Shop Framing – Day 5
Shop Framing – Day 4
Shop – End of Day 3
The Shop’s Getting Tall – Day 3
I love coming home at the end of the day to see so much progress.
The Shop Rises – Day 1 & 2
I was really excited yesterday when Ray Dawson and his crew arrived to start the framing of our shop. There was a miscommunication between Ray and Mountain West so their progress was impeded as Mountain West scrambled to keep enough material stocked to keep them working. At the end of the day, it was satisfying to have a large portion of the south and east wall standing with the doors and windows framed out.
Today, Kim and I spent most of the day up in Horseshoe Bend cleaning up our house. After loading up a second dump trailer load, we managed to return in time to pick up the kids from elementary school to go to Alexia’s game. By the time we returned home from Alexia’s had a volleyball game, the framing crew was gone. From a distance, it was obvious additional walls were now standing. It got better and better as we got closer. It felt like Christmas as I lept from the truck. To my amazement, in addition to all the new walls, they already had the second story floor trusses and decking down! Somehow the progress today had me giddy. It has been a grueling process to get this point and it felt so rewarding to see this giant structure that has grown from a wild idea to formal plans that are now turning into a towering success. I know this is really just the beginning of the tons of work ahead of me, but this physical progress which we haven’t had for some time.
How bad can mosquitoes really be?
Mosquitoes can be horrible!
Weird Bugs – Mantisfly or Mantidfly
Drake found this crazy bug that seemed to be a cross between a praying mantis and a yellow jacket. I wouldn’t have had it on my fingers but they had looked it up and said it was safe.
Back to School 2018
Yahoo, it starts again.
Let’s Build A Beach
With the amount of time, the kids are spending in the pond, we decided to take the plunge and put in a large sandy beach. Hard clay and pit run make it difficult and painful to get in and out of the water
The beach we wanted required the removal of a huge amount of material. This excavator and dump truck were perfect for the job. In order to minimize the muddy mess, Monty left a small dike which held back the water from flowing into the low lying area. Once the area was excavated and graded, he came back and cut out the dike. You can see how far the water came in, in the next picture.
We are right across the street from Unimin Sand so the dump truck was able to make three to four trips per hour and the trucking cost was minimal for a total of ten loads. We were paying $90/hour for the excavator and the dump truck. The total time on the excavator was six hours and seven hours on the dump truck for a total of $1,170.
This sand is so fine it feels like moon sand. It feels great on your feet and the kids love it but I am concerned that as it dried out, it will blow all over the place. The total cost of the 352,900 pounds of sand was roughly $650. This is a great addition to the pond and should be well worth the price.
How scary is sleeping on a trampoline?
In our area, the thought of sleeping under the stars can be terrifying. Not because we have an abundance of lions or tigers or bear or even the imaginary ones. What we have are worse, mosquitoes! The curse of the earth can manage to find the smallest patch of skin, not coated in deet, and repeatedly suck your blood while you sleep. If they can’t find a place to land, they seem perfectly content to simply buzz around your ears. This was not enough to deter Drake and Alexia from sleeping on the trampoline. I explained many times that they would make it through the night and they proved me wrong. I figured they would look more sheepish in the morning when I expected to find them in their beds, but they were confident that they would succeed.
