Hotter Than the Hubs of Hell

We scored the doors. We are 2 for 2 when it came to our last two great finds.

Not only were the doors in perfect shape but the entire drive to and from took exactly 1 uneventful hour. No traffic jams, no traffic detours, or bad GPS information. Drove there, looked at doors, put doors in truck, and then drove home.

One thing that we did notice on the drive there were all the storm damaged trees. According to the owner of the doors this was the result of the storm that went through last week during the Back to the Bricks Cruise. I posted how the storm siren was blaring but the sky was sunny except to the north where the sky was rather dark. I did not notice any structural damage on our drive and it appeared to us that it was mostly tree damage.

I forgot to take a photo of the doors...oops!!! I will do that tomorrow and then add it to this post.

Tomorrow's forecast is for rain later in the day. We are keeping our fingers crossed because number 1... we need the rain and number two...I need a cloudy day to finish picking up all the limbs and debris that we cut down along the front fence row last weekend.

The clean up has been slow due to the extreme heat. It's been hotter than the hubs of hell. The clean up area is in the sun and close to the asphalt street which seems to reflect a lot of heat. Just walking out to the street has been exhausting in this heat.

Last Saturday while R was at the track with G, I was able to get all the fence posts and the top rail on one side painted and most of the top rail on the other side painted. I have about 20 feet of top rail left to paint. Hopefully it will be cloudy tomorrow and I can finish painting. This would leave just the chain link to paint and I plan on doing that this fall with a full size roller.

After the top rail is painted and we have finished picking up the debris I will review my list and see what we accomplished. To be truthful I kind of forgot what was on the list so I won't peek and look at it now because I know I will just be disappointed in our progress.

I'll just do a Lindsey Lohan and refuse to take the blame for the slow progress. What would Lindsey say?

"It was too hot" (make sure you whine when you say that).

"The branches had thorns and picky thingies on them." "Ouch" (whine again).

"Who ever cut the branches left them too long." (Again Lindsey never takes the blame so I shouldn't either).

"It was too hot AND dusty." (Lindsey's excuses are feeble, so mine will also be feeble).

"I didn't know it would take this long to clean up." Waaa Waaaa!

B & G's Deck Update

Work has moved along nicely on B & G's deck. We finished screwing down all the deck boards. Wow.....that was a job. Twenty screws per board X 53 boards = a lot of screws.Next R used a circular saw to cut off the excess length of board. Don't fret.....we won't toss those boards. B and I have a plan to use those pieces.After R finished trimming the boards I sanded the ends and put a slight bevel on them so they looked like the factory edges on the deck boards.Thursday was a day of deck building rest since it was race time for R. Look at B......she can sue your pants off and change your racing tires. Hey B.....I bet you never thought you would be wrenching at the race track?After the races were over, R signed some autographs and B & G ventured off to the carnival to take in some fine carnival cuisine.....elephant ears (funnel cakes) with cream cheese!!!!! Gives me heartburn just typing about it.
Friday was a partial deck day because R had to get the sprint car ready for Saturday's race in Ohio. I mostly sanded the stamp marks off the deck and complained about it being hotter than the hubs of hell.

Tony Stewart and the weather Part II

Both Tony Stewart and the weather are still "hotter than the hubs of hell."

I think we Michiganders have gotten used to less humidity. The last couple of years the humidity rarely gets above 60% and it's usually been staying in the 30 to 40% range. Now I know for you desert people 30-40% is a killer but us Great Lakes people usually have to endure 3 months of sticky weather. So now that we have had to live through a week of not only hot weather but high humidity....well......I just can't take it like I used to!!!!! Yuck, icky, sticky weather. So in a nutshell...not much has happened at "The Gear", workwise that is. Seems lately all I do is water plants. Some are looking rather droopy due to the heat. Relief is in sight. Tomorrow should be very enjoyable, so I should be able to get something accomplished before I go to work. Operative word being "should".



Also a shout out to Tony Stewart who won at Watkins Glen on Sunday. Smoke is HOT, HOT, SMOKING!!!!

Tomorrow I'll fill you in on our plan for the northwest corner of the front yard and why this boulder is sitting in the driveway with a strap around it.

I just realized, after looking at the above photo, that the vegetation growing in the cracks of my driveway are greener than my lawn. Go figure.

Also, I have no idea why my paragraphs either have large spaces between them or none at all. It appears just fine in my drafts, but when I publish it...it's different. The paragraph gods are not being kind to me at all. But just in case a former English teacher or professor reads this...I swear I'm doing it correctly.....it's the computer's fault...I swear. Has absolutely nothing to do with the idiot running the keyboard.

Tony Stewart and the weather........

What do Tony Stewart and the weather have in common???????

They are both currently "Hotter than the hubs of hell!!"

There is absolutely no way we can work on "The Gear" in this weather. The weatherman is forecasting 98 degrees tomorrow. So tomorrow will consist of watering plants, fruit trees, and pretending the house is dark grey.

Sunday I plan on power washing the house to remove any loose paint and hopefully loosen the little bit of paint that is actually stuck!!! I know....I know......you're not suppose to power wash wooden shingles. Normally I wouldn't, but these are not in the best of shape and are slated for R & R. Not "rest and recreation" but "removal and replacing". The plan is to replace one side of the house each year, starting in the back. Hopefully by the time I get to the front, I will be shingling like a pro. The shingling that my Dad and I did last summer actually came out really well and that was using old shingles.

I was reading somewhere, i.e. Internet, magazine etc. that using rocks in your landscape as mulch was not exactly a good idea because it warms the soil too much. Well ......not so. I have part of my front bed covered in rocks so far. I have two clumps of coneflowers, one is surrounded by rocks and the other isn't. Which one do you think was dried out and which one was still perky??? That's right ....you guess it, the one surrounded by rocks was perky. As far as the soil being too warm due to the rocks.......I doubt if it will ever get any warmer than it is today. I actually think the rocks keep the moisture in the ground and act as insulation. Sure the top of the rock is "hotter than the hubs of hell!!!" I like that saying!!! But if you pick up the rock and feel the bottom of it, it is cool to the touch. Of course not as cold as a "witch's t*t in a brass bra" but it is cooler than the air temp. I like that saying too!!!

Speaking of "hotter than the hubs of hell", Tony Stewart is on fire. He's now won 2 in a row. In an earlier post I wrote about kissing the bricks at Indy. I included a photo of Jimmy Johnson kissing the bricks. Well as you know......or maybe you don't......Jimmy Johnson is sponsored by "Lowe's" and Tony Stewart is sponsored by "Home Depot". Several of my friends questioned my choice of including Jimmy Johnson's photo. I'll admit I was lazy and that was the first photo I found of someone kissing the bricks, so I used it. So without further ado....here is Tony Stewart aka "Smoke" kissing the bricks at the brickyard.

Smoke and the rest of the Home Depot crew climbing the fence at "The Brickyard".

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that Tony was fined $25,000 dollars for using a "bad" word in his interview with ESPN. 25,000 smackers...holy cow....you know what I could do with $25,000...let me see. I could hire someone to paint my house or I could hire someone to re shingle my house. I love that line in the movie, Exit to Eden , where Rosie O'Donnell's character says, "You want to do something nice for me? Paint my house." I digress.......The reason Tony said what he said was because....It was "hotter than the hubs of hell"!!!! Geeeees........so he swore.....whoopee...he's sponsored by a home improvement store and anyone that has undertaken some sort of home improvement has swore at one time or another. Damn it!!!

Racing news on the home front......Gavin, in only his second outing in a midget, qualified 5th, placed 4th in his heat race, and finished 7th in the feature. Plus, he was named "Hard Charger" of the race for passing the most cars!!! Good job Gavin. Here's a photo of Gavin.

Here is the lovely Barbara pushing Gavin out onto the track for the feature. Good job Barbara!!!!