Augie's 'New' Toy

Augie would like to introduce you ...

... to his new toy. Those of you who follow the blog's Twitter account already know Augie got this for FREE! On Wednesday, when he and I were coming home from a meat run at Harding's, the guy who lives two doors down yelled at us from the street, "Hey, do you want a free wooden swing set?" I went and looked at it, and it wasn't broken or cracked, so I said sure. All it really needed was a good cleaning. Our neighbor said he got it for free from a friend a few years back and said he wanted to pass it along to someone else for the same price. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time.

Today's goal was to clean it. It was in desperate need of a power washing. I'm pretty sure it's never been cleaned. So it got one, from top to bottom.

I'm pretty sure it was covered in a thick layer of mildew and algae because I smelled like the St. Joe River when I was done.

You can see how much better it looks compared to what it was.

Power washer = strong.

Much more friendly for little kids' feet (except for that nail that needs pounding).

I know what you're thinking, "So all you got was some wood and a slide?"  Nope. It came with this love seat swing, two child's swings and a swing bar. I just haven't hung them yet because I am replacing the main frame bolts with new ones. The old ones were almost too rusty to reuse, and they really needed to be a little longer.

So there you have it, Augie's new toy, all clean and pretty. I'll probably throw some sealant on it so I don't have to power wash it again, but that's a job for another day.