And I thought it would be weird.

Three teachers at school are getting married and I decided to give them Home Depot gift cards.  I thought it was going to be a weird wedding gift, but decided that anybody can use something from Home Depot.

Well, I was wrong.  Not about everyone needing something from Home Depot, but about it being weird.  They actually had 2 different gift cards especially for weddings.

So I bought one of each (Yeah, three teachers and only 2 weddings, you figure it out) and now I can stop thinking about explanations for why I picked such an unusual gift.

Exterior complete!

I originally built my back porch in stages, so it was a hodgepodge of construction.  The walls, which started out simply as a railing, were right at ground level, so I had water coming under it.  They weren’t insulated and because they did help buffer my bedroom from the cold I decided to rebuild them this summer.

I put a footer down  to keep the water out, and built it with normal 2x4 construction so I can insulate the walls.  I also put in 3 actual windows, before they were just screens that I would cover with plastic to help keep out the cold.

I just finished the exterior today, put the shingles on the roof of the little end piece I just closed in.  Here are some before & after pictures.

It may look very similar, but that’s because I reused all the cedar I could salvage from the destruction phase.  Next summer I’m going to re do the roof, put a real one on it, and then I’ll also cover up that really nice linoleum that is showing.

The good part is that the rest of the work I need to do is inside the porch which, with a swamp cooler, stays nice and cool.

Thematic Photographic: Max got kicked out of Home Depot.

I had my cover story down.  With my official school district I.D. dangling from my shirt I was ready to play the “I’m a junior high math teacher taking pictures of geometric shapes for my class” card.  It’s worked before, and I’m sure I’ll use it again.

I headed over to the garden center, figuring there would be fewer people there, fewer weird looks.

Other than the pictures out front, them’s was all the pictures I gots.

The paint section of the store is right by the garden center so I planned on getting a cool shot of the big display of those little color patch cards.

I was walking down the isle, the wall ‘o color in sight at the other end.

As I passed a Home Depot dude, he looks at me and asks, in a not-so-nice voice, “Are you taking pictures?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not supposed to be taking pictures in here.”

Flashing him my official I.D. I ask “Even if they’re for a junior high math class?”

His manner takes a 180° turn, all of a sudden he becomes not only polite, but quite apologetic.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, we just don’t allow pictures in the store.”

I tell him that it’s no problem, that I understand and he thanks me for being so understanding.  I left with five pictures worth of  ill gotten booty, figuring that telling this story would be worth a thousand pictures.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Or: "Me on a Black tar-papered Roof in 90 degree weather". Fun stuff.

.... I'm still working on de-leaking the porch roof. Today it was putting on the galvanized steel drip metal. I'm up there, kneeling on a towel and nailing long sheets of metal down. (Yes, I really should just buy some knee pads, but I keep forgetting every time I go to Home Depot.) Then to keep the water from getting under the metal, and under the tar paper, I had to seal the seems with roofing tar. (Gearheads - thanks for the offer, but it was only $10 a gallon and it was right there.) The stuff is kind of cool, it comes out of the can looking exactly like chocolate pudding, same color, same texture. You goop it on, spread it smooth and then it dries black and looks & feels exactly like dry tar. Oh, but it doesn't clean up exactly like chocolate pudding - I had to scrub it off my leg (yes, I did use gloves, so my hands were clean.)

.... Anyway, black tar roof, 90 degrees and in direct sunlight. It was hot. I'd work for about 15 minutes, go down and spend 10 minutes under the swamp cooler vent drinking water, head back up and do it all over again.

.... All I know is that if the thing leaks so much as one drop next time it rains I'm gonna end up in a rubber room with a wrap-around jacket.

Iosepa to near-death experience.

Ok, so one of the nice things about the wet weather is this rainbow over my garage.

I decided to get out of the house today, 3 days of going nowhere other than the Home Depot gets a little old.  So, I gassed up the BattleCruiser and headed out west.  First thought was Stansbury Island.  Been there, done that, wanted something different.  So drove past it, all the way to Delle (one gas station and closed motel).  Nothing there to see so I headed back towards SLC and when I came upon the Dugway* exit decided to see what was up that road.  The first town on the sign was Iosepa, so I decided that was where I'd go and then head on back.

There I am on the old I-80 headed out towards the Great Salt Lake.  It runs parallel to the new I-80, but is a hell of a lot more fun to drive in these big old cars.  Makes me feel like I'm in an episode of "Route 66"

The back side of the Iosepa sign.  Very, very Native American, which begs to ask......

Why "Aloha"?  Whatever, Iosepa was was even smaller than Delle.  Clump of trees, house and a barn.

The picture says it all.  that's the fire station on the right hand side.

Ok, so I did get a little dirt-roadin' in on this trip.  Went to what is called "Lone Rock", because it's, well, a lone rock out in the middle of the valley. 

Utah, famous for a whole lot of nuttin'.  This is what surrounds Lone Rock.

BattleCruiser on the hill in front of Lone Rock.  It looks a lot steeper when you're in the driver seat trying to get the thing down the hill.

Lone Rock, all alone.

And, of course, there were mud puddles left over from the recent rains, and I had to have a little bit of fun with them.  Car got a bit dirty, but it's not like it's the first time I've run a '72 Country Squire through huge mud puddles, right Gearheads?

And finally - the near death experience. 

Q - You're driving along a section of the freeway that is under construction.  You get to an exit that is closed, without any previous warning.  You:

.......... a) continue on your way to the next exit.

.......... b) ram the barriers and exit anyways, or

......... c) come to a complete stop in the middle of the freeway while you figure out what to do.

A - if you are a taxi cab in Salt Lake City, you choose "c".  Which means the car behind you has to side swipe the barriers to keep from being slammed into from the back end by a huge '72 Ford wagon, and said wagon, as the driver's (me) bladder is letting go**, swerves half way into the middle lane, praying no one is there, to avoid slamming either of the previously mentioned vehicles into next week.  Thank God, no one was there and an accident (vehicular, that is) was avoided. 

*as in the Dugway proving grounds, where they test bombs and the latest bombers.  Not as exciting as Area 51, but a laugh nonetheless.

** of course the wagon is the only LTD I have with cloth seats.  It couldn't have been the convertible, which has naugahyde seats - they're impervious to everything, even baby vomit.