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Monday, July 4, 2016

Projects and Flowers

This weekend's project was to stop procrastinating the repair and replacement of the passenger side running board on our truck. I had been putting it off for months, but there is rarely a passenger, so...

After removing what was left of it yesterday I threw the remains in the bed of the truck so I can toss it in the dumpster at work where no one will recognize it. Here are the remains.

It was long past safe and pieces were starting to dangle. Being "thrifty" on occasion and not caring if the new steps looked sleek and shiny I decided not to spend a couple of hundred dollars for new ones and bought instead a 10 foot treated 2x6 at my workplace (employee's discount, doncha know). I cut it and shaped it a bit and painted it black (because I'm a Rolling Stone's fan, maybe). I did have to add a few pieces of angled steel and bolt and screw them into place to make it sturdy.
While it is not a thing of beauty on a shiny clean truck it works well, it is stronger than the original, inexpensive, and didn't cause any unnecessary bleeding or swearing.

I apologize for the dirty condition of the truck and running board, but we live on a gravel and mud road. It's been raining a lot lately.

The one on the other side was done last summer and is holding up well.
They may not be beautiful, but they work well.

Now for some beauty. It is summer and the flowers are blooming and things are growing. The cooker had me pick up a free children's bed frame last year so I did and saved it over in the old house. She wanted me to put some cedar around it to make a planter which she got around to this weekend, also.
We now have a new flower bed. Here are some of the other blooms around the yard.



Happy Canada Day, Fourth of July, and whatever else you can think of to celebrate midsummer. I hope all is well in your part of the world, at least for a little while.





19 comments:

  1. Ohhhhh, I'm slapping myself after reading Pixel Peeper's comment - that went right past me!

    Great job on the running board. Excellent.

    Hope you had a Happy Fourth!

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  2. Love your project - and your flowers.
    Win/win. At least.

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  3. Your "bed" of flowers (ha!) is beautiful.

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  4. @Jenny_o...don't feel bad, it went right past me, too! :)

    I love your flowers! Happy 4th of July!

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  5. If you get terribly bored, you can visit here. I have tons off stuff needing repair. LOL.

    Love the truck!!!

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  6. Happy July! The flowers are beautiful, and I totally identify with your sentiments about the running board: "...stronger than the original, inexpensive, and didn't cause any unnecessary bleeding or swearing." That's my goal for any project!

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  7. The flowers are lovely. Good use for an old bed frame. Your handiwork on the running boards makes me jealous.

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  8. Anything is worth doing that doesn't cause "any unnecessary bleeding or swearing." Love the flower bed.

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  9. I am again catching up on blogs after a long time away. It is good to see that you are still up there, kicking. We made it up to Gooseberry over the weekend, on a quick day trip. The lake was gorgeous, calm as glass down toward Duluth. Glad your passengers will be able to get into that beauty of a red truck. Husband has one that looks pretty similar.

    Take care up there. Enjoy summer!

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  10. How industrious you are! Love the children's bed / flower bed.

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  11. Pixel Peeper, Glad you caught that so quickly!

    jenny_o, Sometimes I just sneak stuff in just to see what happens. Hope you had a happy 1st!

    Elephant's Child, All your flowers are amazing and exotic from my point of view.

    Sioux, All that for just a little grin.

    Jennifer, I hope yours was also happy.

    Dixie, Once I opened my eyes in my formative years boredom was a thing of the past. If it ever gets back to that point, however, I'll need directions to your place.

    Diane, It would have been a quiet day for Aydan Kelly.

    anne marie, We have a much shorter, but intense growing season here. When it snows in April I remember days back east being green and starting to bloom about the same time. I just sigh and get on with things.

    Blog Fodder, Sometimes I harken back to the days when I sold plasma to help get by and get cheap and inventive again. Nothing like reliving some of the bad old days.

    Tom, Once I got to the age of realizing I could be easily killed by stupidity I made a conscious effort toward self-preservation. It wasn't so long ago.

    alwaysinthebackrow, Glad you are getting up this general direction. The Tall Ships are coming to Duluth in August.

    Shoshanah, The bed was free for the taking and she made me stop and pick it up. I just hope nobody saw me.

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  12. how smart are you? pretty fecking smart..the running board is very very cool...
    and love the flower bed.

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  13. That flower bed brings back memories, it has been a long time since I slept in one (but probably in my student years..) Applause and very very well done for ending the planning and entering the execution stage of your project on the same day if it being finished! (Thrifty and better than original - hard to beat that!)

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  14. The running boards and the bed frame flower garden are ALL magnificent!

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  15. Love the new flower bed! And the flowers are beautiful too.

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