Playing with a Full Deck

I slept in until 730a or so. I was a little groggy, most likely spillover from three Jack & Cokes the evening before. But it was nothing I couldn't shake after some exercise and a walk. It looked nice outside, nothing but blue skies and sunshine. I completed my calisthenics then took Eiknarf on a walk.

I checked the weather forecast next. It was already 72 degrees with an expected high near 90. A chance of afternoon storms lingered too. My day's main goal was to complete the new deck. To that end I planned a trip to Lowes to get the necessary lumber after my run.

Mindy was up and in the shower around 830a. She was meeting her friend Teri for breakfast in Worthington. Mindy left the house near 9a. Mindy wasn't gone but a minute when I left for my run.

Sometime early during my run, it dawned on me that the trailer hitch ball was attached to the Honda (with Mindy). I wouldn't be able to make the Lowe's trip until she returned. Crap! I could've called her but thought better of it. I didn't want her to worry, hurry and stress. I decided that I'd simply take care of a handful of miscellaneous yard chores until she got home.  

I ran the full 4.1 miles, choosing to go bareback for the first time all year. As warm and humid as it was, even the lightest wicking shirt would feel like an extra layer of skin. I felt good and ran strong. I was energized knowing I'd be off work for the next 6 days, a sorely needed reprieve.

Back at home, I pulled out the fruit bowl and enjoyed three of four wedges of watermelon and then a few strawberries. I then headed out in the yard to plant the veggies I bought the Friday prior and then the left over petunias. It felt about as steamy as it could possibly be. Flies were biting at my sweaty legs while I toiled. That annoyed me much.

After planting the veggies and leftover flowers I headed out front to flip-flop the side fences on dad's trailer to accommodate a 4'X8' sheet of plywood. That took some doing. Had to use a piece of wood and a sledge hammer to free the fence posts from their metal footings. That took about 20 minutes. I cut the lower palm of my right hand pretty good on the old crusty plywood side fences. I rinsed it with cool water before moving on to anything else.

Next up, I mounted the 3/4" conduit that carries the electric to my front spots under the garage side entrance door . Prior, I had left it free floating since it was tucked neatly behind mature English ivy vines. But since I've now cut most of it away, the conduit is exposed and flapping under the door's threshold. A few days prior, I bought the metal u-clips and Tapcon screws to facilitate mounting the conduit to the concrete block. That little task proved to be snap. And better yet, Mindy arrived home just as I finished up.

We chatted briefly about her breakfast date with Teri and then I headed off to Lowe's. I'm thinking that it was already near 1230p. I parked close to the lumber door. Inside, I struggled to load a sheet of 3/4" 4'X8' sheet of treated plywood onto a lumber cart by myself. It's much heavier than you might think.

Next,  I carefully picked 17- 10' premium decking boards (no knots). The better boards were only $1.20 more per board - well worth the extra expense.  I then loaded 9- 8' standard decking boards that would serve as the new side fences for dad's trailer. The last bit of lumber I loaded up were three 8' treated 2"X4"s to serve as the side fence posts.

I still wasn't done. I needed decking screws for each project(the deck and the trailer). Decking screws have gotten really pricey over the last few years. I bought 3" premium decking screws for the deck and 2" premium screws for the trailer.  I picked up extra bits too. Nothing worse than a worn driver bit.

I loaded the wood into the trailer and tied the decking boards all together to minimize shifting during the travel home. It was really hot & steamy by then. I was soaked head to toe from sweat almost instantly. Took the back way home through the Glen.

Mindy was gone again. Can't recall where she was. Shopping I think. Slowly and methodically, I carried the lumber to the deck two boards at a time. I poured myself a big glass of ice water then carried the tools I'd need to complete the deck. By the way, I left the lumber for the trailer rebuild project in it for the time being.

The first decking board not only needed to be cut to fit (119.5"), but it also needed to have three additional cuts to facilitate the 4"x4" bench posts protruding up through the decking. That required some tedious measurements and cuts. My moto, measure twice, cut once. I had just gotten underway when dad unexpectedly showed up. Despite his presence, I remained focused on the work at hand not wanting to risk a errant cut. Because of the existing infrastructure, I had a few hurdles I wouldn't have faced had I been building the deck from scratch. For one, the railing was already in place, which required me to slide one end of the new decking board under its edge before getting it fully into position. After much toil, the first board fit like a glove. In the end, 10 of the 16 boards required at least two cut outs for bench posts. Can you say tedious.

I was somewhere near the halfway point when a stormed rolled in from the NE (odd). Prior, it was swelteringly hot, but once the storm's headwinds kicked in the temperature plummeted - probably by 15 degrees. Honestly, it was welcome relief, especially before the rain. And as it turned out, it didn't start raining for almost another hour.

Dad left for home just as the rain kicked in. Said he was happy & appreciative that I bought the supplies to redo the trailer but that he'd go ahead and pull the trailer home and do the rebuild himself. Didn't want me to have to worry about it. He sounded determined so I didn't argue.

While waiting out the afternoon rain, Mindy threw together a mid-afternoon snack consisting of pita chips, tortillas, guacamole and jarlsburg cheese spread. It was quite good. Might've had to wait an hour for the storm to clear. We were fortunate, the brunt of the storm passed just to our east dropping large hail, strong winds and heavy rains. We got rain and thunder. That's it. Taking further advantage of the break, I made our Wednesday night hotel reservations for downtown Cleveland. We got the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame package - room, tickets, parking, and breakfast - at the downtown Double Tree right on the lake. Not only were we planning to visit the Rock n' Roll hall of fame, but also the Great Lakes brewpub.

As soon as the storm threat passed, I headed back out to finish. I was beginning to feel pressed for time. Not only did I get started two hours later than planned, but I had to contend with an hour long storm delay too. If I didn't get done on Tuesday, it would almost certainly be Friday before I could work on it again. What's worse, I learned the hard way that you never want to cut your decking and then leave it laying out unscrewed for any amount of time. Otherwise, it'll cup on you in a hurry, especially if it's holding moisture like most decking stored inside the large box stores is.

Bottom line, I was a man on a mission. I stayed at it cutting all the board to fit. As luck would have it, my old Black & Decker jigsaw gave out on the second to last cut. Motor seized up. Lucky for me, Mindy had one too. I used hers to finish the precision cuts. I'm thinking it was near 530-6p when I started screwing in the boards. That's without question the most tedious of tasks. You figure 18 screws per board. Ugh!

Mindy was in taking care of some inside chores. She came out a couple times to replenish my water supply and also helped by holding back the climbing rose bush. She also walked over and made arrangements for Chrissy to keep Eiknarf overnight Wednesday while we visited Cleveland.

 After working hard all day long, Barley's was sounding really good. I asked Mindy what she thought about it. She was game too. But before any of that, I had to finish screwing down all the decking boards. I stayed at it for the next 2+ hours. My fingers were nearly raw from the repetitive process. It was after 8p when I drove the final screw. Yahoo! I took my time putting away my tools before a shower.

During my shower, Mindy walked Eiknarf down to Chrissy's. She needed to leave early for work. Thought it best to keep her overnight Tuesday too. I'm thinking we arrived at Barley's near 845p. As expected, the crowd was nonexistent. April was tending bar and shared that it was hectic earlier during happy hour. I drank a Centennial before considering any food. Mindy had a St Joan's. Mindy ordered food first, and started with a bowl of their soup special, chicken and rice, and a grilled cheese sandwich. I finished my first beer then ordered KC wings and a bowl of that yummy chicken and rice soup.

I had a second beer with my wings and really wanted a third, but Mindy was insistent that we head for home. It was already after 10p, closing time for a Tuesday. April was happy to serve me another, but to please us both offered instead that we take a growler of Centennial home. She even let us borrow the growler since we have so many already at home. That saved us $3.50. I think Mindy got the tab and also drove home.

I stayed up long enough to drink another Centennial once back home. Mindy, meanwhile, headed directly to bed. Good night moon!