Mrs Mom has been asking me for over a year now about obtaining a table and chair set for our tiny back yard and I've put up every excuse imaginable (“Can't afford it, we don't have the room, it's going to be an obstacle when I mow etc.”)
The expiration date on the excuses ran out when our local Aldi popped up with a table and chair set for under $200; Mrs Mom decided Now was the time and we had to have it.
We raced out to Aldi the day they went on sale and they weren't exactly flying off the shelves, partially I'm sure because of the price and also because the main box measured forty inches square and weighed almost 75 lbs. I had to borrow a wheeled cart from the back room of the store because there was no way this this was going to fit in their regular grocery cart; the employees reluctantly let me borrow it as if I was really going to load it up into my truck and drive off with it. We also loaded it up with an 9-ft umbrella, a 30-pound base for the umbrella, a battery-powered light that clamps around the pole on the umbrella and an extra chair and slowly wheeled it up to the register.
Our new purchase filled the back of the truck once I got it all loaded and when I drove it home I remembered that my two wheeled dolly was a couple of miles away in storage so I had to drag the heavy box into the backyard while praying I didn't damage anything inside. The next day I cut the huge box open with a Stanley knife and was relieved to find only a minimal amount of pieces and some fairly simple instructions for assembling it all. I managed to get it assembled in a short period of time, stood back and took a good look at our new purchase, and had to admit it made the back yard a little bit more home-like. A 38X38 inch table with a tempered glass top, a big umbrella to shade us from the Texas summer sun, and five chairs; all we needed now was some friends to join us as I dusted off the grill for a backyard feast.
The expiration date on the excuses ran out when our local Aldi popped up with a table and chair set for under $200; Mrs Mom decided Now was the time and we had to have it.
We raced out to Aldi the day they went on sale and they weren't exactly flying off the shelves, partially I'm sure because of the price and also because the main box measured forty inches square and weighed almost 75 lbs. I had to borrow a wheeled cart from the back room of the store because there was no way this this was going to fit in their regular grocery cart; the employees reluctantly let me borrow it as if I was really going to load it up into my truck and drive off with it. We also loaded it up with an 9-ft umbrella, a 30-pound base for the umbrella, a battery-powered light that clamps around the pole on the umbrella and an extra chair and slowly wheeled it up to the register.
Our new purchase filled the back of the truck once I got it all loaded and when I drove it home I remembered that my two wheeled dolly was a couple of miles away in storage so I had to drag the heavy box into the backyard while praying I didn't damage anything inside. The next day I cut the huge box open with a Stanley knife and was relieved to find only a minimal amount of pieces and some fairly simple instructions for assembling it all. I managed to get it assembled in a short period of time, stood back and took a good look at our new purchase, and had to admit it made the back yard a little bit more home-like. A 38X38 inch table with a tempered glass top, a big umbrella to shade us from the Texas summer sun, and five chairs; all we needed now was some friends to join us as I dusted off the grill for a backyard feast.
Then the local weather forecasters predicted a “possibly severe weather outbreak” for the upcoming weekend, including the possibility of a hailstorm. Oh isn't that just wonderful; and here was our glass table sitting out waiting to be shattered. Meanwhile I had another minor dilemma to deal with; the large cardboard box this all came packaged in was laying around in an unsightly manner and needed to be disposed of. Then the light-bulb above my head went off.....
I got out a pen and a measuring tape and cut the table box into 38X38 squares with a two-inch slot to slide around the umbrella pole in the middle. I slid two of them over the top of the table and Voila! Now there were two heavy-gauge pieces of cardboard covering the table. Unless we got hit with a really extreme hailstorm with softball-sized hail, the cardboard even wet would absorb most of the impact from hailstones. I clipped four clothespins on the corners, weighed it down with a couple of dirt-filled planters to keep the wind from blowing it off the table and we were now ready for Mother Nature to do her worst. And the remainder of the box pieces fit easily into the trunk of my sedan where it found its way into some lucky dumpster pre-dawn on my way to work later that week.
The weekend arrived and as happens so often here in Texas, the skies got dark, the wind howled and then we got a few large drops of rain and....not much more than that. We got rain and not the drought-breaking amount that we really need but at least I didn't wind up picking broken glass out of the grass in the back yard. The cardboard held up fine in the light rain and dried out just fine in the sun the next day. Eventually I'm going to locate a 38X38 slice of all-weather carpeting to replace the cardboard but I think even Mrs Mom was impressed with my improvisation with the residual cardboard packaging. Now we are ready to do some grilling and some entertaining in the backyard this summer.
Mom's Last Word
Yes, I am very impressed. First, with the fact that we can now dine outside (I love doing that!) but mostly because he's pretty in handy with these ideas, that use up things most people would just toss out.
Clamping them with the clothespins will help it from being blown away, unless of course the we get hit with an F3. Then, I'm just going to have to start advocating for a new table and chairs all over again.
Clamping them with the clothespins will help it from being blown away, unless of course the we get hit with an F3. Then, I'm just going to have to start advocating for a new table and chairs all over again.