29 July 2012

Are you wondering why it took me most of the day to install two 8′ long longitudinals and 17 deck planks in the next section of the wooden walkway?  Here is just one example of how things went today: needed to clamp in place the 2x4x12 that serves as a temporary guide for aligning the deck boards.  Only there was a root from a tree stump in the way where the lower end of the 2x4 needed to go.  In order to cut the root without totally destroying my limb saw and/or root cutting ax, I had to remove a 75 pound boulder that was underneath the root… and held firmly in place by said root and several smaller, but not petite, sisters and brothers from the Igneous family.  A half hour of vigorous toil later, all was clear to start chopping.  During one of my more Bunyanesque back-swings with the ax, managed to clobber the deck light that I’d just installed on the nearby railing post.  Double-bladed root cutting ax vs. cheap tin light, you can guess who won that battle.  The good news is that I now have extra easily-lost mounting screws and an extra T-5 7w light bulb for the deck lights.  So, an hour and a half after beginning the one minute job of clamping a 2x4 in place, I was ready to start putting down deck boards.  Do you also wonder why I’m having more than one beer tonight in front of the campfire?  Finally figured out how to take elevations (using my poor-man’s transit: my father’s ancient leveling sight steadied on Tasi’s old camera tripod) with nobody available to hold the range rod.  My steel rock-removing bar and a quick clamp do the job quite nicely, thank you very much.  Also figured out that the walkway will need to continue on the other side of the lower “driveway” (the level area that will be used to access the rear of the house and the septic tanks located there) as though it crossed that 20′ gap with the same 7.5:1 slope it has everywhere else.  That way the walkway will only be 15″ or so above ground level at the next turn… a much more reasonable situation than if I’d stayed with my original plan to have the walkway cross the lower “driveway” with only a 6″ slope from one side to the other.