How to Unfreeze a Garage Door (House Projects, Tom)

If you read CaringBridge this morning, you will note that when I tried to leave home this morning, I was surprised to find our garage door was frozen shut. Yesterday, instead of snowing in the morning and early afternoon, it rained. Mix that with the snow that came later and the sub-zero temperatures we're "enjoying" today, and you have the described predicament.

After I came to grips with the state of affairs, I turned to the geek's best friend, Google. I was dismayed to find that if you Google "Garage Door Frozen Shut," 75% of the advice is about car doors being frozen shut, 95% of the advice being about how to prevent it (not much help now, thankyouverymuch), and only a couple of items about how to solve the problem in the immediate sense.

So, in the interest of helping the community, here is what I did.

1. Push button again, in the hope that the door opener didn't understand your original intent.
2. Blink.
3. Pull the handle, trying to raise the door manually. Grunt loudly when the door, to your surprise, doesn't move. Making a whimpering sound is optional, but recommended.
4. Push up on the door, using all of your manly strength. Try to ignore the fact that you are being defeated by a thin layer of ice.
5. Kick the door, secretly hoping that you aren't going to dent it.
6. Run a hair dryer along the inside bottom edge, knowing full well that you are attempting to warm the entire garage floor.
7. Repeat the process on the outside bottom edge, knowing full well that you are now attempting to heat the garage floor and the state of Minnesota.
8. Put ice melting salt on the outside bottom edge of the garage door, praying that some chemist was smarter than you currently feel.
9. Go inside, eat three pancakes.
10. Use Google to search for ways to un-freeze door. (see definition: "Insult to Injury").
11. Pour windshield wiper fluid on outside bottom edge of door, add more ice-melting salt.
12. Play Yahtzee with son.
13. Use a putty knife to separate door gasket from concrete.
14. Success!

Danger on a Ladder (Catchup Post)

While I was wrapping up the painting on the front of our house, Ian had a friend over. We love to have Ian's little buddies over. Ian gets more peer interaction, we get to help out some fellow parents, and Deb & I are able to get something done. Win-win-win, right?

While on the ladder shown above, I was listening to the radio, but was able to catch this tail end of a conversation between Ian and a friend, both holding pretend lightsabers:

"...Dad up on a ladder!"
"Yeah! Let's whack it!"

Wrong.

I'm not scared of ladders; I just have a greater respect for gravity (and its consequences) while I'm on one. That bright idea got shut down, right away.

As promised, some pictures...

I promised some pictures last time, and I'm ready to deliver. And in only 3 days, too!

Well, anyway, there's some catching up to do. First off, at the end of August, I went home to Southern Illinois to attend the funeral of my stepfather, Frank Robinson. I received a surprise on our driveway when I got back:


It might be a little hard to see, but the chalk drawing on the left is of some balloons. On the right are the words "Welcome Home Dad!" If you look at the top of the drawing on the rights, there are white chalk lines going into our garage; Ian drew me a parking space.

Next up, we have kindergarten pictures. A couple of weeks ago, Ian started Kindergarten:

He was anxious to get there, but graciously paused long enough for a couple of pictures. When he finally got to his Kindergarten room, his patience was rewarded:

As soon as he walked in, he was confronted by one of his best friends, Adam. No doubt, they were discussing something of cosmic importance from the Star Wars universe.

Finally, I have been claiming for a couple of years that we needed to paint the house, and that this year (whatever year it happened to be) was the year it was going to be done. I am proud to say that Deb and I are almost done with the south side (the front of the house). Or, at least as much as we can do without a longer ladder. But, as evidence of our Herculean endeavor, here is a shot that shows off the old grey vs. the new grey:
On the left is our old, dingy grey. On the right is the new, "bluer" grey. Once we get the shutters back up, I'll post some more shots.