Each evening after work I work on the workshop a little bit. Last night’s project involved hanging some of the metal signs I’ve collected over the years. While many people adorn their buildings with signs from old gas stations and businesses, most of mine are old road signs. Some of them were purchased legally. Some of them came from abandoned buildings. Most of them were originally, uh, city property. The only sign I was ever questioned about was my “bridge out” sign (I didn’t acquire it until the bridge had been repaired). At least one sign was the result of… (read more)

As of last Wednesday, April 1, construction on the building is finally done. When Susan and I purchased our new home back in 2018, we intended on building a workshop in the backyard the minute our old house sold. Unfortunately, the old house sat on the market for another nine months. When it finally sold in July of 2019, we immediately contacted a local contractor, drew up plans, and signed a contract to get the ball rolling. I could say a lot of good things about the experience and I could say a lot of bad things about the experience,… (read more)

When you have a shop built, the following things happen in the following order: the build site is prepared, dirt is brought in, concrete is poured, the building is assembled, and then the building is finished. After a few months of coordination, the first stage — the preparation of the site — is over. I think. This stage involved having all the utilities that ran underneath the future home of the shop to be relocated — specifically, electric, cable, and water (sprinkler system). OG&E moved our electric and cut the main water line that runs to the sprinkler system in… (read more)

“Mr. O’Hara, could you please give me a call back? We’ve had an incident in your backyard.” I don’t know that I’ve mentioned it before on the blog, but we’re having a shop built in the backyard at our new home. This was a decision we made before we ever bought the new house. I’ve wanted one for a long time, and Susan has wanted a garage she can park inside for a long time. So, win/win. We found the perfect builder, a local man who actually lives in our old neighborhood. “The minute our old house sells,” we told… (read more)