Like most middle-class men living in the suburbs, I grill on occasion. Nothing fancy. Mostly burgers and sausages with the occasional chicken breast thrown in for a little variety. The grill is across the driveway, and I prep most of the stuff in the kitchen before walking out to grill, but it takes a number of trips back and forth to get everything set up. Back in 2024, I decided I needed a table to keep by the grill to make things easier. I would allow me to bring everything out when I started cooking and return it all when I was finished. It also gave me a bit of workspace in case I had to prep anything.
I searched around and found the Feasto 3-Shelf Pizza Oven Table on Amazon. It seemed decent for the money, a little over $100, and it had three shelves, hooks for tools, and wheels to make it easy to move around. I ended up buying it, assembled it, and have been using it for about a year and a half.
This winter took a bit of a toll on it. The bottom, black shelves were both showing a bit of rust, and even the stainless steel top shelf was starting to look a bit weathered. I decided that instead of replacing it or just letting it continue to deteriorate, I would paint it, figuring it would get me a couple more years out of it.
Last week, I disassembled it and painted the two bottom shelves and legs with black Rust-Oleum that I picked up at Lowe’s for $17. It went well; it shows some brush strokes, looks much better than it did, and, more importantly, should hold up against the harsh outdoor weather. I’m still not sure what to do about the top shelf, though. I don’t want to sand it and ruin the finish, so maybe I’ll just put a layer of clearcoat on it and leave it at that.
Today I went to reassemble it. Helpful hint: Take a photograph before you take something apart, since a reference image is really helpful when putting it back together. I struggled a bit, but eventually got everything back together. While I was sitting on the ground, inserting and tightening screws, I looked down and noticed that I was covered in ants. I looked around to see where they were coming from and traced them to one of the cart’s plastic wheels. The wheels are cheaply made hollow plastic things, painted to look like wheels, and both have some sort of tiny weep hole, which is probably there to equalize the pressure. Anyway, the ants were pouring out of one of the holes on one of the wheels. They apparently had nested in there, and my actions were disturbing them. I brushed the ants off and continued working until I had assembled everything, and when I finished, I took a shower to rid myself of the ants.
Dealing with the ants reminded me of my childhood. When I was a little kid, I loved ants. It drove my mother nuts because she’d often find me playing in the driveway covered with ants. I thought they were cool, and since we didn’t have a dog, they were the closest thing I had to a pet. I’d sit in the driveway next to an anthill and let them crawl over me. I liked watching how they moved, interacted with each other, and dealt with other bugs. I also had visions of being the ant king with the ants worshiping me and doing my bidding. (Little boys can be very weird.)
As I grew older and learned more about ants, I found them to be pretty fascinating creatures, and that the colony is a well-organized unit, with each ant serving a function toward the ultimate goal of protecting and nurturing the queen. Pretty cool.
When you’re a kid, discovering the world around you is fascinating, and even something as mundane as an ant hill can provide hours of entertainment. I miss those days.
