Well, hello old friend!

For anyone still out there, hello!  We hope that you're all healthy and happy.

I know we've been a long time away from the old blog.  I'm not sure why, really.  I enjoyed keeping it updated.  But, then, I just stopped.  Odd...

Man, so much has gone on around here since our last updates.  We've all but finished our main living space.  We did a full tear out and remodel of our kitchen, and replaced the flooring throughout the entire house.  We've redone the living room, including a complete reworking of the base and surround for the wood stove.  With both of these projects, we tackled things we hadn't done previously.

Outdoors at the homestead, we've finally rid ourselves of the last vestige of the previous owner.  There was a large, ramshackle chicken coop that was one serious eyesore.  We tore that sucker down, and filled a large dumpster and then some.  Now THAT felt good...getting that one final thing gone.

This being the year of the 'rona and the staying at home, we explored a new hobby.  We've taken up beekeeping.  We have two hives, and had what we think is a phenomenal first season.  In our first season, we managed to harvest 56.9 pounds of honey, while still leaving the bees in great shape for getting through a tough northern Michigan winter.  We've learned a ton, and have a ton and then some yet to learn.  Fortunately, the bees are very good teachers.

We added a second deer blind at the far rear of our property, which will allow friends and family to come up and hunt on the property.  We're very proud of the fact that we're now at eight years of having purchased no beef.  We've been living solely on the venison taken from our property, and we love to share that same opportunity with friends and family.

We're beginning to plan for our retirement, which is now within about 5-7 years.  We want to be able to see some of this amazing country we live in.  We took the leap, and bought a class C motorhome, which we'll be taking delivery on sometime later this month.  We're buying it now with the intention of having it paid off by the time we pull the pin on retirement.

We've certainly seen some losses since we last blogged here, with family members leaving us broken hearted and hurting.  But, we go on, and we let them remind us that our time here is limited and wonderful, and that we should be stockpiling as many good deeds and good memories as possible before we also move on.

We also saw the loss of a deer family pet.  We said goodbye to dear old Peanut about a year ago.  She was old pit mix mutt, and was nearly 15 when we said goodbye to her.  It's taken us this past year to grieve and then want to get another dog.  Just last month we added Bailey to our family, a cattle dog/pit mix rescue mutt.  Aside from some separation anxiety issues we're working through with him, he's fitting right in.

By and large, our lives are pretty damn good.  We're mostly healthy and remaining very active.  We have good, close friends who we get together with whenever possible.  We both have jobs that we value, and that bring us satisfaction.  We've set goals for ourselves and have been able to attain them, and have set new ones to work toward.  We're still very much in love, and still each other's best friend.  Long story short... life is very good, indeed.

I don't know how much I'll come back here to the old blog, but coming back with an update now just felt right somehow.  We'll see what the future holds...

Finishing Up The Deck

Hello!  Our last update had us getting the decking down on our new deck.  Well, I am VERY happy to report that the deck is now 100% complete.  We ran out of unseasonably warm weather to get it all done before winter hit, which left the stairs and railing for this summer.  Here are some pics of how we got it done, and the final product. 

First, we needed to get a pad poured for the steps.

The pad poured, and wet curing.

The first stair stringer.  The goal was originally to have it hit the back of
pad, but a newbie error has it hitting the middle.  We'll live with it. :)

The stairs are just shy of five feet wide.  The math just about undid me
but it finally clicked!  

The stairs complete, and awaiting railing!

The posts all in place.

The top rails attached, and the balusters going on.

One side complete, and Shelly proudly showing it off.

The deck railing complete...just the stairs to go!

One side down...one side to go...

That's it!  It's done!  Well...just some blocking and some electrical
work to do.

This project was the single largest home improvement endeavor we've ever attempted to tackle.  We've had a couple months now to enjoy it being done.  Shelly and I talk quite a bit about what we built...that we did it together...that we still like each other now that it's done.  Neither of us had ever built a deck.  But, we built a deck.  :)

Damn, we are so very proud of what we accomplished!!!!!

On to the next project...

It's been a long time...and we built a deck!

It's been a very long time since I've been here.  I've thought often about coming back and updating the old blog, but for various and sundry reasons it just never happened.  It may sound like a lame excuse, but the main reason is that my employer up and went Google.  See, I was using my work laptop for all of the Shangri La updates, and when they went Google, the administrative settings wouldn't allow me to use Blogger...which is the service we use for this blog.  I didn't have a personal laptop, having given mine to our youngest son.  Fast forward to today, and you might ask what changed to have me writing this post.  :)

Both of our sons are out in the world and on their own, and are making us immeasurably proud.  Our oldest is gainfully employed by the U.S. government, enlisted in the Navy and working in IT.  Our youngest is gainfully employed by the great state of Ohio, working a technical support helpdesk for their statewide public safety communications system.  As you'd imagine with them working in these roles, they're both very tech savvy.  It also means that the old laptops they had when living at home were no longer up to their high standards.  Turn about is fair play, I guess, because I got their hand me downs.  I now have two personal laptops, and no good excuse for not updating the old blog.  :)

We've worked on several projects since the last update, but only one is truly significant...at least in its size and complexity.  We tore down and replaced the old deck.  We weren't planning to tackle this project this soon, especially with the basement finishing project now entering year three.  But, due to its age and poor workmanship the old deck just wasn't safe.  This set us upon what would turn out to be our most ambitious home improvement project to-date.  

Tearing down the old deck was waaaayyyy too easy.  The stairs came down with just a swipe of the Kubota bucket.  The deck came apart with a screw gun.  The posts snapped right off at their bases.  Voila!  It's down!  Seeing how it was put together and how it had aged, we shouldn't ever have been on it...at all.

Building the new deck started with research.  We've never built a deck.  In fact, the framing in the basement is the first real carpentry we've ever attempted.  If you've read prior posts, though, you know that we don't shy away from challenges, and this was going to be out biggest.  With what we wanted to do with the deck it needed to be engineered and built for strength, stability, and durability.  

The deck was going to have to be BIG.  We wanted it the full width of the house, and we wanted it out from the house far enough that a hot tub would be out from under the eaves.  This would keep the snow from crashing onto the hot tub when sliding off the roof.  That put the deck at a width of 27' 6" and a depth of 15'.  The deck was also going to have to be tall.  Our front entry door is roughly 5 feet above ground level, and the deck needed to come right in under the door sill.  For an extra level of complexity, the deck would have to be free standing.  There is a window right in the path of where we would need to install a ledger board.  Our options were to go with a ledger board and not go full width, go with a ledger board and try to use a post support for the area by the window, or go full free standing.  With the window taking away the option for a full ledger board, we opted for free standing.  It has the upside of removing an area for possible water intrusion into the house, and with the extreme freeze/thaw/freeze we have up here that had our minds made up.

So, to summarize, we needed a deck that would be nearly 30 feet wide, 15 feet deep, 5 feet high, free standing, be strong and stable enough to hold up a hot tub, and be strong and stable enough to withstand the weight of the hot tub and potential snow load when snow comes cascading off the roof.

We started with 4' sonotubes, burying them close to 40" in the ground.  We tried to dig the holes with a power auger, but football sized stones stopped that right quick.  We wound up digging the 20 holes old school, with a manual post hole digger and a shovel.  Between the holes and mixing/pouring the concrete, this was absolutely the hardest part of the project.  By the end, we just wanted it to be over.

We hauled a few loads like this one.

This was every bit a team effort.  Shelly worked her tail off!

We were going to be using four beams, with five posts per beam.  The posts would be 6" x 6", and would be mounted on the footings with galvanized brackets.  The beam would be doubled 2" x 8"'s.  We mounted the beams to the top of the posts by notching the posts and securing them with 3/8" bolts.  We had to get pretty darn creative when lifting the beams into place.  Ratchet straps came in real darn handy.  We lifted one end up, ratcheted it in place, then lifted the other end and did the same.  We then drilled and bolted it in place, and removed the ratchet straps.

27' long, doubled 2" x 8" beam

 

The first row of posts, notched and ready for the first beam.

The first beam, mounted to the posts.

After getting the posts mounted we needed to get to work on the bracing.  Bottom line, when we're done this thing was not going to move...at all.  For side to side we used Y bracing, and for back to front we went with cross bracing.

The beams all mounted, and bracing started.

Cross bracing using 2" x 4" and 6" x 6" cutoffs to tie two braces together in the middle.

With the framework built and solidly braced it was time to start on the joists and decking.  All of this would be 2" x 8" for the joists, and 5/4 decking.  We needed it all in 15' lengths, so we had the local lumberyard deliver.  For the side where the hot tub will be, we spaced the joists at 12" on center.  For the rest of the deck we spaced them at 16" on center.  

15' long 2" x 8" joists, and 15' long 5/4 decking 

The joists, attached on the house side.

The joists, squared and complete.

The decking, laid in place, but not yet screwed down.

The decking is complete!

Having never done anything like this, it took us way longer than it probably could/should have.  We learned a TON doing this.  We reaffirmed to ourselves that we're a solid team, and that we truly can do anything we set our minds to.  We still have the railing and the stairs to complete.  We're holding off on the railing until we get the hot tub in place, and we're holding off on the stairs until the weather clears and the snow is gone.

The weather turned before we really had a chance to enjoy the deck, but we did manage to have one very cool evening.  When the decking was laying in place, even before we screwed it down, we hauled up a couple of camp chairs, cracked open a couple of beers, sat under a clear sky full of stars, and talked about what we accomplished and how much we were going to enjoy this thing we'd built.

Until next time!