Father's Day - Or - "I Thought ... I Could Just Push It Over"

Sunday, June 19, 2011. Father's Day. Some plans I had this week got rained out: and then there was that tornado watch Friday night - and part of Saturday morning. Not much happened, happily, apart from some serious lightning, thunder, and rain. Can't say I'm disappointed at that.

This weekend, some of my in-laws came over to help my wife take down an old shed in the back yard. It's been useful for storage, but also is where my wife wants a garden. I think that's it.

Anyway, it's been leaning over for the quarter-century or so we've been here, and we figured it would be a simple matter of applying pressure, and making sure nobody was in the way when it went down. Here's how the project went, starting about 11:15 Saturday morning:


The job looked simple enough: pull down one old shed. June 18, 2011.


One end of a chain to a 4x4, the other looped around a stud on the back wall. One steady pull, and the whole thing should go down. June 18, 2011.


If you look carefully, you'll see the two strips of siding that came off: although they're partly hidden by the lilac. June 18, 2011.

It was around this point that my wife said, "I thought you said I could just push it over."

I gather that the chain had cut right through one of the studs. Result: one cut stud, about two feet pulled off one strip of siding, and another yard of siding gone from the strip below that.


Now we're getting serious: that chain's secured to a corner post - - -


- - - and the shed's still standing. June 18, 2011.


South wall gone, plus half the east wall and most of the west one. And - yes, the shed is still standing. June 18, 2011.


Here we go again, cutting through more supports. June 18, 2011.


Pulling another corner post out - and not much else moved. June 18, 2011.


Not long after this, there wasn't much left holding up the roof. And, finally, the shed finally was down. Pretty much. June 18, 2011.

The shed finally went down about 35 minutes after the first two strips of siding came off. The next step is hauling it away, a few pieces at a time.

The other big deal for me also has more to do with the Gill household than Sauk Centre as a whole. The freezer we bought a quarter-century back, more or less, stopped working today. (Father's Day - and the Freezer Gave Up, Through One Dad's Eye (June 19, 2011))

I've got checking out the new eatery at Sinclair Lewis and Main high on my 'to do' list for next week - we'll see how that comes out.