Projects Progressing on and on

Today I finished up the drip irrigation for the planters, Palm trees and Oak tree in the front yard.  I still need to imbed the scalloped edging around the Oak tree, cover that area with landscape fabric and red (lava) rock.  On the other side of the driveway I need to set twenty-four feet of double forms and pour a concrete base for the staggered-block retaining wall, form a three-to-four inch drain-rock and landscape fabric layer inside of the wall and finish back-filling.  I already have about one-half of the fill from the red rock walk area on the house side of the driveway.  The rest of the fill will come from the area adjacent to the storage shed in the back yard – I need to have eight inches of footing exposed on the side for the inspection.  The ends will be OK with a concrete apron three-to-seven feet wide.  It will be nice to get at least one of my multiple projects completed; maybe some time I can actually spend some time fixing up the boat (25’ center console) to do some fishing and diving.

Projects and Progress

I am finally making some progress on some of my larger projects, well, one of them anyway. Back in September I got the permit to build a storage shed in the back yard, on the opposite side of the pool from the house, but up close to the screenroom wall (about six inches way). I’d had the concrete pad poured two and a half years ago when the pool went in. It seemed like from that time forward, every time I could get some progress on it something would come up, either we had to make a trip to the west coast (Pacific coast, not the west coast of Florida), someone would get sick or injured, or we’d have visitors or bad weather.

First Wall Framing

The first wall to be framed needed to be the wall next to the screenroom, and because of the proximity it needed to be framed, sided, nailed off, and painted before it could be raised. Progress has been really slow; back in November my son, Joey, helped me finish nailing off the siding on the first wall, then I got a chest cold, or two or three- finally a friend of mine from Virginia came to visit and although we all had colds, including my friend Larry, with his help two coats of paint were put on that first wall. OK, actually Larry did most of the work, while I coughed.

Then, two weeks ago, just as I felt I was finally kicking this series of coulds, while getting ready for church, I had a sharp, stabbing pain in my lower back. And, I spent most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on the living room floor with my lower legs up on the footstool. After Bishopric I asked Bishop Pedraza, Kenny Rider and Mike Kremkau to give me a blessing, and it eased the pain a lot, but I still had to be careful how I stood up, and reaching or bending over needed to be avoided. My back is still tender, and now, knowing that the problem is multiple degenerating discs, arthritis and some bone spurs all in the same place, I have resigned myself to moving carefully. However -

Now, warmer weather and just a slight breeze convinced me that I should be able to raise the first wall, and begin framing the second and subsequent walls.



First Wall Raised



Tomorrow I'll start framing the second 26-foot wall.

Projects, Projects, Projects

The weather is supposed to be nice for the next week-and-a-half, and I really need to get the shed finished. My second biggest project will be to get the boat emptied out and cleaned up so we can get it up for sale. I will need to spend some time, probably only one morning cleaning up and prepping the garden so Jeannine can plant when she gets back next weekend. And, when I have the rototiller going I might as well go ahead and make the trench for the retaining wall alongside the driveway. Then I will be ready to pour some concrete to set the interlocking retaining wall blocks, and move the soil from around the shed slab out to the wall area, and top it with filter fabric and red-rock. That should give me more room to park the Kia and I will be able to move the boat over about a foot-and-a-half. Then I have more room to park the Jeep in the driveway, but I am still thinking about making a red-rock area with stepping stones on the side towards the front door so people will be able walk around the vehicles parked in the driveway without having to walk in the grass.

Sleepless Nights

It s another sleepless night- for some reason it is after midnight and I am up at the computer- I went to bed early enough- about ten-thirty, but gave up and got back up when it became apparent I was not going to be able to sleep, again. I haven’t had this problem for some time, months at least, but tonight, despite waking up before six this morning, I am awake, not necessarily alert, but definitely awake.
I bought an air compressor today and a pneumatic nailgun to use on the storage shed/exercise room I am building in the back yard, and I spent a few minutes getting it ready. Putting on the quick-connects for the hose, nailgun and tire inflator. Tomorrow afternoon, if the weather cooperates I should be able to start using it to nail down the siding on the wall that will be adjacent to the screen room. Right now that framing is lying flat on the slab, waiting for decent weather so I can complete it. I had put off getting the compressor and nailgun, trying to decide if it would speed things up enough to justify the expense, but, with Jeannine's urging I bought one. I hope it turns out to be as much a time-saver as we think it should be.
My thoughts these past few days have been a bit melancholy, remembering special people in Alexandria, and in Utah, that I miss. I keep thinking of the trip to China . . . and of the many Church performances that we had in Alexandria – I miss the choirs singing – the Ward I am in now is struggling to come up with enough people to act as a choir for Christmas – it would be nice to get a dozen or more, but last Sunday it looked like they only had six or seven.
I have been following a Blog every couple days, and seem to notice when there are no new posts for several days. I wonder if anyone will every find and follow this one? And, I wonder how my friend in Utah is- haven't heard anything there for several months now . . .