We started the morning at Pineridge with coffee, breakfast and a walk. After doing a few chores we contacted Ryan to coordinate our plans for the evening. He told us he was getting off work early so we packed up clothing and toiletries for a few days and grabbed a few more tools and started for Edmonton. We arrived around 2:45 and got organized. Ryan had pre-ordered all the supplies (to be ready by 10:30 am) from Home Depot so we took both our trucks there at 4:00pm to pick it up. Well, after finally tracking down the right person it was determined that they did not have the order ready. We grabbed the post hole auger we were renting and made plans to be back at 7:00pm. Fingers crossed that it's ready. Back at the house we started drilling our holes. Thankfully Dave and Ryan are both big, strong guys. That auger was brutally heavy.
Ryan, Ashtyn and Dave. Four down, twelve to go!
Ashtyn and I would mark each spot trying to keep them in line. As the guys finished a hole we would clean up the dirt and clay that fell back in and that they pulled out. Of course we hit a few rocks along the way.
Dave worked on it for a bit. Note the platform in the back ready for the hot tub tomorrow.
Still digging. Note the area in front of the garage where the planters will go.
I took over trying to dislodge the big rock while they continued on with the rest of the post holes. After a while I finally got it loose enough that Dave could reach down and get it out.
Damn rock! So much time and effort...
but we finally got it!!
Around 7:15 we went back to Home Depot to pick up the order it's ready, and return the auger. Back in less than 4 hours! Cheaper that way.
Dave looks ready!
We loaded up Ryan's truck with posts, 2x4's etc. and ours with the bags of cement. We would need to do another trip for the fence boards. Back home we unloaded everything into the garage. Dave and Ryan went back to Home Depot for the fence boards. Good thing we have a one ton dually, 380 - 6 foot boards in one load. Worst part was the guys had to hand load all those boards. Ugh.
June 30
We all started with a good breakfast because we know this is going to be a long hard work day. Ashtyn has stocked up with lots of good food to keep us fuelled, thanks Ashtyn! Ryan took off early to go to Home Depot and grab a cement mixer. Too many bags to mix by hand. As soon as he got back we were outside and ready to roll. We started cementing posts and we hope to finish one side of the yard before Ashtyn's Mom and Rusty come at noonish with the hot tub. We are using fast set cement and learned a valuable lesson about keeping the mixer full of water while we poured cement in the holes. Brutally hard to chip out cement set up in the mixer, Ryan got it all cleaned out but it was work!
Ryan and his friend Gord working the mixer
South side of the house is set
With half the posts in and setting up we took a little break and waited for a couple more of Ryan's friends to come over. Luc, Joel and Gord are supposed to be here at noon. Ashtyn's Mom is bringing the hot tub at noon and we are hand moving it to the pad that Ryan built a few weeks ago. It's heavy but has a smooth bottom and we can slide it into place. Long story short, we got it done easier than expected thanks to Ashtyn's Moms partner, Rusty, being able to back the trailer in between the garages making the move significantly shorter. Sliding in the 800 pound hot tub is the easy job!! This is our Canada Day long weekend. Do we know how to have fun or what?
Hot tub in place, back to cement!
We got the north side of the yard done in good time. We have a system going now. We cleaned up the cement stuff and got the mixer loaded to return to Home Depot. Sam had come over after work, she's landscaping, and her and Ashtyn and I got to work moving dirt and the planter boxes to get them in place. Still need the second planter box nailed together before bringing it out. Ryan and Dave took the cement mixer back and we got the planter levelled and ready for plastic liner. Everybody has had enough for today. We had such a late night last night. We decided to call it a day and let the cement set overnight so we can install fence boards in the morning. While the others were cementing posts, Dave and I had started putting hangers and rails on the posts on the south side of the house. We tried a few fence boards just to see how they looked and stopped.
Ashtyn being shy? Return the mixer and done for today.
July 1
HAPPY CANADA DAY!!
We got going again around 9:30. Ryan's friend Luc had mentioned yesterday that he wasn't doing much today and asked would we like a hand with boards? Of course we would Luc! Great of him to help!
Luc on the left, Dave, Ryan, Ashtyn
So Ryan and Ashtyn took the south side of the house and Luc and I took the north side to start installing boards. It was great to be able to chat with Luc for a few hours as I haven't seen him in years. He's been Ryan's friend since elementary school. We chatted lots but still managed to get all the boards up. I think we were faster than Ryan/Ashtyn but they said they kept getting pulled away to look at other stuff with Dave. Lol. 
Ryan and Ashtyn's work
Ryans fanny pack/ screw pouch lol
Luc and I, great team!
Margaret supervising from couch in the sun. The deck was in the shade...too cold for Princess M
Great lunch guys. We're all hungry! Definitely Luc is...
In the early afternoon Sam came over, maybe feeling the affects of a party last night, and took over the planter #1 install. She levelled it and lined the interior and shovelled in the dirt. We had already bought some good topsoil for the top of the boxes so she added that too.
Sam and Taco in the planter
With Dave's help Sam also assembled planter box #2. The planter box is nailed with 8" spikes and Dave's arm is done after nailing that together, even with Sam hammering in two of them. Time to clean up and have a beer. The back yard is really coming together and looks so much better already. After supper we all decided to play a game and have a beverage or two. Dave declined and went to watch a bit of TV. Around 10:00 Dave went to bed but me and the kids stayed up until almost 2:00 am. It was fun :)
July 2
Dave's job yesterday was to help where needed and get started on the gates for the south side of the house. So today that's what him and I are doing; assembling and hanging gates. Ryan and Ashtyn were finishing off the fence attaching to the house and garage on the other side of the yard. We all kind of switched around from those jobs as needed depending what was happening. Ryan and Dave carried planter #2 out and set it up. Then Ashtyn and I filled that one with dirt. Sam came over in the afternoon to help too. She donated a couple of garden items she isn't using anymore like a bench and some pots. We got the planters done along with a middle section with pots so you can still reach the power receptacle on the garage wall.
The completed project! Gates and planters.
Yard cleaned up and admiring our work, puffy sweater Dave?
July3
Unfortunately today is back to work for the kids. Dave and I are getting up fairly early because Dave is dropping his truck for service at Lomax Diesel (he likes this shop). I'm borrowing Ashtyn's car to pick him up and we'll buy the gate hardware while the truck gets serviced. We got the latch on the back gate and then the shop called to pick up the truck. We picked it up and drove out to Ashtyn's work to drop off her car. Thanks Ashtyn for letting us use the car. We bought a fancier latch for the front gate so that it's nicer looking. Well we ended up going 3 times to Canadian Tire for the right hardware. Once was Dave's mistake buying the wrong size bolts. I think we are too exhausted to think straight! lol This day is turning out to be longer here than we expected. By the time we finished Ryan pulled up out front and he was done work for the day! With big hugs and handshakes we left Ryan's for the drive back to Pineridge. We're tired and are taking a couple days off. Quick stop in Stony Plain for groceries and then drive home quick to beat a thunderstorm and heavy rain. Phew! What a fun and productive long weekend. Once home we ate and went to bed at 8:30.
July 4
Happy Independence Day! (our American friends)
We slept until 7:30!! Almost 12 hours, okay we read some before sleeping but that's a long sleep for us. We're not doing anything for a couple days!! Well, maybe weed whip a bit and clean some stuff. Well and we would like to do .... nope it's a day off!! Tomorrow's another day. We went for a walk around the park. That's it.
Ahh that's more like it !
No comments:
Post a Comment