Almost Done Deck

The deck is almost done. I say almost, because I still have to build a couple of steps down to the yard, which I will do after the grading and reseeding is finished. However, you can now see what it looks like. I made a couple of benches on one of the rainy days when I couldn't work outside. They need to be fastened down yet, but you can see in the picture below what the deck and the benches look like from the perspective of our new sunporch. Butter, the dog next door, is frequently outside watching us. You can see her in the background.

Here is what the deck looks like from Butter's perspective.

The Deck

Warning: This may be one of those boring "how I built something" posts, but I thought family members might want to see how our home improvements are coming along.

In a prior post, you learned of my new talent as an excavator. You will recall that I rented a skid loader and removed dirt in the area of our old flower bed, to the east of our new sunporch. The goal was to prepare the area for pouring footings for the deck we want to build in that area as an extension of the sunporch.

The first step was relocation of the over-100-years-old peony that occupied the corner where the garage and sunporch now meet. We actually did that by scooping up the entire plant with the skid loader and then placing it down further south at the corner of the new sunporch. It may be sitting up a little too high, since there is some grading that needs to be done, but so far, it looks like it is doing OK. We salvaged and moved a few other plants too.

First, there was lots of measuring and leveling and more measuring and leveling and setting up stakes to mark things and running strings between various points to make sure that everything was going to line up. The next step involved digging the holes for the concrete piers for the deck. I dug four holes by hand, each one being 48" deep and a bit more than 12" in diameter. You can see them here. This was the hardest part of the job!!

Each hole received a sleeve that helped to control the amount of concrete needing to be mixed as well as marking the exact required top of each pier.

After mixing much concrete and filling each of the four sleeves, metal anchors were inserted into the top of each pier. A beam sits atop the piers, and the anchors are used to tie that beam down to the piers. Kathie then helped me attach a ledger to the house. This is the board to which the joists are attached. The outer end of each joist rests on the beam that sits on the piers. Kathie helped me manufacture the beam from a number of lengths of 2x8 lumber. Here you can see the ledger and the beam in place. We then backfilled some of the dirt to create a slope under the deck so that rain water will drain away from the garage and sunporch toward the yard. This backfill is covered with plastic, and about 2" of pea gravel has been distributed over it.

Yesterday, I started installing joists. Here are the first several of them. You can finally begin to imagine the deck outline. The deck surface will be about 24' by 10' 6". There will be some benches at the east end to dress up the deck and to provide some seating.

This morning, before the rain began, Kathie helped me finish installing the rest of the joists and the skirt board which covers the ends of the joists. We also put the rest of the pea gravel in place. Here is what the final layout looks like. Next, we will be installing deck boards. More later.

Boys and Their Toys

Sometimes, you just have to play! Well, really, I had quite a bit of earth to move around behind our new sunporch. I had to excavate the area in which I am preparing to build the deck to the east of the new sunporch, and I wanted to generally grade the area that had been damaged during last year's construction so that I could reseed it. This seemed like just too much to do by hand or with my little tractor, and being a cheapskate and not wanting to hire anyone, I decided to do it myself. Besides, I've always wanted to operate some heavy equipment. OK, this isn't a bulldozer or anything really serious, but you have to start somewhere.

So, after a trip to my friendly rental store, I pulled this home behind my pickup.

Here I am driving the skid loader off the trailer. So far, so good.

I was safely encased in the cab, surrounded by a cage, a roof, a seatbelt, and two other padded restraints that had to be in place or the thing wouldn't even budge. You might be able to tell that each of my hands is on a little lever. The two together made the unit move forward or backward (push or pull). The left one also operated the lift on the bucket–up to raise, down to lower. The right one operated the tip of the bucket–up to tip up and empty, down to return to its normal position. By the way, how do you like my sporty new suspenders? A gift from meine frau.

Before attempting any serious digging, I worked at leveling some of the earth to the south. Part of the plan here was to get some quick experience and make sure I didn't end up bashing our shiny new sunporch or siding.

I managed to catch on pretty quickly, although operating those levers instead of using a steering wheel can be a little counter-intuitive, especially if you try doing two things at once, like raising the bucket while beginning to empty it.

I'll report more later when I post something about the construction of the deck. Then you can see the area I've excavated for the footings and deck support. In the meantime, I have a drainage problem to solve for the area which will be under the new deck. That might mean renting a trencher in order to install some drainage tubing. Then there is the grading and seeding to do. That might require a tractor with a gill attachment. You can never have too much fun. A friend of mine has a good retirement motto, to which I have now also subscribed–"Have fun and then die."

Beautiful Eyes

Betsy already posted some nice pictures from our visit this weekend. I didn't get as many pictures taken as I would have liked. Trying to squeeze in attention for each person keeps me hopping when I have so many family members around. That is a good problem to have, but when they have all departed, I always feel a little like I didn't succeed at all.

In looking through the pictures I did take, I was struck by the following three. Each is of one of "my girls" and shows off their beautiful faces and eyes. The first is of Clara, who on this trip seemed to take more of an interest in me than ever before. I liked that! Isn't she sweet?

Next comes Eleanor, the blue-eyed, fair-haired, nearly-two-years-old, talking-lots-now cutie. She was explaining something to her Dad.

Finally, here is my own precious little girl, the one who, like her daughter, has bright brown eyes to warm the hearts of her men, of which I am fortunate to count myself one.

Why Do They Grow Up So Fast?

Over the course of this and the next two months, five of the most important people in my life will celebrate birthdays. Indeed, one celebrated his birthday three days ago. Shame on me for not getting this posted sooner! What can I say about Rob? He is clever, industrious, and hard-working. He loves trivia contests, as his recent appearance on a local public access TV show proves. His love of gadgets and technical things of all sorts is evident to anyone who knows him. The Hawkeyes, Dodgers, Chiefs, and sports in general? Rob is a walking sports encyclopedia and fan. I know that he dearly loves Carrie and Eleanor, and it would seem they love him as much in return. He can be a little quiet sometimes, but I can understand his introspection, reflection, and need for "self time." I'm very proud of Rob, love him dearly, and wish him always the happiest of birthdays. Not in strict chronological order, here are some of my favorite pictures of him.

Farewell to Winter

We recently spent a wonderful three weeks up north. Prior to our last week there, we were treated to 4" of fresh snow, which really made everything pretty and which provided some great opportunities for skiing.

I'm pretty sure that the snow is on its way out now, though. Temperatures were trending upward the day we left. Although one of my little bears was covered at one point, I'll bet he is free of any of the white stuff by now.

Ice on the lake was really interesting. We think that it initially froze over when the lake was higher. When Xcel Energy started taking more water for energy production, the lake surely dropped under the ice. We saw evidence of this in a variety of ways. One of the most fascinating to us was the way in which the ice curved down, rather than breaking down, under the bridge. I don't suppose the pictures will do it justice, but the result was a kind of saddle shape. It was really glassy and curved down in both directions, across both the length and width of the bridge.

Where the ice did break, we could see how thick it was, on the order of 10" or more. Weather had smoothed it, and there were streaks of air in it, but it was the prettiest pale blue color you can imagine.

This may have been the best time so far that we have had at our place during winter months. When we return, spring will be showing itself. In the meantime, it will be fun to remember the fun we had, and the beautiful snow and ice we enjoyed. Here is a final picture demonstrating how deep the snow can really be up there. (Or maybe the subject of this photo is trying to play tricks on us!!)

Will, Sandy, & Anders at the Lake

It was a not quiet weekend here at Lake Wobegon (but a very happy one). On Friday evening, my eldest and his family drove up here to spend some time with us. We met at a favorite local restaurant to partake of the ever-popular Friday fish fries that are so popular up this way. Then we settled in for the night. The next morning, I found Anders and his Dad hanging out on the couch.

Shortly after that, Dad got him dressed. He definitely is one of the "World's Cutest Babies." I know of four!

Mom whipped up some rice cereal for him. He is very recently into solid foods.

Then, he spent some time playing with his toys.

Since there was a basketball game on TV in the afternoon, a change of clothing was necessary.

Before the game, however, Mom and Dad wanted to try out one of the local ski trails. Unfortunately, even with the great new snowfall we had, the trail had not yet been properly groomed. Sandy had some new skis that she waxed up.

Will likes to skate ski, but with the trail not being groomed, he had a real struggle plowing through the new snowfall. A prior trail user had at least gouged out a classic ski path, but even with that, Sandy had to work hard too.

So, off they went, completing something over 4 kilometers and working up a good sweat.

Meanwhile, Anders hung out with Grandma and waited for game time to roll around.

Alas, the Hawks lost in a close one. Will fixed dinner that evening–salmon on the grill, asparagus, and some yummy Italian or French bread.

This morning, Grandma and Anders enjoyed the rocking chair and the morning sunshine.

Meanwhile, Josey and Lucy loafed and napped.

Anders tried out some squash and more of the rice cereal. He already wants to handle the spoon himself.

Grandpa got some "Anders time" too. Grandpa likes Anders' bib choices.

Then, it was time for more skiing, this time on the lake. Grandpa preferred to give Anders a ride in his dad's old sled.

Anders was so excited about the opportunity, that he dozed off.

Meanwhile, the other three skied on up to the bridge to see the unusual ice formations there (stay tuned for a future posting about that).

Grandma wanted to show off her classic skiing form (though isn't the downhill stance somewhat unusual on a perfectly flat lake?).

Back at the ranch, Anders enjoyed snuggling with his mom.

Then, he showed us all how he can already stand alone (or his Grandma giving him a hand there?).

Wish they were still all here, but unfortunately, work demands required that they head back home.