The Kids Have a Blog

We're trying to encourage Hope to write more and she's just dying to use the computer these days so we decided to get her an email account and let her start her own blog so she can publish her stories. Of course, anything Hope does Tori must do as well so we just decided to create them a single blog that they can both post to. Here's a link.

It Is Finished!

Well...sort of. Still have some staining to do and a few handles to put on. Plus, I want to add one more support so I can enjoy playing with some more concrete, but it's basically done.

 

More action shots here.

Swing Set Saga, Part IV

This swing set is a merciless task master.I finished the rock wall assembly just after midnight tonight.  Anna helped me stain the umteenth board and we finally called it a night.  I hope to finish tomorrow.

Swing Set Saga, Part III

Long day.  Still a long way to go.

Swing Set Saga, Part II

We made some good progress yesterday (Wednesday). We completed putting the decking on the first level, framed up the floor for the second level and installed the second level decking. We also built the wall supports for the play house and stained them. Finally, I put together the ladder. (Neither of the last two items is shown in the picture below.)

By the way, if you think this set is over the top, check out this or this.

Swing Set Saga, Part I

We're building a Swing set, and it's all our neighbor's fault. We looked at swing sets last year but decided that most were just too expensive. We were planning on just waiting for a while, but then my neighbor Cody came home with one from Sam's Club. It was pretty nice and the price was reasonable. I helped him put his together and then decided I'd pick one up while Sam's still had them on sale. It took us about a week of evenings and a weekend to put his together. We started ours on Sunday afternoon.

On the first day, I put together the basic frame with some help from my other neighbor, Bud. Originally, I'd hoped to get farther than this on the first day. I wanted to have it levelled, square, and anchored by the end of the day. I discovered that my back yard is even more unlevel than I'd originally thought and ran into some problems. I decided to get some concrete pavers to help provide a nice smooth level surface. Here's what it looked like at the end of Sunday:


On Monday, I swung by the Home Depot on my way home and purchased the pavers I needed to help with the leveling process. Cody came over again and we managed to level the unit. Once everything was set and we were sure of the position, we moved the frame off the pavers and dug holes for the concrete footings we'll be using for anchors. When we got done, we moved the unit back on to the pavers to make sure it was level before we poured the concrete. Good thing we did because it was no longer level. Somehow, we'd upset one of the pavers while digging our holes. We were running out of daylight and I was frustrated with the ordeal so we quit for the night.

Tonight, Tuesday, we made some real progress. We finally got the unit level again, added braces, and the floor for the second level. Then, we finally got to pour the concrete anchors. I had the kids come out and make hand prints in the concrete. I figure 10 or 12 years from now if I'm still living here I'll tear it down and have an emotional moment and ponder how quickly they've grown up. I also marked the final anchors with the names of the construction crew.

Lobster Man

So, I've been helping the neighbors put together a swing set. Not just any swing set, but a super dooper two story job with a tunnel, rock wall, slide, sandbox, and a cedar shake roof. So, it's supposed to be one of those assemble in 8 - 10 hour deals, which might actually work if you had a small army of illegal immigrants to help you, which, of course, is possible here in central Texas, but I digress.


So, we worked on this thing for several evenings after work over the last week or so. We didn't have a chance to work on it Friday or Saturday, so we finished it today. I thought we were only out there for a few hours because we were having so much fun. I've discovered that building stuff is sort of like having adult sized Legos. Anyway, when I came in and got cleaned up, I noticed that I'd gotten just a tad bit sunburned. I'd actually been outside working in the nice 87 degree weather for about 4 and a half hours, without sunscreen. um, so, I haven't worked up the summer tan yet, and uh, I temporarily look like Trevor when he gets embarrassed:



And of course, I'm getting no sympathy from Anna, so ya'll will have to give me some moral support here.