I'm sitting here drinking my coffee & contemplating my Honey Do list for my three day weekend, and one of the tasks looming large is mowing both mine & my mother-in-law's lawns. I just mowed them on Monday so neither one is over the top yet, but part of me wants to mow them today because:
1) It's not supposed to rain today, whereas tomorrow & Sunday are iffy
2) Wifey has to work tonight & I'm home with the damned weiner kids, so I have to stay reasonably sober today anyways & can't really do anything tonight
3) If I get it out of the way today I can focus on "Cleaning The Garage" tomorrow. My wife & I have a code:
Cleaning The Garage - Means, well, cleaning the garage...
'Cleaning The Garage' (single quotes) - Means I dink & dunk at it for an hour or so then start drinking beer...
"Cleaning The Garage" (double quotes) - Means that the garage is about to be buried in a sea of empty beer cans...
Or something. Mom-in-law's lawn literally takes me five minutes to mow -- it almost takes me longer to drive over there than it does to cut the grass, then I hang out with her, drink a beer, smoke a couple of smokes & Shoot The Shit for another hour or so before heading home. My lawn takes about 45 minutes or so to mow. I get the outside of the fence, the south side of the house then the west side of the back yard before I shut 'er down for my first union-mandated "Beer & Smoke Break" (which is right when I need to refill the gas anyways), then I finish off the rest of the back yard & have my second union-mandated "Beer & Smoke Break."
Mower isn't anything fancy, just a non-SP push mower (22"? 23"?) with a mulching blade so I don't have to worry about bagging -- the cut grass is all chopped up & falls loosely into the yard instead of in clumps. Or something. I refuse to bag grass. My old man was a Lawn Nazi when I was growing up & I refuse to get caught up in that shit. Yay, Rebellion. Next thing you know I'll be staying up past midnight...
So, tell me about your lawn mowing exploits. Your lawns, your mowers, your rituals. Do you have sheep eating your lawn like The Brain? Or do you sit in a white linen suit drinking mint juleps & watch brown people mow your lawn like Ed Anger? Enquiring minds want to know...
:ccr
What is this "lawn" you're talking about? :unsure:
My lawn mowing ritual is: pay a hillbilly to do it and then gnash teeth when he fails to show up on the date promised.
After my last deployment I never stopped paying for someone to keep up my yard. More PS3 gaming family time.
Alright, Sunday looks clear and Wifey has running around to do this morning & tomorrow morning, so Sunday it shall be. Weiner kid #1 has school today, so I'll be hanging out with the dog & Weiner kid #2 for awhile. Which is Nice...
Actually, I mow my own lawn. An hour riding around? Fine by me.
I mow my lawn. First, I rake up the branches, magnolia pods, and dog shit. Then, I mow and edge. All in all, one hour.
I'll start doing it myself once I clean out the garage enough to fit a ZTR in there. ZTR mowers = fun.
You gotta have a zero turn radius mower. Using an old fashioned riding lawn mower is just so low class and for the poors.
Quote from: Caliga on May 06, 2011, 08:38:55 AM
I'll start doing it myself once I clean out the garage enough to fit a ZTR in there. ZTR mowers = fun.
Is that
clean out the garage
'clean out the garage'
or
"clean out the garage"
:shifty:
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 08:42:19 AM
You gotta have a zero turn radius mower. Using an old fashioned riding lawn mower is just so low class and for the poors.
:yes:
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 08:42:42 AM
Is that
clean out the garage
'clean out the garage'
or
"clean out the garage"
:shifty:
'pay a slackjaw to clean out the garage' :)
I like riding my mower down the street, just to annoy the neighbors.
I try to put it off until the grass is 6 inches tall or more.
Quote from: Caliga on May 06, 2011, 08:45:36 AM
'pay a slackjaw to clean out the garage' :)
If I lived closer I'd "clean the garage" for you if you provided the beer...
:hug:
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 08:46:03 AM
I like riding my mower down the street, just to annoy the neighbors.
:lol:
I'm deep enough into Hicksville that the riding mower is a common mode of transportation for poorer DUI convicts to & from the bar. Some of the more well-to-do DUI convicts use golf carts...
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 08:57:26 AM
If I lived closer I'd "clean the garage" for you if you provided the beer...
:hug:
I have about half of a twelver of PBR in the fridge. :cool:
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 07:34:23 AM
So, tell me about your lawn mowing exploits. Your lawns, your mowers, your rituals. Do you have sheep eating your lawn like The Brain? Or do you sit in a white linen suit drinking mint juleps & watch brown people mow your lawn like Ed Anger? Enquiring minds want to know...
:ccr
I need about 1.5-2 hrs for the motorized lawn-mower on my yard. Then I need to use the small lawn-mower to cut around the trees, add another 2hrs, then I need to use the weed-eater to finish the job around the fence, the trees and the ditches wich takes about 1.5 hours
Once it's done, I need to do it at my father's place, at the rental house and around the company's buildings, wich takes about 2 more hours.
I usually don't drink beer while doing this, or before this. Once it's done, it's bbq time with a good bottle of wine.
Quote from: Caliga on May 06, 2011, 08:38:55 AM
I'll start doing it myself once I clean out the garage enough to fit a ZTR in there. ZTR mowers = fun.
I should be getting one this week or the next, a 48". I used a regular tractor in the past, but my father sold it along with is other tractor and snow blower to buy a bigger one for the winter. Don't see myself using the 12" all summer long.
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 08:59:45 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 08:46:03 AM
I like riding my mower down the street, just to annoy the neighbors.
:lol:
I'm deep enough into Hicksville that the riding mower is a common mode of transportation for poorer DUI convicts to & from the bar. Some of the more well-to-do DUI convicts use golf carts...
The best ones are the ones arrested for drunk driving of a lawn mower. :menace:
I'm loooking forward to soem good old-fashioned lawn mowing. I haven't had a lawn for 5 years (my old house was gravel in front, forest in back).
Quote from: Caliga on May 06, 2011, 09:01:19 AM
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 08:57:26 AM
If I lived closer I'd "clean the garage" for you if you provided the beer...
:hug:
I have about half of a twelver of PBR in the fridge. :cool:
:mmm:
Quote from: Barrister on May 06, 2011, 09:11:49 AM
(my old house was gravel in front, forest in back)
There's a bawdy joke in there somewhere, but I'm too distracted making Weiner kid #2's breakfast to go looking for it...
:P
Quote from: viper37 on May 06, 2011, 09:07:47 AM
I need about 1.5-2 hrs for the motorized lawn-mower on my yard. Then I need to use the small lawn-mower to cut around the trees, add another 2hrs, then I need to use the weed-eater to finish the job around the fence, the trees and the ditches wich takes about 1.5 hours
Once it's done, I need to do it at my father's place, at the rental house and around the company's buildings, wich takes about 2 more hours.
I usually don't drink beer while doing this, or before this. Once it's done, it's bbq time with a good bottle of wine.
Is this once a week? Every two weeks?
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 09:20:45 AM
Quote from: viper37 on May 06, 2011, 09:07:47 AM
I need about 1.5-2 hrs for the motorized lawn-mower on my yard. Then I need to use the small lawn-mower to cut around the trees, add another 2hrs, then I need to use the weed-eater to finish the job around the fence, the trees and the ditches wich takes about 1.5 hours
Once it's done, I need to do it at my father's place, at the rental house and around the company's buildings, wich takes about 2 more hours.
I usually don't drink beer while doing this, or before this. Once it's done, it's bbq time with a good bottle of wine.
Is this once a week? Every two weeks?
once a week from May to the end of July, once every two weeks from August to the end of September.
I bet I'm going to have to do this today. SHIT.
Maybe I'll run over a rabbit. Fucking vermin.
Quote from: viper37 on May 06, 2011, 09:22:51 AM
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 09:20:45 AM
Quote from: viper37 on May 06, 2011, 09:07:47 AM
I need about 1.5-2 hrs for the motorized lawn-mower on my yard. Then I need to use the small lawn-mower to cut around the trees, add another 2hrs, then I need to use the weed-eater to finish the job around the fence, the trees and the ditches wich takes about 1.5 hours
Once it's done, I need to do it at my father's place, at the rental house and around the company's buildings, wich takes about 2 more hours.
I usually don't drink beer while doing this, or before this. Once it's done, it's bbq time with a good bottle of wine.
Is this once a week? Every two weeks?
once a week from May to the end of July, once every two weeks from August to the end of September.
viper wins the thread...
;)
I generally adhere to the Hank Hill philosophy on lawn care-- that cutting grass is a privilege you look forward to doing. Since we've been in our house (coming up on 5 years) I've had to establish with the wife that the lawn is to be a high priority. It's sometimes the first thing people notice when they look at the house, and a well cared-for lawn can be a cheap way to increase or preserve your property value. At times I've taken time off of work just to cut my grass. I've become: my dad, minus the installed sprinkler system.
I've stayed away from riding mowers since some weeks cutting the grass is the most exercise I get. I was offered one for free by my cousin but passed on it. The idea of smoking a cigar and/or drinking a beer while mowing the lawn is alluring, but it'd be too much of a guilty pleasure. Walk-behind, self-propelled, mulching mowers are the way to go IMO. My "self-propelled" mower does only a small part of the work, but it helps a little with the side/back yard (I live on the side of a hill).
Re: garages, my mother in law decided to "organize" my garage for me a few days ago. She did it before when she was visiting, also without asking me. She apparently decided to organize things based upon aesthetics rather than on a functional basis-- e.g., my car-washing stuff is spread across the entire garage. Never let a woman organize your garage :angry:
Never let a woman in the garage.
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 09:22:58 AM
Maybe I'll run over a rabbit. Fucking vermin.
I thought of you the other day...
On the far side of my neighbor's house the city owns a sliver of property that they use for storage, including several stacks of bricks.
Also, the local rabbit pack hangs out in my neighbor's yard.
So...
The other day my dog Stanley shot the gap between my fence & the neighbor's garage after one rabbit, flushed another rabbit out of a pile of sticks in the neighbor's burn pile and then chased those two rabbits plus a third rabbit in random figure eights around the multiple piles of bricks in the city lot. Watching them all weave & bob, appear & disappear was like some bizzare cross between a Benny Hill sketch & the Musical Interlude of a Scooby Doo episode. I think I peed myself a little from laughing so hard...
:lol:
Quote from: derspiess on May 06, 2011, 09:31:10 AM
Re: garages, my mother in law decided to "organize" my garage for me a few days ago. She did it before when she was visiting, also without asking me. She apparently decided to organize things based upon aesthetics rather than on a functional basis-- e.g., my car-washing stuff is spread across the entire garage. Never let a woman organize your garage :angry:
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 09:34:42 AM
Never let a woman in the garage.
Word. It's like giving a girlfriend a dresser drawer & then waking up one day to find that she's giving your concert t-shirts to goodwill to make more room in your closet for her fucking shoes -- only in the garage she's doing it to the shit that you really, *REALLY* care about, just to replace it with the shit that she can't even be bothered to keep in the house...
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 09:42:16 AM
Quote from: derspiess on May 06, 2011, 09:31:10 AM
Re: garages, my mother in law decided to "organize" my garage for me a few days ago. She did it before when she was visiting, also without asking me. She apparently decided to organize things based upon aesthetics rather than on a functional basis-- e.g., my car-washing stuff is spread across the entire garage. Never let a woman organize your garage :angry:
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 09:34:42 AM
Never let a woman in the garage.
Word. It's like giving a girlfriend a dresser drawer & then waking up one day to find that she's giving your concert t-shirts to goodwill to make more room in your closet for her fucking shoes -- only in the garage she's doing it to the shit that you really, *REALLY* care about, just to replace it with the shit that she can't even be bothered to keep in the house...
I'm thinking about getting a second shed, having electricity wired into it and hiding there.
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 09:27:26 AM
Quote from: viper37 on May 06, 2011, 09:22:51 AM
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 09:20:45 AM
Quote from: viper37 on May 06, 2011, 09:07:47 AM
I need about 1.5-2 hrs for the motorized lawn-mower on my yard. Then I need to use the small lawn-mower to cut around the trees, add another 2hrs, then I need to use the weed-eater to finish the job around the fence, the trees and the ditches wich takes about 1.5 hours
Once it's done, I need to do it at my father's place, at the rental house and around the company's buildings, wich takes about 2 more hours.
I usually don't drink beer while doing this, or before this. Once it's done, it's bbq time with a good bottle of wine.
Is this once a week? Every two weeks?
once a week from May to the end of July, once every two weeks from August to the end of September.
viper wins the thread...
;)
and we haven't got to the part where I take care of the flowers and the garden yet...
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 09:44:07 AM
I'm thinking about getting a second shed, having electricity wired into it and hiding there.
Every married man should have a Man Cave, whatever incarnation it may take. An inviolable, estrogen-free sanctuary where He is free to soar with the eagles or root with the hogs -- or do both simultaneously, which is often the case for me.
My personal white trashlicious Man Cave is a detached single car garage with a couch, full size fridge, TV with cable, homemade poker table and the Man Stereo with turntable & the old-school Pioneer speakers with 15" woofers. In "The Grand Scheme of Life" & shit it isn't much, but it is my own little Fortress of Solitude, where after three consecutive 12 hour days in a 105 deg factory I can go home, guzzle PBR, throw darts, toss cards around with The Boys, watch The Game & air guitar to classic rock.
Or, that's the theory at least. Having to lean around little pink bicycles & jogging strollers to throw darts has a tendancy to spoil The Mood. My wife is generally sympathetic (and even supportive!) of the overall concept of The Man Cave, but Spring is now upon us and for the first time this year the weather promises to cooperate with me on this (for me) three day weekend. The time for me to go out & Mark My Territory is NOW, and Hod help any Weiner Kids or bearers of Weiner Kids that get in my way.
Stanley is welcome, though. Hell, he's probably more Manly than I am these days -- I have been fixed & he has not, so he's one up on me. Well, actually two, but who's counting?
:ccr
I've got the Angertorium in the basement. Sadly, I had an intercom installed. :headslap:
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 10:17:34 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 09:44:07 AM
I'm thinking about getting a second shed, having electricity wired into it and hiding there.
Every married man should have a Man Cave, whatever incarnation it may take. An inviolable, estrogen-free sanctuary where He is free to soar with the eagles or root with the hogs -- or do both simultaneously, which is often the case for me.
My personal white trashlicious Man Cave is a detached single car garage with a couch, full size fridge, TV with cable, homemade poker table and the Man Stereo with turntable & the old-school Pioneer speakers with 15" woofers. In "The Grand Scheme of Life" & shit it isn't much, but it is my own little Fortress of Solitude, where after three consecutive 12 hour days in a 105 deg factory I can go home, guzzle PBR, throw darts, toss cards around with The Boys, watch The Game & air guitar to classic rock.
Or, that's the theory at least. Having to lean around little pink bicycles & jogging strollers to throw darts has a tendancy to spoil The Mood. My wife is generally sympathetic (and even supportive!) of the overall concept of The Man Cave, but Spring is now upon us and for the first time this year the weather promises to cooperate with me on this (for me) three day weekend. The time for me to go out & Mark My Territory is NOW, and Hod help any Weiner Kids or bearers of Weiner Kids that get in my way.
Stanley is welcome, though. Hell, he's probably more Manly than I am these days -- I have been fixed & he has not, so he's one up on me. Well, actually two, but who's counting?
:ccr
:lol:
CCR, you're have one of the best writing styles on the forum. :cheers:
I allowed Roscoe P. Coltrane into my Man Cave for the first time this week. He: ate lint off the floor the whole time.
As it happens I'm just about to embark on a life-time on lawn mowing rituals. To be honest, I'm a lawn-mowing neophyte (I think I mowed my grandparents lawn a few times as a young one, but that was a labour task not an organizational one).
The sod got installed a little while ago and it's been raining and shining in about equal measures, so the grass is growing nice and long. I will probably have to purchase a lawnmower soon.
I'm thinking of getting a pretty basic push mowing kind of deal, for three reasons:
1. It's cheap and I gotta economize these days.
2. Our lawn is not particularly big.
3. A little bit of extra excercise is not a bad thing for someone who's mostly computer bound, like me.
A question to all you lawn mowing old-timers:
What's the pros and cons of leaving the grass where it is, cut, rather than raking it in and putting it with the yard waste?
Man, mowing sucks, and it just gets worse when summertime comes around. Thankfully, it doesn't take me very long to do it since the house itself takes up most of the lot. I also only do the annoyingly sloped + irritatingly narrow side with the goddamn gate that sticks every other week (I mow everything else weekly). Works out nicely that way.
Hopefully most everything will die with the water restrictions that are most likely coming so I can go to every other week, and if I forget or get lazy, who cares because it's not really getting longer anyway! :)
Edit: My "man cave" is the back living room. Computer, TV, stereo, PS3, etc, back here. The downside is it's all the way across the house from the garage, which is where the beer fridge is, but it is next to the kitchen (which is also where all the booze is), so I can just bring multiple beers in and stash them in the regular fridge. I'm considering getting a couple club chairs for back here, but haven't pulled the trigger yet because club chairs aren't cheap dammit. They would also block my view of the TV from the desk if/when I get them, so... :hmm:
As for man-caves... I don't have a man-cave as much as I have a nerd-cave.
When we were building the house, I originally claimed the top floor of the house as my nerd-lair. Alas, I had to give half of it up to her, for her own studying and other office purposes. But I still have a nice sized area littered with RPG books and miniatures and art supplies and books and brick-a-brack, and my computer of course.
It probably doesn't have enough tools to be considered a man-cave (I'm not sure an easle, brushes, paint, photo supplies etc are universally considered tools for this purpose), but it's my cave and I will defend it to the death.
Quote from: jamesww on May 06, 2011, 10:31:20 AM
:lol:
CCR, you're have one of the best writing styles on the forum. :cheers:
I appreciate your compliment, but to be fair I stole my act from Hunter S. Thompson, whose work I greatly admired until he blatantly plagiarized the ending to
The Ernest Hemmingway Story...
<_<
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Alright, I'm about to initiate Operation Clean Man Cave immediately -- while I was showing this thread to Wifey my Weiner Kid #2 got into a tube of hand lotion & got it smeared into her shirt, pants, hair, face, rug & Stanley, and while trying to run her down to clean her off she got it smeared all over the living room & half the kitchen.
I'm going upstairs to put on pants, then I am taking my three big garbage bags of the Winter's crushed empty beer cans into the local scrapyard for some $$$. It should be after noon when I return, setting me up to fill the next three garbage bags...
:shifty:
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 11:12:26 AM
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Alright, I'm about to initiate Operation Clean Man Cave immediately -- while I was showing this thread to Wifey my Weiner Kid #2 got into a tube of hand lotion & got it smeared into her shirt, pants, hair, face, rug & Stanley, and while trying to run her down to clean her off she got it smeared all over the living room & half the kitchen.
:XD:
When I was in Canada, we hired a gardener.
Wicked.
40 lbs of empty beer cans @ $.75/lb worked out to $30 in my pocket for garbage that we just gave away when I was living in the 'burbs. What a fucking country!
:ccr
Quote from: Jacob on May 06, 2011, 10:50:09 AM
As for man-caves... I don't have a man-cave as much as I have a nerd-cave.
When we were building the house, I originally claimed the top floor of the house as my nerd-lair. Alas, I had to give half of it up to her, for her own studying and other office purposes. But I still have a nice sized area littered with RPG books and miniatures and art supplies and books and brick-a-brack, and my computer of course.
It probably doesn't have enough tools to be considered a man-cave (I'm not sure an easle, brushes, paint, photo supplies etc are universally considered tools for this purpose), but it's my cave and I will defend it to the death.
Somehow I did manage to snag an "office" in the new house. It only has my computer and several hundred books. :wub:
This ties back to my "computer in the kitchen" thread as I do have to occasionally share the King of Macs with the wife until we get her own computer set up again... :shifty:
Offices count as Man Caves, IMO. Its all about you & what you want to do. My personal setting basically has to be outside because I smoke & haven't smoked in my own home since Wifey & I first started trying to get pregnant ten years ago -- everything else is more or less a customization of the smoking hut...
:ccr
The big question for my office is whetehr or not to set up a small tv in there. I mean there's a big TV in the adjoining room 30 feet away, and it's not as if I WATCH tv in my office, but it is nice to BS with languishites about what is happening in the Big Game or Big Election.
Quote from: Barrister on May 06, 2011, 12:53:16 PM
The big question for my office is whetehr or not to set up a small tv in there. I mean there's a big TV in the adjoining room 30 feet away, and it's not as if I WATCH tv in my office, but it is nice to BS with languishites about what is happening in the Big Game or Big Election.
The TV is a no-brainer, IMO -- do it ASAFP. The *big* step to the Man Cave, though, is when you add the couch/ hide-a-bed/ recliner (where you can sleep hiding from the wife & kids) and/or add the poker table (where you can hang with The Boys away from the wife & kids).
Or something. I guess I'm projecting a little with the whole "hiding from the wife & kids" thing. Your Man Cave is about what *YOU* want to do, so if you want a TV then put one in there. Stat.
Quote from: C.C.R. on May 06, 2011, 01:00:42 PM
Quote from: Barrister on May 06, 2011, 12:53:16 PM
The big question for my office is whetehr or not to set up a small tv in there. I mean there's a big TV in the adjoining room 30 feet away, and it's not as if I WATCH tv in my office, but it is nice to BS with languishites about what is happening in the Big Game or Big Election.
The TV is a no-brainer, IMO -- do it ASAFP. The *big* step to the Man Cave, though, is when you add the couch/ hide-a-bed/ recliner (where you can sleep hiding from the wife & kids) and/or add the poker table (where you can hang with The Boys away from the wife & kids).
Or something. I guess I'm projecting a little with the whole "hiding from the wife & kids" thing. Your Man Cave is about what *YOU* want to do, so if you want a TV then put one in there. Stat.
But if I put in a couch / recliner, that might just encourage people to come in and visit with me. :hmm:
Quote from: Barrister on May 06, 2011, 01:03:39 PM
But if I put in a couch / recliner, that might just encourage people to come in and visit with me. :hmm:
The proper decor might help encourage the "proper" people to visit (and discourage the "improper" people)...
:shifty:
Heh, I'm gonna have to come back to this thread when I design my library. :D
Quote from: MadBurgerMaker on May 06, 2011, 10:47:07 AM
Edit: My "man cave" is the back living room. Computer, TV, stereo, PS3, etc, back here. The downside is it's all the way across the house from the garage, which is where the beer fridge is, but it is next to the kitchen (which is also where all the booze is), so I can just bring multiple beers in and stash them in the regular fridge. I'm considering getting a couple club chairs for back here, but haven't pulled the trigger yet because club chairs aren't cheap dammit. They would also block my view of the TV from the desk if/when I get them, so... :hmm:
Missed this edit earlier. Sorry. And general apologies to anybody that's still serious about posting about lawn mowing after the Man Cave tangent, but fuck it, I've lost interest in that angle. Its who I am.
Anyhoo, couple of thoughts on your Man Cave:
1) A cooler in the back living room would be acceptable for extended parties of visitors. Sure, the condensation might leak onto the carpet, but its only water. In the Long Term you can always pick up a dorm-sized fridge to put in there. My first Beer Fridge was one of the tiny ones that I picked up in a garage sale for $20 & that fucker lasted me the better part of ten years. Its still kicking now, in fact, I just no longer own it -- but that's a story for another day...
2) Fuck club chairs. Get four or six foldable camping chairs in the carry bags from Wal-Mart & bust them out when you need them. And if you can score one I also recommend one or more of the foldable camping tables that also fit in the carry bags. I have two & I love the snot out of 'em. One of them is actually the base for the poker table in my garage that I made out of plywood & a vinyl tablecloth...
Or something. Your mileage may vary...
:ccr
Frankly I'm more interested in the Man Cave tangent too. :ccr
But you and I are talking about somewhat different kinds of Man Caves methinks. My dream man cave would be done up as a very old-fashioned library. Built in floor to ceilign bookcases, over-stuffed leather chairs, oak panelling on the walls, and a nice large office desk in the middle.
We don't have the space or budget for that - but I am making progress. :shifty:
My mini-law library has been in boxes for 10 years - and now it's out! Okay, so my copies of Halsbury's Laws of England, and the All England Law Reports (1700-1980) aren't in my office, but rather in the family room just outside my office, but progress is progress.
In the office itself there are 3 more bookcases for my history and fiction books, plus the computer desk. At this point there's no more room for further chairs or sofas. :( But a small flatscreen tv might fit.
As would a beer fridge. I usually have a cold one at the computer after the baby goes to bed. I'd be afraid a beer fridge in the office might be a little too convenient though. :blush:
But I may yet pull the trigger on one. The adjoining family room has an older (but expensive teakwood) dining table that is perfect for poker when the right time comes. Perhaps that is where the beer fridge should go. Tere are already too many baby toys for THAT room to be a Man Cave, but I could make it more Manly...
Mowing is an involved process at the CC household. First I have to decide which boy will do the mowing. This has to be done equitably having regard to the earning of allowance, who has been doing more "unpaid" work around the house and so is more entitled to this "paid" job while not alienating the other sibling.
Also, it must be a good Hammock day. There is no point having the boys mow the lawn if I cannot watch/listen from the comfort of my Hammock.
The biggest issue is what to read/drink while on the Hammock and that is directly related to the day and time the lawn is mowed. I prefer a weekend afternoon so that alcoholic drinks are more viable. As for reading, it has be be something I dont mind putting down mid page as I dose off into a nap. Watching the boys work is tiring after all.
Quote from: Barrister on May 06, 2011, 02:08:00 PM
As would a beer fridge. I usually have a cold one at the computer after the baby goes to bed. I'd be afraid a beer fridge in the office might be a little too convenient though. :blush:
But on the other hand it should not be too far away. My beer fridge is in the garage adjoining the house. I just have to walk out of my Den (well named) through the landry room (careful not to notice any of the laundry that might need to be done) and enter into the garage. The whole route is well away from any areas of the house anyone else might regularly inhabit. Its perfect.
My wine cellar is further away but that IS a good thing.
Quote from: Barrister on May 06, 2011, 02:08:00 PM
But you and I are talking about somewhat different kinds of Man Caves methinks.
Of course we are. A Man Cave is as unique a snowflake as the man whose cave it is and shit. Or something. The very point of the exercise is to conceive & implement an artificial environment that would most make *YOU* happy, and I don't see it as a very big imaginative stretch for the rest of us to see that a personal library would make you and/or Malthus happy, just like I doubt it is very big imaginative stretch to picture the Hanson Brothers and McKenzie Brothers MacFarlane toys on the shelf in my garage & the Wedge Antilles flying an X-Wing fighter hanging from fishing line chasing the TIE Fighter hanging from another fishing line that adorn *MY* Man Cave.
Different strokes, Baby. It's what you want to do & who you want to be. A good Man Cave impresses others, but an excellent Man Cave impresses its master. Wow. This beer tastes good today...
:ccr
Quote from: Jacob on May 06, 2011, 10:44:22 AM
As it happens I'm just about to embark on a life-time on lawn mowing rituals. To be honest, I'm a lawn-mowing neophyte (I think I mowed my grandparents lawn a few times as a young one, but that was a labour task not an organizational one).
The sod got installed a little while ago and it's been raining and shining in about equal measures, so the grass is growing nice and long. I will probably have to purchase a lawnmower soon.
I'm thinking of getting a pretty basic push mowing kind of deal, for three reasons:
1. It's cheap and I gotta economize these days.
2. Our lawn is not particularly big.
3. A little bit of extra excercise is not a bad thing for someone who's mostly computer bound, like me.
A question to all you lawn mowing old-timers:
What's the pros and cons of leaving the grass where it is, cut, rather than raking it in and putting it with the yard waste?
No mowing until september!
Quote from: Jacob on May 06, 2011, 10:44:22 AM
What's the pros and cons of leaving the grass where it is, cut, rather than raking it in and putting it with the yard waste?
The only downside is you might track some of the grass inside if you walk on it. The upside is you get more water retention during the summer
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 09:44:07 AM
I'm thinking about getting a second shed, having electricity wired into it and hiding there.
So can we start calling you Ed "Two Sheds" Anger? :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLjS3gzHetA
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 10:20:35 AM
I've got the Angertorium in the basement.
I lost my office to my baby girl and I've finally completed moving everything down to the basement. By reorganizing the entire basement & getting rid of a ton of crap we never should have kept in the first place, it looks like I should carve out a fairly decent man/nerd cave for myself. I bought a gun safe to hold my entire milsurp rifle/pistol collection (recently culled to capitalize on some things that are now kinda rare) and I put some wooden shelves up to hold ammo/accessories. In the same space I'm setting up 3 desks, an old 25" CRT TV, and a shelving unit full of all my gadgets, computer parts, etc.
Walls look kinda bare-- I may put up some camouflage netting or something to give that part of the basement some character.
QuoteSadly, I had an intercom installed. :headslap:
:nelson:
A few years ago my sister in law gave my brother a wireless intercom system *for his birthday* so she could more conveniently nag him while he's in the basement & she's upstairs. I hadn't seen my brother that pissed since I broke his Roger Staubach toy figure back around 1980.
Mostly, I pray for a drought that will kill the lawn so it doesn't need mowing. Worked pretty well the year I lived in Lewisburg--I mowed a couple of times early in the spring and then everything was brown and dead and I didn't have to mow again till the first week of October.
Actually, that was the last year I had to mow. Since then, I've either lived somewhere that the landlord had it taken care of, or when I lived with my mom, she just had me start the mower for her and then she did the mowing.
Years ago I used to rent a house, that was built on former heathland; I took great pleasure in 'encouraging' the garden to revert to something approximating to it's former state, the neighbours were not amused. :whistle:
Quote from: derspiess on May 06, 2011, 03:07:48 PM
:nelson:
A few years ago my sister in law gave my brother a wireless intercom system *for his birthday* so she could more conveniently nag him while he's in the basement & she's upstairs. I hadn't seen my brother that pissed since I broke his Roger Staubach toy figure back around 1980.
I took the lesser annoyance of an intercom than the greater annoyance of people yelling in the house and stomping of the floor to get my attention.
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 06, 2011, 05:19:21 PM
Quote from: derspiess on May 06, 2011, 03:07:48 PM
:nelson:
A few years ago my sister in law gave my brother a wireless intercom system *for his birthday* so she could more conveniently nag him while he's in the basement & she's upstairs. I hadn't seen my brother that pissed since I broke his Roger Staubach toy figure back around 1980.
I took the lesser annoyance of an intercom than the greater annoyance of people yelling in the house and stomping of the floor to get my attention.
I thought that was just your in-law round for a hoe down ? :unsure:
Quote from: Barrister on May 06, 2011, 02:08:00 PM
Frankly I'm more interested in the Man Cave tangent too. :ccr
But you and I are talking about somewhat different kinds of Man Caves methinks. My dream man cave would be done up as a very old-fashioned library. Built in floor to ceilign bookcases, over-stuffed leather chairs, oak panelling on the walls, and a nice large office desk in the middle.
We don't have the space or budget for that - but I am making progress. :shifty:
My mini-law library has been in boxes for 10 years - and now it's out! Okay, so my copies of Halsbury's Laws of England, and the All England Law Reports (1700-1980) aren't in my office, but rather in the family room just outside my office, but progress is progress.
In the office itself there are 3 more bookcases for my history and fiction books, plus the computer desk. At this point there's no more room for further chairs or sofas. :( But a small flatscreen tv might fit.
As would a beer fridge. I usually have a cold one at the computer after the baby goes to bed. I'd be afraid a beer fridge in the office might be a little too convenient though. :blush:
But I may yet pull the trigger on one. The adjoining family room has an older (but expensive teakwood) dining table that is perfect for poker when the right time comes. Perhaps that is where the beer fridge should go. Tere are already too many baby toys for THAT room to be a Man Cave, but I could make it more Manly...
Heh, you and I think alike. You saw my mini-office with bookcases ... my dream, when I build my addition, is a full scale library with floor to ceiling bookcases of carved wood, with a skylight, overstuffed reading chair, and computer desk ...
Quote from: Malthus on May 07, 2011, 01:02:13 PM
Heh, you and I think alike. You saw my mini-office with bookcases ... my dream, when I build my addition, is a full scale library with floor to ceiling bookcases of carved wood, with a skylight, overstuffed reading chair, and computer desk ...
:thumbsup: