The Garage

Saturday afternoon Dad decided it was time to work on the garage. This was one of those "that would be nice" projects that I didn't expect to get done so soon.

Here is the before shot of the shed, which will now officially be the garage. We like the look of the barn doors, but they are pretty decrepit and not very functional. So when dad told us he had a free garage door from a job he was working on, we said, "okay!"

Before I move on, please note the lights at the peak. We couldn't figure out how to turn them on. There was also a mystery light switch in the house that we didn't notice for a while that seemed to go to nothing. I asked dad if he thought he could help us figure out the light switch Friday night, and he was outside looking for something, when suddenly he pointed up at the lights on the garage and said, "I bet it goes to that" and all of the sudden they turned on! It was like magic. ;) I just never made the connection before because the lights are motion activated, so they didn't turn on with just the flip of the switch. It sure will be nice to be able to use them now!

 The garage door is bigger than our opening was. If you compare this picture to the one above it, you can see how much the opening was widened. **edited to add** I can't believe I forgot to mention that while Terral was helping dad move the beam on the left, it came down on his foot! He was hurting quite a bit and we worried it might be broken. But he borrowed a boot from a friend and put some essential oils on it, and now it's doing much better, thank goodness.

 Dad had to cut through the cement. Very handy that he had the tool for that!

 It was a very dusty job. And he had to do a lot of it because we didn't have a sledge hammer. (I actually did finally manage to locate one at the neighbor's, but the job was done by the time I brought it over. Bummer!)

Trimming out the new door frame.

 Ethan sitting contentedly on the lawn watching the action and munching on an apple from our tree. (PS That's the compressor we scored at the garage sale!)

 Here the garage door mostly installed. We ran out of time, so dad will finish it next time he comes down. But it actually isn't any taller than that, so we'll have to fix the gap. Dad forgot after he dismantled the door that it's a certain brand that doesn't do standard sizes, so the door is actually wider and shorter than the opening they made. Darn it! But luckily dad is handy and can figure out solutions for things like that, so it's not that big of a deal. And if we ever decide to replace this door with a newer one (I'd love a carriage style!) then it will be the right size for that.

 And finally, here's another little discovery we made. Dad brought things to wire a place where we could plug in the dryer because we could only find a gas set up and ours is electric. I've been line drying our clothes, but that has been a little tricky with all the rain we've had, and now cooler weather is coming and the sun doesn't reach that side of the house as well. I started looking at the water softener to see if I could move it, because I would rather have the dryer next to the washer if I could, instead of at a 90 degree angle like we thought it had to be set up. Well, I moved the big part of the system, and lo and behold, there's an outlet for a dryer! Very cool! So that was one less thing for my dad to do. So we brought in the dryer, but it's still not hooked up because our the cord on the dryer has the wrong sort of plug. So we bought a new cord, but have yet to install it. Oh, and we have to get a little creative with the venting because the dryer will be on the "wrong" wall. But it shouldn't be too much longer until I have the option of using it! I'm very excited about it, if you can't tell. :)

Before I forget, I also wanted to share a couple cute things about my dad's visit that aren't house related.  When he pulled up, I told Ethan that grandpa was here, and he started to say "grandpa" for the first time! (Actually, I think he had a word for it at one point, but he hasn't said it for months and months.) It morphed the first several times he said it, but then it settled into it's current form: blablam. So funny!

He became pretty attached to grandpa this visit. At one point, Terral's parents were at our house too. They had taken Ethan for a little while and were bringing him back. Well, as you know Ethan is currently obsessed with baseball and he wanted to play. There were plenty of people willing to throw the ball to him, but no one would do but blablam! We all tried to toss it to him, but he just hugged his bat and turned away. Then he'd come and get the ball and take it to grandpa. Sometimes he is very particular.