3 August 2012

Awoke this morning thinking of joints.  No, not that kind of joint!  I’m talking about the connection between two pieces of wood, specifically the longitudinals for the wooden walkway.  Decided that, for maximum strength, I need to have the lap joints fall either on (ideally) or close to the stringers that support the longitudinals, which are spaced eight feet apart.  So called Goodro’s first thing they opened and offered to trade them sixteen 2x4x12’s for twelve 2x4x16’s (works out to the same number of board feet of lumber).  Delivery expected Monday.  Have I ever mentioned that Perry is not only a fabulous chef, but also a brilliant carpenter?  He suggested coating the lag bolt threads with bar soap (he uses Ivory, but all I have is Dial).  Drove beaucoup lag bolts today and broke only the one I didn’t soap!  Installed the next pair of in-ground posts (one of which had to go exactly where a LARGE rock used to reside, until Tammy moved it out of the way with her backhoe), two sets of stringers, and their associated railing posts.  Surveyed (alignment only; elevations to follow) the next two sections of the walkway path, as the walkway needs to veer west 25 degrees in another four feet or people will knock their heads on a very nice, but very hard, cherry tree that is leaning just a tad too much downhill.  Can’t have that…  Then, once past the cherry tree, the walkway needs to make a precise 90 degree left turn, passing just so between a large oak and a small beech.  Trimmed the driveway vegetation just before diving in the lake.  I’m sure Alex and Katy will be mightily impressed with the manicured weeds when they arrive at midnight.