Da thrill of da grille

Had an interesting day yesterday. Carla called yesterday morning and asked if they could come over and barbeque. Bear in mind, yes, it was sunny, but the high was only 39 degrees F.
I said, "Well, that sounds like fun, but I threw away my grille last Fall, remember? But, if you're serious, you guys could go to Lowes and get the one I want and we'll use it today." The one I wanted is just like Jake's, but without the optional smoker fire box. It's barrel shaped and very heavy-duty steel and cast iron.
So, took out a couple of steaks to thaw, got my hair cut and a few errands done. They showed up around noon. Jake put it all together, while I was in charge of seasoning the cast iron grates. Not fun!
You had to put them in a 300 degree F oven (and they were very sticky, covered with some sh*t that wouldn't wash off your hands, even with paint thinner) then brush on bacon grease (recommended, and I had some) or vegetable oil several times for two hours! Smoked up the house, had to have windows open and the fan running and it totally trashed my oven.
Then, after the grille was together, you had to start a charcoal fire in it after wiping it inside and out with vegetable oil, put the grates back in it and keep rubbing it inside and outside with the oil (I wiped the outside, but cheated and just sprayed the inside with PAM) for another hour! This trashed the cement outside my garage. Then and only then could you first cook on it!
I made a simple marinade of balsamic vinegar, garlic and onions for the steaks. Jake made a much more complex marinade (and, excellent tasting, I admit, LOL!) for the red and green bell pepper, zucchini, yellow squash and Portobello mushrooms. I made some beer baked beans and Carla made oven roasted potatoes and did all the prep work on the vegetables. So, we had steaks and grilled veggies for dinner, then played some cards and Scrabble. They left around 8:00, I turned the oven on self clean and watched TV until I fell asleep.
So, I had messes to attend to this morning, but I do have my put-together and broke-in grille here and ready to go for the season. Will post some photos...