roots & rocks

Not much happening this weekend, so this will be a fairly boring post. Windows probably won't be ready to go in until the first of October.

We started on the deck though, so actually having the better part of a deck this year, is kinda exciting on its own. Now that we have all that decking cedar sitting in the yard, its kind of given us incentive to get it done.

Our goal for the day was to get the forms built and in place. We got out the measuring tapes and figuring diagonals and all that jazz then rough marked where each form had to go.

Bill started by digging out the dirt in and around where the forms were to go. Similar to what we found when putting in the piers for the cottage itself, some areas are nice flat rock while others go quite deep in spots. On one, there were tree roots to contend with and Bill struggled with those. Some were too big for either the shovel or nippers and required a saw. It had rained the night before, so everything was quite muddy on top of it.

My job was nailing forms together again. I tried to be extra careful throughout, figuring I really did not want to sacrifice another finger. Down to the last form, then that dangerous 3rd last nail and I'm telling myself "be carefull, no getting careless". So I survive in this manner, talking silently to myself, and escape with my fingers intact.

Next I helped Bill with the digging. Most were easy as it was relatively flat and close to the surface. However, two of them went quite deep. One had a large loose rock along the side that would have to come out. Luckily we had a large pry bar in the shed and Bill was able to get it out using that.

And that was that. We were tired so called it quits. All the forms were built, and put in place, not perfectly in place mind you, but enough to justify to me that we had accomplished our goal.