Different approach, food trucks, lots of falling down, new box, new lights, most expensive 4×4 ever

So I had an extremely labor filled weekend.  I tackled one of my least favorite tasks, cleaning the pool cage and deck area.  In the past I would solely rely on brute force water pressure to clean the mildew from the cage frame.  In order to get the top supports that span the pool I had to use multiple wand extensions that were extremely physically difficult to manage.  It was exhausting and pushed my shoulders and forearms to their limits.  I decided to try a different approach this time.

I used a pressure sprayer with a 50/50 bleach solution to soak those top frame pieces thoroughly.  After letting the solution work for a couple minutes I would just rinse them off with the much easier to manage electric pressure sprayer and they looked good as new.  It was a much better way to handle the job.  The only negative was I constantly had bleach solution dripping onto my head and body.  I am surprised my hair is not blonde today.

Later in the morning on Saturday I worked on installing some solar post lights I bought at Costco last week.  My thought was I wanted to install two of them on either side of the garage doors.  For years and years I had thought I would like to have some additional lighting at that spot and never got around to it because I did not want to have to run electricity for conventional wired lights.

The lights I bought were described as post lights but I thought they would do just fine flanking my garage door.  The stainless steel modern design looked sharp and the combination of solar and LED lights has really improved over recent years.  In order to make the lights more visible I trimmed back the hibiscus bush on the left side really hard.  I was even considering ripping it out completely but decided not to because of sentimental value.  It was given to me by my old boss when I moved into the house 16 years or so ago.

The main focus of the install was to make sure the lights were spaced evenly and installed at the same height.  It took a little bit of futzing to complete the job but I was very happy with the end result.  They looked very nice at night and threw a surprising amount of light.  I installed the other two on fence posts in the new chicken area, on either side of the access gate.

For lunch on Saturday Cindy and I did something unique, went to a food truck cook off at the same church I attended Christmas Eve services at.  The event was well attended with some of the food lines easily surpassing 50 people at some trucks.  Cindy and I ordered am eggplant parm sub with sweet potato fries.  It may have been the most tasty eggplant parm sub either of us has ever enjoyed.

Later in the afternoon Saturday I decided I would ride my Msuper over to the school to ride around and do some more backwards riding practice.  I have been progressively trying more difficult maneuvers going backwards.  On Saturday I was trying to do more turning while going backwards and the end result was rather violent, both to myself but much more to my Gotway Msuper which took several bad falls.  The wheel which was pretty pristine before I decided to try to learn riding backwards now is scarred with scratches and gouges all over the shell.  I also broke a fitting for the top button panel as well as my trolley handle during another fall.  I was not happy at all.

Sunday morning I started off with another 5K at the track.  Even though I still didn’t feel great running, the 55 degree air made it a lot more tolerable.  Later in the morning Cindy and I went to Home Depot where I finally bought a replacement mailbox.  My old box was held together with tape and wood screws, it looked definitively white trashy.  My thought was I would dig up the old post that was housed inside of a 5 gallon bucket filled with cement, move it back a little bit for additional safety and then mount the new box to the existing post.

So as I was digging around the existing post I made a large diameter hole to accommodate the size of the buried bucket but there was one problem, there was no bucket.  I had forgotten that the bucket mount was actually destroyed when the very first mailbox we had got run over a decade or more ago.  There was just a bare post in the ground that I could have simply pulled out.  Instead I now had huge four foot diameter hole that I didn’t need to dig.  I also was not happy to see the subterranean portion of the post looked like it had been partially eaten by termites, meaning I needed get a new 4×4 post, awesome.

I definitely did not want to drive all the way back to Home Depot for the post.  I recalled seeing the nearby hardware store mentioning they now sold some lumber.  I crossed my fingers that 4×4’s would be among thier selection.

So I walk in the store and tell the guy what I need.  He has a weird look on his face when he said he does have a couple pressure treated 4×4’s but they are very expensive.  How much, I asked.  $25 each he replies. Wow, I believe a pressure treated 4×4 from Home Depot is around $10.  Well I told the guy I didn’t feel like driving another 30 miles to go to Home Depot so I took it.  It felt/looked like the post was actually made of a hardwood like cedar so maybe that explains the ridiculous cost.

Once I had the new post the install was straight forward.  I used a post hole digger to create a new hole further from the driveway and the street to minimize odds of it getting whacked.  Back filling the unnecessary monster hole was a pain in the ass.  I had to haul extra dirt out front to fill it all the way.  The new mailbox looks great.  The only thing missing is a fresh set of numbers to stick to the sides of it which I will pick up after work tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon Cindy and I stopped at the school for some EUC riding.  Cindy, despite not riding the wheel for two weeks continued her strong progress, dealing with some gusty winds while doing her best riding yet.  She completed multiple laps around the track and did not drop her wheel a single time.  It was impressive considering the inconsistent time she gets on the EUC.

I was sad to hear Don Rickles died.  He was truly a unique character and the best insult comic I have ever seen.