My Bad Boy!

In case you are wondering (and I know you are), I have a love-hate relationship with gas.

I am nervous when something seems to go wrong such as a wonky pilot light.

I often leave a window or door partially open when using gas.

Yet, I love using gas in my home.

On my stove, I just turn on the burner. No lighting a pilot light.

The flame is so responsive that I am willing to risk my life for a perfectly cooked meal!

My gas fireplace is wonderful on rainy days (Yes, Portland!) or cold nights.

On the fireplace, I flip the electric wall switch and on it comes.

My fireplace does have a pilot light that I leave on year round.  I don’t want to get on my stomach and poke around lighting the pilot light.  Sad, huh?

That’s the limit of my expertise and experience with gas.

But today, I took a risk.

Amid snow flurries and frigid weather, I connected my new natural gas grill!

Here’s a picture of this  bad boy grill!

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My new Weber Genesis Natural Gas Grill

The folks at Ace Hardware were fantastic.

Ryan, the operations manager with the patience of Job, explained and demonstrated how to connect the nipples to the something or another. Next was a lesson on how to tighten the nuts or bolts or screws or just plain thingys using a wrench.

When he was finished, he did it all again and again until I felt reasonably confident that I could do it.

It was a short drive from Ace Hardware to my house. I hoped I could remember everything. I did not want to lose face with Ryan! Or disappoint myself!

With visions of gas explosions dancing in my head, I almost backed out. This is silly. I should just call an expert.

But, with fear and trepidation, I connected everything. The wrench slipped a few times as I was turning “righty tighty” or was it “tighty righty”?

Did I tighten too much? Too little?

Then, decisively and with false courge, I turned on the gas.  The gas valve turned so easily.

Next, I sprayed on the “Gas Leak Detector”.  No bubbles.  I sprayed again.  Still no bubbles.

All clear…yay!   I had connected everything securely so there was not a leak.

Now, the moment of truth.

I turned on the gas grill. It worked. I was so excited!

I wanted to tell someone!  Where was my merit badge?

After excitement and relief, I started feeling a bit smug.

Afterall, I  fixed my garbage disposal a few weeks back.

Now the grill!

Maybe the broken faucet in my bathroom is next?

Bring  it on baby!

 

 

 

 

20 thoughts on “My Bad Boy!”

  3. Go girl! I know what you mean about gas…..when I start my gas grill (with a simple press of a starter button), I tend to stand as far away as possible, then lean in to click the button. I guess I think I can run away faster if I’m already a few paces away. 🙂

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  5. You are really brave, Lori. I still can’t light the burners on our outdoor grill – I yell for hubby to come and do it. If things don’t work around our house, I suggest going out to eat. No one can believe how lacking in knowledge about mechanical things I am, but I’m afraid of just about everything. A flame anywhere sends me into paroxysms of fear. I’m in awe that you hooked up your new grill. I’ll come over so you can show me – and then we’ll go out and grab something to eat.

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  6. It’s always SUCH a great feeling when you have faced down a chore you’ve been dreading. Go you! FYI – there are some marvellous YouTube how-to plumbing video clips that helped us change our last tap and neither of us are particularly good at that kind of stuff and it meant we could tackle it without too much problem.

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  9. I have always believed that the difference between people’s skill sets is (for the most part) just knowledge. If you knew what I knew, then you could do pretty much anything I can do! Keep on learning … and saving yourself money …….. and feeling good about your abilities. If you cannot change a wheel on your vehicle, that would be a good next one to learn! Congrats on the gas hook-up! 🙂

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  11. LOL! This is so funny because I can relate… but so proud of you! Just curious.. Did you squint when you turned it on? (As if that’s going to help matters if it blows) 😂

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  13. I was always the “handy man” in our house in the “before time.” I have a gas fireplace in my house now and some funky remote control but I have never used it. I have gas heat but all that involves is turning the thermostat up. I used to use kerosene heaters all the time. I have always been fearless but at the same time, had a respect for things, like gas and power tools.
    This morning, when I woke up at 2, I went outside to scrape the snow off of my satellite and thought about trying the fireplace…but nah.
    You never know what you can do until you try…or you need to because there is nobody else around. It’s called “girl power!” 🙂

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  14. I am full of admiration for you Lori. Personally I distrust gas. Now I have a fully electric home with only the gas stove left I once had gas lighting, a gas fridge, and gas back up generator. (I hated them all cause of the risk of explosion. However now we still have the stove but……..gas bottles attached to back wall. (what about bushfires etc?). We have no ‘natural gas’ pipelines. Congratulations on what you achieved. I still hate even lighting the oven BUT……..I hold my breath. Cheers! Great blog. Well done, Lori!

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