2416 days of consecutive shaving - 1103 open-blade
Occam OREN w/ Feather Proguard (1)
The Soloist
RazoRock synth
Thayers Lemon
Nivea 2:1
Jazz Club
Prelude to the story: Oldest asks if she can change the oil in her SUV at our house because the slope down to our car port would allow her to get under it without needing jack stands. Wife says yes and lets me know. Red alarms are instantly going off, but to keep family peace I know I need to let her try to do things like this herself.
Day 1: I get a text from my wife that the car will still be where I park because the oldest is having issues getting the drain plug out and is phoning a friend that used to work at a tire shop and did repairs. I get home to find the car backed in, which means the engine is over the brick driveway instead of the concrete carport. Again, red alarms, but I just ask if she's got cardboard under it. She does. Friend finds out that the bolt is on way too tight and leaves to get an impact wrench to loosen it. It's getting dark by the time he returns. Oldest comes running in asking if we have anything to catch oil because the pan she has doesn't seem big enough. I tell her we have an extra cat litter box downstairs and off she goes. I am resolved at this point that whatever disaster is happening is happening and I'll have to calmly deal with it when she's done. She comes back in telling me it was fine and she didn't need the litter box. The drain plug was all beaten up, so she had her younger sister drive her to get a new one. It was actually dark by the time all was said and done. She comes in asking if I can help her hold her funnel while she pours the old oil from the pan into the empty oil jug. I get out there to find the smallest/cheapest funnel and pan she could have bought. Now readers, please recall this was an SUV so the pan was full dang near close to the brim. Being the cheapest around, the "spout" for this thing was nothing more than a slight dent on one side. To her credit, this was at least happening on bark dust/dirt and I had her get the cardboard to put under this highwire act. She also mentioned that the bottle might not hold "all" of the oil in the pan. Now the lack of light, small opening of the funnel, and next to no spout on the pan led to the wide stream of oil, sometimes hitting the funnel and sometimes over flowing it. I guess however much ended up on the cardboard and dirt was a good thing, because the bottle ended up filled to the top. During final clean up, the cardboard or oil jug or something made a nice line of oil spots across the brick walkway between this event and where the trash was. This added to the large stain on the bricks near the carport when we first went out. She said he friend said to put kitty litter on it, then power wash it and it will be good. Well, I'm not powerwashing at whatever time it was at this point. So I got out some car wash detergent and a brush and hand scrubbed all of this and waited to see what it looked like the next day.
Day 2: It looked like my efforts were totally ineffective. So I asked my wife to have oldest back over to put the kitty litter down, but grind it into the brick with her shoes, and I'll pressure wash when I get home. I get home to I'm not sure what, but at best it was a slight dusting of retaining little. So I pour generous amounts over it again and go around grinding it in. I can see it getting darker in some spots so I was hopeful. I get the pressure washer out and do my thing. After ruining a pair of shoes with the blow back from the pressure washer, we have to wait and see what it looks like when it dries, but I could still see water beading up in places. Ironically, a story posted on social media by someone else this day was asking about getting oil stains out of driveway pavers. The two most suggested solutions were the kitty litter thing, and Dawn soap.
Day 3: Still looked like nothing had changed other than cleaner bricks around the oil spots. We didn't have Dawn, but we had the Costco version of it. I had my wife soak the stains with that in the afternoon and I hosed it all off when I got home. You can imagine the suds produced not only by hosing dishsoap off bricks, but the accumulated pools of it between the bricks. I don't know how many gallons of water went to this task, but I know we'll see the jump up in the water bill next month. There was also a non-insignificant amount of time spent dealing with the suds and clearing the drain at the base of the driveway that accumulates with nature matter from trees.
Day 4: Progress!! The stains actually were lighter. Light enough that I would have let be if it were my home, not light enough that I was okay with leaving them marking the bricks of a home we don't own. So during the trip to Costco this day, actual Dawn was purchased. Then the stains were soaked again for hours and once again hosed off. Finally! Yes, you can still tell they are there. I'm not sure if anyone would give them a second thought though.
Morale of the story. Look how much money she saved doing it herself!
