Workshop

We Need to Hang Out

Aaron Milligan

I’ve been thinking and talking about having a Garage Night, a monthly hangout where friends can hang out and talk shop, hobbies, life, whatever. It’s been floating around in my head for a couple years, but back in January I heard an interview on NPR with Boston Globe reporter Billy Baker about his book: We Need to Hang Out. I haven’t read the book, but in the interview he talks about how middle aged men in general have fewer friends than women, and how he set up a regular hangout night for his friends.

I feel lucky to have met some really good friends in my 30s through the motorcycle community. A small group of us got together weekly for a few years, traveled together, and went on weekend cabin excursions. A few years ago though, I moved to a different city. I kept up the weekly trips to our regular bar for a while, but after a few years, the weekly trips were getting much, and I had quit my job in Seattle, and I faded away. I’ve met a few people down here, but I don’t really hang out with my Seattle friend anymore, and the pandemic made it a lot worse.

A month ago I bought a new tool chest. It is big, heavy, and took up the entire back of my truck. I tried to see if some neighbors were around to help me, but then I thought of my friend Jason. I met him through roller derby probably 10 years ago, and he moved down here about 2 years ago. Like 3 blocks away. And I’ve probably seen him 3 times. We got to talking about the pandemic and no seeing anyone for the last year, and I told him about my Garage Night idea and the story I’d heard and how I haven’t hung out with anyone in a really like time, and we were like we need to hang out.

But my garage is a mess. I’ve been working on house projects and personal projects, and I have a Karmann Ghia in there and two motorcycles. Getting that new tool box helped me organize a lot of stuff, and building drawers in my workbench got a lot of things put away as well. A few weeks back also found out that one of my neighbors has a cool old BMW, so I got talking to him. I also kind of got shared custody of Tacoma’s classic motorcycle and scooter night, and with pandemic restrictions coming to an end, I decided that it was time to get in gear and clean out the shop.

I held Garage Night #1 on June 24th. I invited my old Seattle friends, and I invited some new friends from Tacoma. We talked shop. We talked life. I kind of over did things by firing up the grill, but it was kind of neighborhood piknik, so it was all good. I got to talk to people that I hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to much. I introduced people to new people. I’m skipping it for July because I have a motorcycle event to plan, but I hope to make this a monthly thing starting in August.

Ants

Aaron Milligan

Much of this summer was spent getting the house ready to paint. Once that was done, we started to work on the garage. I got three sides pressure washed and primed, but the back side was filled with blackberry vines.

So I’m back there digging, and see fine wood dust coming out from behind the siding. Dirt was piled up right up to the siding, so I started digging that out, with more dust coming out. It’s a narrow space, so I was using a 5 gallon bucket to get the dirt out. After two evenings of working on it, I knocked on the inside wall to see if any more stuff would come out, and I heard the rustle of a hundred bodies. I’d seen an ant or two, but never in the numbers that would scare me. The window sill on the outside was a bit soft though, so I gave it a tug.

The whole area below the window was filled with ants. Two 2x4s that were under the window sill were swiss cheese. So I started removing siding. So far I have the entire side stripped from the bottom to about the 8 foot mark. I’m still uncovering a few ants, but the worst is above and below the window. Most of the studs look fine, and the base board is good everywhere except under the window, so it doesn’t look like there will be too much to replace.

I have the center beam supported from the inside of the shop, and a diagonal brace on the outside as I chase these ants. I think that I won’t have to go any further than this side of the shop. Once eradicated, I’m going to put a vapor barrier between the studs and put fiberglass insulation battens in, then 3/4 OSB sheathing and some outer vapor barrier, then hopefully I’ll be able to reuse most of the original cedar siding. Not a project that I thought I’d be working on right now, but it needs to be done.

POWER!!!

Aaron Milligan

Two weeks ago, my electrician finished up with the new panel on the house, and I started digging a trench to the garage. The goal is a 100 amp sub panel to power just about any welder that I could use as a hobbyist. Certainly big enough for my little MIG welder.

  • Big ditch
  • Sweet Pabst lamp
  • Lots of power

Garage Remodel

Aaron Milligan
 
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I’ve been working on my garage lately. First on the To-Do list is to remove the wall going down the middle of the garage. It’s covered in this really cool beaded tongue and groove. It looks like it was salvaged from something when the garage was built in the early 30s. The whole garage looks like it was made from salvaged wood in fact. This particular wall has an amazing blue and white patina, so I’m saving it for other projects.