A confession: I have plastic bricks in my landscaping. The plastic bricks have a cunning interlocking connection system that real bricks do not have. Real bricks have mortar, but I do not have a hot mortar gun to connect them.
Well, after our hot summer the fake bricks have stayed straight, but have given up on being level. I have one set buried under a groundhog mound and other jutting toward heaven. So the plastic bricks were dug out of the mud and brought back into the garage. To be fixed. Eventually. (Baby steps. See below.)
I intended to wash them, connect them, then bolster them with some scrap straight siding trim glued on the bottom and dug into the dirt.
Step 1: Wash them. I washed a few faux bricks off with the hose, then I got hot and tired, then threw everything into a box and stuck it in the garage again.
Step 2: Bring the box of dirty "bricks" in to the house.
Step 3: Consider washing the bricks in the sink, but I can hear Gary's voice like a conscience, if a conscience could bellow, "DIRT! DIRT IN THE SINK! UNSANITARY!"
Step 4: Consider washing the bricks in the tub, but that would mean washing the tub after.
Step 5: Genius! Wash the bricks in the dishwasher. I rushed them through a cycle so they'd get done before Gary came home and found I had brought dirt close to the sink.
Step 6: BECOME FILLED WITH OVERWHELMING GARY-GUILT. Cannot keep secrets from Gary.
Step 7: Wash a load of bricks in the clothes washer. Do not put them in the dryer.
So, now the dishwasher bricks are sitting next to the washing machine bricks, and even though I did not use the heat dry cycle, the dishwasher bricks are considerably brighter. I assume this is from the Jet Dry goo on the dish detergent gel tab.
Still, Gary wouldn't like it, so the remaining dirty bricks are headed for the washing machine. No fabric softener needed.
Pft. Great believer here in what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over. Plus, man must eat a peck of earth before he dies. Both sayings learnt at my mother's knee (and other low joints) so my immune system is second to none.
Bung the washing machine bricks through the dishwasher or you will forever after notice the colour difference.
Posted by: Big Dot | October 12, 2011 at 11:53 PM
What Big Dot said.
Posted by: Becs | October 13, 2011 at 04:36 AM
Big Dot - Had to look up bung. A fine verb.
bung: â â/bĘÅ/ [buhng]
verb (used with object)
1. to beat; bruise; maul (often followed by up ).
2. British Slang . to throw or shove carelessly or violently; sling.
Becs - Actually, I think they were bunged up more in the clothes washer.
Posted by: TheQueen | October 13, 2011 at 05:24 AM
I think we need pictures.
Posted by: Tami | October 13, 2011 at 08:47 AM
Yes, pictures. And maybe you'll get a dishwasher company to sponsor you.
Also, what Big Dot said.
Posted by: magpie | October 13, 2011 at 09:17 AM
Gosh. I don't know what to say. I just hope it all works out.
Posted by: Hattie | October 13, 2011 at 03:06 PM
Listen to Big Dot. She's wise.
Posted by: Marcia | October 13, 2011 at 07:23 PM
I'm just thinking it would've been a lot less work to buy new bricks. ;)
Posted by: wyo | October 13, 2011 at 07:35 PM
Tami - No, I am ashamed of my plastic brick edging from Home Depot. Besides, when it is in the ground Gary loves it, when it is out it makes him scream and shudder. So an out of ground photo is not an option.
Magpie - Went with the clotheswasher and Tide for the last batch. Probably a bad idea.
Marcia - Wise though she is, she's not married to Gary. I like the idea that we must eat a peck of dirt though.
Wyo - Yes, and that was the plan, but the Home Dept by me isnt carrying them anymore.
Posted by: TheQueen | October 14, 2011 at 11:52 PM