One Wingnut Too Many

[Donna K & Quincy]

We all know that men are not known for reading directions and my DH is no exception. We bought a new barbecue grill with some assembly required. The instructions said 'easy assembly' but the person who wrote that had obviously not met my DH.

I try not to get involved in these things but as inevitably happens I get sucked into helping. Now helping to assemble a barbecue was not in my plans at 9:30 in the evening but DH just had to put that barbecue together tonight. I stayed out of the way until I was paged for the first time, "Lend me your glasses, I can't see where this piece goes".

 So I look at the diagram, show him where the mystery piece belongs and go back to DK. I might have known it was too good to be true and sure enough a few seconds later, "Can you come here and give me a hand"? Another look at the diagram and a point to the appropriate spot for the piece he was holding and I tried to get away again, but luck was not on my side. I finally gave in and just helped him out.

Finally the whole thing was assembled and DH proudly announced, "It's all done and I only have a few pieces left over". Now I don't know a lot about assembling things but it's not dinner and I am pretty sure there aren't supposed to be 'leftovers' . What do you have left I asked? "Some screws and two wingnuts" he said. "No you're wrong I said, there are three wingnuts". "No there are only two" he said with a somewhat puzzled look on his face and two wingnuts in his hand. "Yes, there are three wingnuts and the third one is holding the other two".

 He finally clued in and I read the directions to see where the wingnuts belonged and he finished the task. I took one look at the assembled barbecue and asked just one question. " How are you planning to get that outside, it is too big to fit through the door"? So out comes the screwdriver and the barbecue is partially disassembled again to get it out the door. Now he just had to fire it up to see how hot it would get and only burned two fingers in the process because for some inexplicable reason the electric start didn't work.

Well, the barbecue is all assembled and working with only one wingnut left over and since I've been married to him for 34 years I guess I'm stuck with him.

We just built a new front deck with an immense amount of help from my brother. This weekend DH and I have to figure out how to put a railing around it, that should be a load of fun. I think about then I'll ready for a good game of Whack a Wingnut.

 

[Donna K & Quincy]

@Laurie, You are not a wingnut if you don't assemble anything, that makes you a wise woman. A couple of weeks ago, I watched 3 men, my DH included get a measuring tape out to see if the fridge we were disposing of would fit out the door. DUH! How did they think it got in?

[Donna K & Quincy]

@F, Discussions are better!

[Donna K & Quincy]

@Bonnie, The railing is up and no wingnuts got whacked in the process. :>)

@BG, Dinner was cooked on the grill tonight and I didn't have to lift a finger. Grilled scallops, yum!

@Camilla, If you can assemble Ikea furniture a barbecue grill should be a snap, just be careful about leftovers.

@Karen, Glad you liked the graphic, there seems to be an abundance of wingnuts that need whacking. :>)

@Jane and Jane, There have been times when it would have been a lot wiser to hire someone. My friend is still laughing at the time DH and I were hanging wallpaper, she was sure there would be a divorce in the works. That was a very long time ago and we haven't wallpapered anything since. Luckily wallpaper went out of vogue and it scares me just a little that it is making a comeback.

@Jarka, LOL, I think you my be right and they haven't improved on the original model one bit. I will have to check out that book.

@Ricki, I think that tree just passed out in shock as it probably thought it was next.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Yes, I often rely on the pictures. Planning ahead is always good. You don't end up with the door being too narrow : )

[Donna K & Quincy]

@F, Generally the pictures are usually a good indication of where parts go and I agree those instructions do leave a lot of unanswered questions. When we are doing a project I am the think ahead person, DH lives in the moment.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Very, very funny Donna!!!  My husband NEVER reads directions; however, he's mechanical enough that he usually doesn't need to.  Makes for a rather boring marriage (at least in that respect).

[Bonnie and Kona]

@Ricki, "tree suicide"??? dying laughing! OMD "Yikes, they are cutting down that tree, I'm just going to lay down and die." hahahaha 

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

I do not care for "needs assembly" sorts of items... Makes me cringe just to think about it.

This was very funny and I especially loved the need disassemble to get it through the door!

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

So funny! Good luck with the railing, I sense another blog could be on it's way! : )

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

OMD!! This sound SO familiar!  We had a "DIY project gone bad" yesterday too. DH and a neighbor were cutting down a tree when suddenly the tree next to it fell over (spontaneous tree suicide?) and smashed our shed!!  I'm not sure I can actually blame this on my DH but since he was in such close proximity I'm sure there is SOME connection!

Loved the blog!!