Three Sons with Three's Company

Growing up, I logged some pretty significant time watching “jiggle” television; Charlie’s Angels, Three’s Company, the Solid Gold dancers etc. Though the obvious point(s) of this kind of programming was completely wasted on me, the lives of the folks in these shows did help plant the seeds of unrealistic expectations for my future life as an adult; glamorous, always fun, exciting.

Oddly, now that these programs are old enough to play on the retro channel, when I think about how I want to live I’m more of a “My Three Sons” kinda guy; low tech, frugal, more likely to fix than discard. A gentler life, without a beach or klieg light in sight.

The result of this predisposition is particularly evident in the pleasure I get from our garage.

In keeping with the age of our modest, working class house (turning 58 this year), our little out-building was originally clad in insulbrick (since sided with vinyl) and has a most unusual door. Instead of rolling or swinging up, fan-folding, or opening outwards with a push of a button, this puppy manually slides horizontally; three hinged panels rolling along a wall mounted track.

Unfortunately, the building had sunk over the years, forcing the door upward, its wheels moving clear of the track, leaving the door purposeless. With its full weight on the pavement, the door was left permanently open, destined to be dismantled, updated.

As luck would have it, my Dad prefers home remedies to store-bought solutions (I guess I’m the acorn from his tree), though he had unfortunately already exhausted all his magic prior to our move-in; he’d managed somehow to get the wheels and track back into working order and convinced the door to close (likely by way of some “blue” language). The contents of the garage were now secure but, save for one panel which would swing open; the interior was banished to darkness.

Long story short, I managed to slice an inch and a half off the bottom of the 9 foot expanse, and was relieved to witness the door suspended, once again, in its track, ready to be rolled open and closed, and open ….

To complete the job, my dad and I added some weather stripping which won’t actually prevent weather from entrance, but will keep skunks, racoons and feral cats at bay. We also added a barrel bolt to the middle panel to stabilize the middle panel to the floor.

It feels right to me to restore rather than replace and I think Fred MacMurray would be proud; me in my cardigan, with my push mower puttering about in, as Ken called it, our 4 bike garage.