One of the advantages of living in a student neighborhood is that when students move, they often leave things behind.
Just yesterday I found this Weber grill left on a nearby curb, so I wheeled it home.
The “flavorizers” are rusted out, the burners need overhauling, but it still fires up, and with a little more work, I’m sure I can have it cooking just like a new one. The biggest problem was that it appeared to have never, ever been cleaned. When I scraped the crud off the inside, there was so much that it filled the drawer at least three times, but the metal underneath is just fine. No rust. It has a weather cover, which seems to have done its job over the years.
As to the cooking grates, they’re OK. Just covered with crud. The way you see them in the picture above is how they looked after cleaning. Believe it or not, I didn’t have to clean them at all. I merely took them off and set them on the deck, and without any prompting, Coco did the rest.
An hour or so of laborious licking with her scratchy dog tongue took off years of accumulated meat fat. I’m sure she wishes I would drag things like that home more often, as it obviously tasted great to her. There seems to be some controversy over whether it’s a good idea to let a dog do this. Some people have claimed this made their dogs sick, and had I read about that before Coco started licking I wouldn’t have let her. However, others say it’s a great way to clean a Weber grill.
As it’s 24 hours later, and Coco is her normal self, it obviously did no harm, but now I’m curious to know why it would. Even though it didn’t hurt Coco, I probably wouldn’t recommend trying it without being fully informed, but of what? Dried fat is not dangerous, and dogs are carrion eaters by nature, so I’m thinking maybe the dogs that got sick ingested charcoal lighter fluid or metal or something.
Health issues aside, I hope I didn’t violate any dog labor laws.
MORE: Speaking of dog activities, should I get one of these for Coco?
Comments
9 responses to “A free grill, and a doggone good one!”
There was an article in the Metro today about Penn students moving out. It’s really quite stunning the volume and quality of stuff they throw away. Apparently a charity has sprung up to take advantage of all the goodies.
http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/local/article/858040–food-furniture-take-your-pick-at-penn
My parents would have keeled right over at the thought of me not bringing all of my stuff home with me.
Anyway, I’m glad Coco was able to help you with the cleanup process!
I suspect that dogs are like people in that they have bacterial colonies in their guts that are acclimated to their current diet. If you suddenly change their diet they may experience intestinal distress.
Also some breeds have much touchier digestive systems.
You haven’t run across any iMacs by any chance. 🙂
No, but I did find a cell phone in the back of my driveway, and I called the owner who sheepishly told me it had been “stolen” but she came and got it very fast. (It had been sitting there for months when I found it, and I had to dry it out and charge it up just to determine the owner.) If I find an iMac and no one claims it, I will let you know!
I picked up a few expensive of All-Clad pots and pans a few years back when students moved out of the building I used to live in. Would have cost me over $300.00 if purchased at a store.
Having parents who’ll cover for you does have a tendency to change a person’s view of the world.
An ordinary garden hose stream ought to work for the same entertainment.
Heh, the dog in the hot tub reminds me of this demotivational poster – wharrgarbl
On a more serious note, dogs generally have more trouble expelling heat from their bodies than retaining it, so the hot tub sounds like a really bad idea.