Well, top of the blog this week, I found some flagstone for the grotto shower area! I didn't need a whole lot, and I saw an ad on the Marketplace on Facebook selling just about what I need... So, I contacted the man just outside of Payson who was selling it, and Jim and I picked it up last night. You know, when we started this cabin building process, we were 10 years younger and a whole lot stronger. We were loading the rock into the pick up, and out comes the seller and his son - work gloves in hand, and helped us load everything into the bed of the truck. I swear, if it hadn't been for these two, I think Jim and I would still be loading rock this morning! Much, much, much appreciated! (I'm now looking for some flagstone that have a rust colour and some with more of a darker brown colour... I think that will complete the colour scheme I have in my head...)
We've been trying to find redwood for the deck, and at this time of the year, it's pretty hard to come by. The shelves at Home Depot are usually super picked over and the planks of redwood there are either full of knots, or warped or cracked. So we decided to try Lowe's in Spanish Fork... and, hurrah.... we found a little bit. It's pretty expensive, but, we bought a few good pieces and took them down to the cabin on Friday.
We have a pallet of antique brick that has been stored in the back yard here in Provo and we have decided to start taking it down south... I wanted to start putting the brick down around the jacuzzi this past weekend, but it was raining so hard, I wasn't able. Hopefully, this next weekend I'll be able to. If not, we'll take another load of brick and continue reducing the pile in the back yard.
The work on the deck is continuing with the main deck beam taken out of the conex with the backhoe ....
..... in the pouring rain, the next step is to lift it into the saddles on the columns... Jim and Ben were having a discussion of sorts, and I was standing by the French Doors narrating their conversation... they couldn't hear me, but I was laughing the whole time. This is just me talking, to myself, waiting for something to happen so I can take pictures... They could not hear me, but I was totally amused.... My conversation went as follows:
Jim: Hey Ben... looks like we have a slab of wood here...
Ben: Yep, looks like it to me
Jim: What 'cha think we should do with it?
Ben: Dunno.. how about put it up on the saddles for the deck?
Jim: Ya think?
Ben: Or, we could chop it up in 100 pieces and burn it for firewood....
Jim: I dunno.. it was kinda expensive, and Cheri's watching so she might be ticked..
Ben: You're probably right... Let's send her into town and she won't be here...
Jim: I don't think so... She spends money when she goes into town and when she comes back and sees what happened, she'll have me sleeping on the couch for a week...
Ben: Smart move... Better keep the little woman happy...
Giggle... I know they didn't have this conversation, but, the dialogue that went on in my head had me giggling...
So the beam was strapped and then hooked onto the lifting hoop on the bucket truck... We had no idea if the bucket truck would lift this much.
Jim said that if the bucket truck could pick up the glue-lam, it would pay for the truck 100%....
AND.... it worked! It was a little tricky getting the beam into the saddles on the steel columns, and after they just about hit the cabin windows a couple of times....
...and missing the saddle or two a couple of times.... Remember, we're no experts!
...the beam eventually made it into the four saddles perfectly!
Jim put a vinyl roofing material on top of the glue-lam to protect the beam in the weather, and then the first deck joist was nailed into place with steel Simpson hangers.
..... and a 2nd piece... It was then that we realized we didn't have any more of the correct Simpson hangers.
Everything was going along perfectly and then... it started to pour rain again..... and, I mean POUR buckets, cats and dogs, loud thunder noises from hell, and the whole idea of "it's raining just a little bit, we can keep working" was a no go.. It was about 30 minutes later that we realized that the loft door was not sealed properly, and we had water pouring in from that door down to the main level bedroom onto my beautiful new gunstock oak wood floors... we were scrambling like you wouldn't believe.. mopped up the water, stopped the leak as best as we could, and left... It was raining so hard that we were concerned that if we waited any longer, we wouldn't be able to get off the mountain without sliding in the muck on the roads... so, ya...
And, this morning, I saw this little meme on facebook and thought it described our lives perfectly!
And, we have a family of squirrels and chipmunks that live under our deck... I usually leave them some peanuts for them to have a treat.. But, this week, with all that was going on, I forgot the treats... But, I had some strawberries that got left in the refrigerator over the last week, and I didn't figure they were picky squirrels and would enjoy them, even though they were a little ripe... I put three strawberries into their bowl, and within a couple of minutes, I went back outside and the big squirrel had one of the strawberries in his mouth and ran away with it. Ben told me he was coming across the bridge and a chipmunk had the 2nd strawberry but got spooked and dropped it and ran off... By the time we left, all the strawberries were gone.. So, they must have enjoyed the treat... I have been giving left over fruit to Ben's pigs and chickens... Last week, their treat was watermelon... They liked it...! (When the retaining wall goes in this fall, the little creatures are going to lose their home... with house prices, I hope they have started looking for new digs in the neighborhood....)
(I know the squirrels are destructive little farts... but, I think they need a treat every once in a while..... and if I give them their own treats, they don't raid the bird feeders....) Ya right!
As always, the adventure is wild and wacky, but it continues....
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