Bar Build 021: May Vacation 2009

Laurie and I took a vacation together to work on ‘da crib. And work we did my friends. You’ll see the pics in a moment, but first a bit of disappointing news: I know some of you were looking forward “Deck Build 2009”. A nice new deck  in the backyard, ground level running along the back of the house.  I was so excited to build a deck that I turned down an invite from the one and only Ghetto Superstar Keith from the Rhode Island contingent. He invited us to partake in Warwick Festivus. I told Keith that I am way to excited about Deck Build 2009 to participate in the festivities and that I have not one, but two Uncles, one Aunt, one cousin coming up to swing a hammer around. Seriously, how often do you get two uncles to build something? With regret, we had to pass on Warwick Festivus.

Deck Build 2009 had to be post-poned until God knows when. Why? Money. The cost of the lumber skyrocketed. I called Seekamp lumber in April and got a quote of 1200 for the lumber. So, we saved some money and had the 1200. I called on Tuesday and the new price for the deck lumber was 2000. We were 800 short! That does not even include nails, deck anchors, or the lumber for the railing. 2000 was just for deck frame and deck boards. Oh jeez. What now? What to do? Only option was to cancel Deck Build 2009. I called up Aunt Cindy and Uncle Louie and told them the sad news. They said: “You’ll get ‘em next time kid”,  ”A walk is as good as a hit” , ”Give 110%!” , ”We’re just glad you could help the team”,” don’t think; it can only hurt the ball club”,” We gotta play it one day at a time”, ”give it your best shot and the good lord willing, everything will work out”, ”it ain’t over ‘til its over”, “This is like deja vu all over again.”, “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”, “You should always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise, they won’t come to yours”.

Onto the good news.

So now we have 1200 and an entire vacation of no deck building. More stuff for the bar? No….Trees. Yuppers. Trees. I know what you are thinking, I can feel your look. “Brian, sweetheart…you live…eh..hem…in the….ummmmmm            woods. Yes. Yes I do. But with all the trees on my land, none of them are strategicly placed to block my neighbors burnt out truck we have been looking at for 5 years. I think you’all have seen it too.

Here is a reminder:

The view from the living room window. Circa 2007. (Truck burnt in 2004)

Now today here is the view. You’ll notice pieces of the truck missing. But a white Ford Escort on blocks with a plastic bag over the brake drum has joined the fun in the yard. Progress?

The view today. Some of the truck is missing.

Here is the view from the yard.

View from the yard

View from the front yard:

View from the front yard

!000 in trees. What has my life come to? There are 5 more coming on Thursday. Can. not. wait.

Tired yet? This vacation is just getting started! In addition to please Mr. Lorax who speaks for the trees, we rented a dumpster and clean all the bar build debris from under the deck. I also borrowed a pair of pallet forks for the tractor to make lifting shit easier. Here is a picture of the dumpster, Big Mean Orange Machine with borrowed forks:

So long debris.

The Before

The After

A very fun and productive vacation so far. Moving on….

In addition to the debris removed from the backyard, trees on the sideyard, the bulk of the work done during the vaction was Laurie’s rock wall. She placed each rock in place by hand, digging into the dirt so each one is set in place. This took 4 days to complete. Oh, also I forgot to mention about the new plants planted along the hill on top of the rock wall. We got those plants when we bought the trees.

Maddie enjoying the new rock wall.

The new wall

And now it is time for a quick humor break.

Yeah I am damn cool.

That rock wall was alot of work. Now, I know what you are thinking. What about the bar? Did you do any work to the bar? How can you  go a whole vacation without giving us what we crave the most? We want bar info dammit! Ok. AJ came by and installed lights under the bar for looks and 3 different sections of  lighting in the ceiling. Here are some pictures:

Section one is for the 3 lights that will be over the bench area:

Section one: Lights over the bench

 Then the switch in the middle controls one lonely ‘ol light for above the pellet stove:

Over the pellet stove.

The last light switch controls the lights from across the bar.

Lights across the bar.

And now for the best part. You ready? The lights under the bar and under the prep area:

Prep area lights

Accent lights from under the bar.

Lights under the bar