt on; for fear that the glare of the sun reflecting off my pale skin might blind an oncoming driver, causing an accident. I fully understand my personal situation (redhead with pale skin), therefore I dress accordingly by wearing a shirt. I also know that I don’t have muscular, “gun show” arms; therefore I don’t wear tank tops or sleeveless shirts. Easy enough, right? Do I ever wish that I was tanner and more muscular so that I could strut around at concerts shirtless, showing off my “guns” and tattoos? Of course I do, but what guy doesn’t? (laughing) However, I accept the fact that, unless I seriously hit the gym and the spray tan booth, I shouldn't do it.   

In order to stop this issue before it becomes an epidemic, I have decided that it is time for us to bring back an old anti-drug slogan: Just Say No. If the person dressing themselves won’t think their outfit through all the way, then I believe that it is the duty of their friends/husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/parents/siblings/grandparents/children/pets to save the rest of us from having to look at their muffin top and rolls.  We really, really, REALLY don’t want to see them, so please, Just Say No.

Is it going to be an awkward conversation? Probably. Will there be tears and hurt feelings? Maybe. Just remember, this is for the greater good of the general public. Besides, deep inside these people already know that they shouldn't be wearing it, they just need confirmation.  From this point forward, anyone who sees a friend preparing to go out in something that they probably shouldn’t is responsible for stopping the atrocity before it happens. It is up to you America, Just Say No!

I must also add that this also applies to older people who still try to dress like they are teenagers. No grandma, we really don’t want to see you in those short jogging shorts and a tube top. Sorry, but we really, don’t.  Unfortunately, there comes a time in everyone's life when you just have to hang up the short shorts.

I can only hope that this catches on before we go on our cruise this fall, please, spread the word!

AHHH… so much for not going off on a random tangent, sometimes I just can’t help it.

Work & Family

Over the fourth of july holiday, my sister +family and my mom visited us… our house is normally very quiet, except for the TV or radio that I typically have on, so it was been a big change to have two young children running through the house.
For those of you who always seem to be hoping that experiences like this might change my “kid free” life plan, I’m sorry to say that it has not. My nephews are good kids, but I still don’t see the appeal in being a parental unit. Sorry. Luckily, there are plenty of other people willing to populate the planet, so, in the grand scheme of things, this choice isn’t a big deal… Plus, I’m saving some poor kid from the possibility of growing up as a redhead. Why subject someone to that? Speaking of people with big families, Karen and I saw this horrific sight in the Moe’s parking lot Monday night. Can you imagine? This will haunt me for a while…

With the kids around, especially the super smart 6 year old, I did take notice of how they look at things differently than adults do and it made me wish that I could remember what I was thinking about back then. Unfortunately, my memory is crap and I can barely recall what we had for dinner last night (actually, it was chicken casserole with green beans from the garden). More specifically, I wish I could remember more about what I wanted to be when I grew up and compare that to where I am now. I know that my parents say that, when I was little, I always wanted to drive a garbage truck. Big aspirations, I know. Sometime around high school, that changed to wanting to be a Landscape Architect. It was a fairly unusual profession selection, but since a family friend was an LA and I liked a lot of aspects of the field (design, plants, being outside, etc.), it made sense.
I followed that “dream” through a college degree in Landscape Architecture and I’m closing in on the 13 year anniversary of graduating from UGA. I can’t honestly remember what I imagined my career would be like at this point, but I am 100% sure that I’m not where I thought I would be. Over those 13 years, I have been fortunate enough to work on some interesting projects but now I feel like I’m in a bit of a professional funk. My current position isn’t exactly ideal and the job market around here hasn’t been very fruitful. The only thing that is keeping me halfway motivated at this point is the professional development work that I’ve been doing. I’ve gone to two conferences that reminded me about what is cool about this profession, but then I return to work and realize that what I’m doing isn’t what I want to do.
It is official, I’m in a professional “midlife crisis” or perhaps a more friendly title would be “a professional crossroads.”
Do I keep slogging through where I am now, hoping it improves and/or something better comes down the line, or do I jump ship to venture out into another realm and basically start over? 36 doesn’t seem like it is too old to start over, but is that wise? If I did start over, what the hell would I do??? I had a 9 month foray into auto sales right after we moved up here, and, while I enjoyed parts of it (and was salesman of the month twice), I don’t see that as a career I’m willing to commit to for the next 20+ years.
So, where does this leave me? Maybe I should go to my original plan of being a garbage truck driver?! I drove a bus while in college, so why not? Realistically, I know that neither of those would tap into my potential, so let’s rule them out for now.
The CFO suggested going back to school to get my masters in LA, so that I could be a professor too. That sounds like an interesting idea, until you look at college prices… Then you add in the fact that it would be nearly impossible to find two teaching jobs close together geographically. I don’t think that is realistic.
I could go back and get a teaching certificate and teach younger kids, but part of me would consider that only because of the schedule. It would be nice to be off when the CFO is off, that way we could spend more time traveling. It’s kind of like my own little version of the movie “Bad Teacher,” where the main character proclaims, “I thought that I was doing it (teaching) for all the right reasons. Shorter hours, summers off, no accountability…”
Other ideas that have come up are getting a paralegal certificate, applying at the insurance company that has a huge presence in the area, or possibly something in the medical field… but, I’m not sure I could handle being around blood and stuff, so that is off the table for now.
Enough of that for now… In other news, while our grass is brown, dry and crispy, or garden has been doing pretty well. We’ve collected several pounds of green beans, and probably 9-10 each of zucchinis and squashes. We’ve made several batches of zucchini bread and probably should make another batch tonight. We’ve also started giving stuff away because the two of us can’t eat it all. My corn is suffering pretty badly, so I’m not expecting much out of it. The tomatoes have had some blossom end rot, probably from inconsistent watering, so I’m trying to be more methodical about watering. I’m also mentally designing a drip irrigation system for next year.

With the sudden inundation of veggies, we’re starting to experiment with other ways of preparing them. My favorite so far came from good ol’ Paula Deen: fried green beans. They were very tasty, but I’m sure the frying negated any health benefit. We also fried some squash medallions that were almost as good as the green beans. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

This picture didn't do the frying justice, for some reason the green really shows up in the photo.

Games & Hiking

I wrote this last week, but forgot to post it...  better late than never!

Another weekend has flown past and the month of June is about to pass us by… where do the days go?  Saturday morning and afternoon were a whirlwind of running errands, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning in preparation for some friends coming to the house for dinner.  I fired up the trusty kitchen aid mixer and made some garlic bread dough (from scratch, of course) and Karen made lasagna with meat and zucchini in it.  I continued my battle against the weeds in the yard and constructed a stack of wood in the fire pit for lighting after dinner.  I also harvested our first veggies out of the garden, I came inside with a decent pile of green beans.

Our friends came over Saturday evening and we dined on fresh baked bread, lasagna, salad and laughter.  After dinner, the laughter continued as we played a few games and sampled a few different bottles of adult beverages (local beers from Wisconsin breweries and a couple different Moscato wines).  The local beers didn’t alter my general dislike of beer, but the wines weren’t too bad… I definitely seem to prefer the sweet stuff to the bitter/tart bite that most wines have.  After the sun set, we set fire to the wood pile and sat around the fire roasting marshmallows.  I continue to be amazed by how many adults have not had smoores before…  I guess everyone didn’t grow up camping and came fires like I did.  We did them in the traditional graham cracker and chocolate style, next time I’ll introduce them to my way of doing it:  Roasted marshmallow between two soft bake chocolate chip cookies.  That is way better than the graham crackers.

On Sunday morning, we decided to hop in the car and head north to the banks of the Illinois River.  Our friends had told us about a couple parks there, so we went up to Starved Rock state park and walked around a bit.  The place was packed with people, but the further we walked away from the parking lot, the less people we saw.  It was nice to see an area of trees and walk on a trail with some grade change; however I got a good laugh when I found out that the “high point” was only 125 feet above the river.  I couldn’t help but think that it was tiny when compared to the Tallulah gorge in Georgia that is almost 10x as high.  Snarky “this isn’t very tall” comments aside, it was nice to see the river and walk around in the trees.  Evidently this area has a lot of bald eagles in the winter time, so we might have to do a fall/winter visit and see if we can spot some eagles.

 A barge waiting to go through the lock at a dam across the river.  There are a series of 8 locks that must be navigated in order to go from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river, which can be taken down to the gulf of Mexico.  Sounds like an interesting road... errr make that "Boat Trip." 

A view of Starved Rock, a high point where a group of indians retreated to for safety after being attacked by another tribe, but were surrounded and held there until they eventually died from starvation (hence the name Starved Rock).

I’m still suffering from the rib/chest injury that I sustained while playing paintball two weekends ago… I still wince every time that I sneeze, lay down or sit up or try to do too much with my left arm.  I am almost ready to go to a doctor to see if it is something more major than my “self diagnosis” of bruised ribs, but I’m pretty sure that will just be a waste of time and money.  Past experience with rib issues showed me that there isn’t much a doctor can do for rib injuries, other than to lighten your wallet a little.  I’m not convinced a lighter wallet will help my situation, so I might just stick it out another week.  I’m going a little stir crazy though, as I haven’t hit golf balls since it happened and I’m missing that.  Looks like I’m officially hooked on the sport of golf.

 

New bike

This cartoon (from http://xkcd.com/1070/) made me think about my childhood and I got a good laugh out of it. I remember when it was time for cookies, I would ask "how many can we have?" and the parental response would typically be “a couple.” To which I would reply, “how many is a couple?” Being part Cookie Monster, I was obviously hoping to hear an answer of "three" or "four" or more.  Anything but the usual "just two."  Evidently, I’m not the only one who thinks a couple could equate to more than two.


Karen is back from her Las Vegas trip with friends and she is now working to prepare to teach her summer class. Sunday evening, she was lamenting that her summer vacation was almost over, evidently expecting to get some pity out of me… of course, that did not happen. You’d think she’d learn by now that someone who only gets 10 vacation days per year is not going to provide moral support to someone who just had a month off and took two trips during that time period. Suck it up and get back to work and make us some money!

Even though I am still a bit disgruntled about being left at home during those past two trips that she took, I did surprise her with a new bicycle. I really shouldn’t reward bad behavior, but some would argue me buying her a bike was actually a gift to me. You see, I’ve been trying to get her on a bike for years now, but we’ve never found one that met her aesthetic requirements (of course it must be pretty) and my technical/equipment requirements. While she was out of town, I found a bike that I thought would meet both sets of requirements, so I made the executive, man of the house, decision to purchase it. I then parked it in the garage for when she returned home from the airport.

Unfortunately, she didn’t notice the bike sitting in the garage, even after multiple trips in/out of the garage. I didn’t put it right in front of where she pulled the car in, but I thought the girly, bright green bike would be an easily noticeable addition to the garage. Late Saturday afternoon, I moved the bike to a much more obvious location right next to the recycling bins and waited for her to go out into the garage again. She never ventured out there again, so when it was time to go for our evening exercise (typically a walk around the neighborhood), I handed her a pile of newspapers and asked her to put them in the recycling bins before we left. She walked into the garage, put the papers in the bin and walked back into the house. She didn’t even notice the shiny new bike that was sitting less than one foot away from her.

So much for the element of surprise… I made some smartass “you’re unobservant” comment and told her to go back out and look again and she finally saw it… I guess it is nice to know that I can probably hide stuff in “plain sight” and not have to worry about her finding it. We adjusted the seat and rode around the neighborhood so she could reacquaint herself to riding a bike. Once she is more comfortable on it, hopefully I’ll get her out on the local paved multi-use trails soon. Ideally, I’d like to be able to pedal to downtown to the Saturday morning farmers market (with a stop at the donut shop along the way!).
 

Paintball'n

A few months ago, the local newspaper’s “deal of the day” was for a rent one/get one free offer at a nearby paintball course. I’ve never played paintball before, but I’ve always wanted to. I sent out an email to some friends and we all decided to do it. We also decided that it would be fun if our wives/girlfriends would participate, although we weren’t sure if they would. The ladies went back and forth on the idea (they were afraid of getting hurt) but they finally decided to participate and six couples purchased the deal. Everyone’s schedules were really busy, so it took some long range planning to pick a date.  We were finally able to play last Sunday, June 10.


During the final days leading up to the 10th, some of the girls (my wife for one) began to mount a fresh campaign to get out of participating. They were seriously concerned about how getting shot would feel... We offered their spots to a few other friends, but everyone declined, so the girls were committed to participate. We arrived at the site after lunch to find a metal building and 3 fenced in fields full of random walls, dirt mounds, barrels, truck camper tops stuck into the ground, and other assorted large debris to hide behind and maneuver around. Upon arrival, Karen’s response was less than enthusiastic. The rest of the group filtered in after us, all the guys were pumped up and ready to go. The ladies, on the other hand, had attitudes that varied from excited to play down to “let’s just skip playing and go to the winery that is 3 miles up the road.” In the end, everyone decided to play and we went through the safety talk, a walk through on the gun operation and out on the field we went.

The site

Some of the obstacles

I guess the feel of a gun in their hands made the girls gain some instant mojo, because they decided the first match would be guys vs. girls, 6 on 6. The guys, heavily motivated by the need to “not get beaten by the girls,” won the first round relatively easily. We then split up into mixed teams and played another couple games. Then we were put up against another group of 10 people (which contained several experienced players) and we were promptly mowed down by the experienced players. We didn’t stand a chance. Once the referees (yes the matches are officiated) realized that we weren’t going to be able to compete with that group, they split up the two groups and created two teams containing a mix of experienced and inexperienced players. We played several games with those teams, which was pretty enjoyable. During the games with us mixed in with the other group, some of our wives started dropping out and then they quietly disappeared and headed over to the winery to relax.

Our group

The remainder of the ladies and the guys from our group ended up moving to a smaller field and we played several games of 4 on 3, which was the highlight of the day for most of us. The combination of the smaller field and the smaller teams made it a much faster paced game with nowhere to hide. The adrenaline definitely gets pumping when you are crouched behind a barrel and you hear paint balls whizzing past you.

After we had shot through our group’s allotment of 6,000 paintballs (500/each), we changed clothes and headed over to the winery to meet up with the early departers. While there, we talked and laughed about the day’s events and spent some time comparing wounds. Yes, paint balls do leave a more than just paint when they hit you. Since the outside temperatures were around 90 degrees (luckily there was a breeze), most of us opted to forgo an extra layer of padding in order to stay a little cooler. That lack of additional padding lead to some colorful bruises. The ladies contended that it was really painful to get hit; I’d say it was more like getting stung by a bee. It really wasn’t that bad, however I will say that some parts of your body are definitely more sensitive to it than others.

Over the course of the day, I was hit in the hand/arm (3-4 times), legs (3-4 times) back of the head (once) and the most painful were two shots to the left side of my torso from less than 10’ away. Those two shots to my side have bruised up pretty badly (see below), but only hurt if you poke at them. I also managed to bruise my chest by diving for cover during one of the final fast games. That is the injury that seems to be bothering me the most today. Hopefully it will go away soon so I can go swing a golf club again.

Shot to the back of the head, yellow paint splatter

Nice bruises on my side, I should have held up a quarter for scale...  they are between quarter and half dollar size.

Would I do it again? Most definitely. I can see how some people get hooked on it, is an interesting mix of strategy and exercise. Will Karen ever do it again? Probably not, although if it was colder outside where a couple extra layers could be comfortably worn, I might be able to talk her into doing

"Bachelor" weekend #2

Week 2 without the wife is winding down to a close. She should be on a plane now, flying back from visiting her 2 week family visit. I had absolutely no plans scheduled for the weekend, so I tried to take advantage of the opportunity to do whatever “I” wanted to do. It turns out; I probably keep myself busier when she is gone then when she is around.


The lists of things that I did over the weekend ended up being pretty long. I pulled weeds on Saturday and Sunday (and still have more to go, not sure where they are all coming from!), planted a new tree and some bargain find knock out roses. Our lowes keeps a clearance section full of plants that they have seen better days. A majority of them usually look pretty rough, but sometimes you can find some diamonds in the rough. These plants can usually be had for 75% (or more) off of their regular price, so, if you can find some that look halfway decent, it is a worthwhile attempt to save them. These roses were priced at just $3 each and the only problem with them is that they had stopped blooming. With a little encouragement with the hand pruners, I think they will bloom all summer, so I grabbed 5 of them.

During my first golf lesson last week, the instructor challenged me to be able to hit 7 out of 10 good shots next time we meet (today). Considering the fact that I’m a very inconsistent beginning golfer, that seemed like quite the challenge. I managed to hit the driving range on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday and got some good practice in. Thankfully, I won a bunch of range ball tokens, so all this practice isn’t costing me much money. I showed up today for my lunch time lesson and was greeted with, “what are you doing here?” Followed by, “I thought you texted me and rescheduled for tomorrow?” After some discussion, it turns out that he has more than one student named Scott and he mixed us up. He had already scheduled another person for my time slot, so I’m now scheduled for a lesson on Saturday instead. The good news is that this gives me more time to practice. He also felt bad about the mix up, so he gave me a bucket of balls to hit so my trip to the course wasn’t totally wasted. Free bucket of balls? That works for me (I’m easy, what can I say?).

I was also able to get a couple of bike rides in on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s ride was a leisurely ride on the paved bike trail with a couple of the curling guys. At the one hour mark in the ride, the skies darkened up and we decided it would be wise to head back. As we headed back, it started getting darker and darker and then we started to feel drops. The guys turned off the trail at different places to head towards their homes and I hammered back towards my car that was parked at the trailhead. I made it back to my car as it started to really rain and was just able to attach the bike to the bike rack and slide into the driver’s seat before the bottom truly fell out of it. On Sunday, I wasn’t feeling super motivated to ride, but I knew that I needed the exercise, so I rode to the RedBox DVD rental kiosk to return a movie. It is only a 5.5 mile ride each way, but that’s better than no exercise. It also gave me a chance to try out an iPhone app that was suggested to me called Endomondo. The app tracks your exercise (walking/running, cycling, golf, etc) and shows you a summary of the session. It worked pretty well and gave me a summary of the ride (speed, route, time, calories burned, etc) at the end.  I'd recommend playing with it if you want to track your activities (it's a free app![my favorite kind]).

Speaking of movies, one of the ones that I rented this weekend was Contagion. If you are the least bit paranoid about germs, illness or anything along those lines, do not watch this movie. It will make you second guess touching anything in public ever again. In my mind, door handles, gas pumps and shopping carts all seem to have giant bio hazard signs on them after watching the movie. I have also become super aware of how often I touch my face during the day… that is a big no-no when a killer plague is on the loose, consider yourself warned.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, I also finished a small rehab project that I had been plotting for a couple months. The wife and I were out walking the neighborhood one Monday evening (the night before garbage pickup) and we noticed a neighbor at the other end of the hood had put an outdoor table and chair set out with their garbage. The table had seen better days, and so had the chairs… however I still saw possibility in the chairs. We discussed it on the walk back home and decided to make a covert run under the cover of darkness to pick up the chairs. After the sun went down, she drove us across the neighborhood and I quickly collected the stack of chairs, threw them in the trunk and we headed back home. While we weren’t humming the mission impossible soundtrack (or wearing all black) while we were doing it, we were still added our own sense of adventure to the trip. That definitely made it seem like more fun than just raiding someone else’s trash pile.

As you can see, the chairs have a metal frame with a tightly woven back and seat.  The woven material is a multicolored plastic band about 1/4" wide. The fronts of the seats on all of the chairs had worn down from legs rubbing against them or  a pet chewing on them, I'm not sure which. My idea was to remove the bottoms, attach some cedar slats to the frame for the seat and then put the chairs down by the fire pit. I waited for the cedar to go on sale at Menards and then stock piled the materials for a rainy day. Since the rain chased me home after the bike ride, it was the perfect time to spend some time working on the chairs. I made good progress and was able to wrap them up on Sunday evening.

I drilled holes through the metal frame and then ran screws up from the bottom into the wood so you wouldn't see the fasteners.  The cedar should turn grey as it weathers, at which point it should match the back material.  For what we have in them, I think they turned out pretty good.  Even better, now I don’t have to lug the heavier metal patio chairs down off the deck (unless we have more than 2 guests).  Who's ready to hang out by the fire pit?