The supporting structure of the new dock is almost done! Putting up the sixteen foot 2 X 6 at the front was the most difficult as we had to work from above because the water was 3 feet above our heads. And let me tell you this was a heavy board! Lucky it was a short day due to rain, which means only six hours!
Oh, I almost forgot about the days fly in the ointment... well, make that the first fly. While we were arranging the loose boards we had placed on top so we had something to work from, someone dropped the drill in the water. I won't mention any names but I will say I was glad it was not me. But I had the honors of diving for it and that took fifteen minutes because I am rather buoyant ( Is that where the term Bubble Butt comes from?) Hey, but thanks to Craftsman the drill still works! And one of life's little lessons...Hubby accidentally dropped a screw into the lake and I complained about the high price of screws. He miraculously found it. And shortly after yours truly dropped two! Open mouth insert foot...or the crow I had to eat.
The second came from the demolition of the old dock. The stairs were impossible to unscrew so with that 200 pound crowbar (well, it felt like 200 pounds at the time) the two of us totally wrecked the joist hangers. And let me tell you getting that set up out of the water was no picnic! If we were not on such a tight budget I would have sailed that puppy out into the lake!
By the way, no further sign of the otter so maybe he/she was just scouting out the appropriateness of the unusual den area. And the seat belts came for the car. We installed the carpet in our spare time last week but still have not finished work on the dash and that work is easier without the seats in. Oh, and the parts to convert to power steering also arrived. That can wait! The antenna has not yet arrived, but was shipped today. Attaching that to the radio is part of the dash work still undone.
Now, back to the planning. The finished measurement of the newly constructed dock is sixteen odd feet by twelve foot nine inches! They make twelve or sixteen foot boards. Twelves are too short, sixteens a lot of waste and extra expense. So to cover up our short-sighted error, we decided to run two sixteen foot deck boards up the center and run twelve footers perpendicular to those center boards after we cut them all in half! Six footers would save a lot of sawing but they do not make six footers. How rude is that!
Just had to take a break to go out and retrieve my camera. I left it on the railing...in the rain..hope it survives. It was only a light rain. While I was out there I thought I'd take a picture of my night blooming cerus cactus. Have missed every bloom so far as I have been to tired to go out after dark. As it turns out I was still a little early. I will have to try and remember an hour from now. While I was out there I did see one of the little screech owls that nests in our owl box every year. She/he is two months early to nest yet but I am glad to see they are again in the neighborhood. We haven't seen them since the babies fledged last spring.
Okay, time for milk and cookies.
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