Out with the old, in with the new!

Hey friends!

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend! The weather here was BEAUTIFUL! Blue skies, warm sunshine and cool breezes. I'm generally not a Spring fan, but this weekend's weather was PERFECT! Unfortunately, it looks like we are jumping right into Summer this week, so the perfect weather was short-lived.

As I mentioned last week, Marty had a birthday. He generally HATES to celebrate his birthday, but we always try to do something a little special. We went out to eat to his favorite restaurant the Saturday before.

 And we went to his second favorite restaurant (and my favorite) the night of his actual birthday.

 

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" than some delicious food, right?  LOL

I wanted to get him something he wanted, but he never tells me anything. So, I drug him to our local home improvement store and refused to leave until he picked something out. We came home with this:

Yes, that's a grill....in our living room. We bought it unassembled, so Marty put it together in the comfort of the living room.  LOL  Even though it looked great, using a propane grill is prohibited indoors, so he finally took the plunge and dragged it outside.

Doesn't it look like a monster compared to the old grill?

He's chosen to leave it under the porch, with a cover, to protect it better.

I asked Marty if he wanted me to see if any of our friends wanted his old grill, but then he told me that he didn't think that would be a good idea. He then proceeds to tell me all the Maguyver-ing he's had to do to the grill to keep it functioning over the years. It's about 15 years old, so it's had a good, long life...full of many hot dogs, hamburgers, and fabulous rib-eyes. Whenever I've had a hankering for something grilled, I've told Marty and he's made it happen. I had NO idea what he had to do to make the old grill work!

First of all, the ignition switch stopped working long ago.  Even after multiple repairs, it's never really worked right. He always has to use a lighter to start it up. Then he has to scrape, scrape, scrape the grates where they are almost rusted through.  Next, the covers that are over the flames that helps to defuse them, have been gone a long time. So Marty manufactured new ones out of aluminum foil and wire coat hangers.  But the final straw was the bottom of the grill...or the actual LACK of a bottom.  He said the bottom has been completely rusted out for years, so he made a "new" one out of aluminum foil.

Who knew you could make edible (and quite delicious) food using a propane tank, rusted grates, coat hangers, and a ton of aluminum foil?

So I say good riddance to the old grill!  Out with the old, and in with the new!