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snoozefestaudioGot up at 2PM instead of 3PM today. Surprised to find that it's 51F out there! Perfect weather for working out in the yard.
As soon as I wake up a bit here, I'll get out to the scop with some tools and see if I can't take her apart.
Of course, that means the canopy hoist too! But maybe I can figure out a better canopy hoist that goes higher up into the locust tree.
Also, the timbers of the scop are pretty long, so maybe I can use one as a lever to move the huge barbecue hunk out of it's hole.
------------{=0=}------------
3:55PM
Well, as soon as I got all my tools out there and started to work on the SCOP, the sky grew dark, distant rumbles could be heard, and it started to rain.
So now I'm back inside.
I did remove and save all the parts of the canopy hoist; the crank, the pulleys, the cable, and the weighted hook.
And I also saved the anemometer.
But as soon as I took a socket and ratchet to the bolts, it became clear... all the nuts are turning with the rusty bolts, inside their countersunk wood seatings so they can't be loosened.
I'm gonna have to cut it apart with either the chainsaw or the sawzall.
------------{=0=}------------
7:10PM
So it rained for a while, and we had some thunder, which prompted Yvette to come out here with me in the back room... which is a good thing, because she never leaves the kitchen lately.
But then the sun came out and there was still time before sunset, so I grabbed the sawzall and the chainsaw and got to work.
The swingset section came apart fast. I found that the chainsaw was all that was needed.
It's worth noting tonight, that I am the one who originally assembled this jungle gym back in 2000.
Back then Mom & Dad still had four small grandchildren coming to visit.
It stood 23 years, mainly because of Dad's sentimentality about it. Though my neice Veda was also fairly sentimental about it.
And her daughter Emberly, Dad's first great grandchild, Did get a chance to swing on the swingset in 2021.
But after that I removed the swings, and the slide... which was about all that Dad could handle.
The vinyl rooftop of the turret held up pretty well, but, it was getting kinda stiff and brittle.
The screws and bolts were rusty. The surface of the wood was dry rotting and mossy. And down at the base, it was full on wet-rotting into pulp.
It was time for this thing to go!
Once the scop was down, I had a perfect square of clover and flaked flagstone in the footprint of the turret.
I'd piled the rocks in there last summer in the hopes of luring field crickets.
Once a stately jungle gym... now a pile of scrap lumber. I'll get the dumpster delivered this week and toss this all in there.
I gathered all the rocks into the wheelbarrow and took them back over by the ruins of the old barbecue, because they'll be part of the new rock garden.
By the way, I flipped over a hunk of the barbecue concrete and you can see here that my grandfather used not just coal klinkers (one in the upper left corner of this hunk) but also limestone and broken bricks.
He was a depression era guy, who also built an entire garage out of scrap lumber.
Here, he was at it again, building a barbecue out of scrap rubble from around the property, and a bit of concrete poured over the top.
I raked up the landscape debris from the footprint of the turret, bagged it up, and threw it away.
So now we've just got this pile of wood, and the juniper sapling... which will get cut down and chipped up next weekend, in advance of Martin Mendez the tree guy.
The yard's already looking a lot more open, with the jungle gym gone!
So imagine how open it's gonna be when the juniper, the mother mulberry, and the old shed are also gone!
Assuming I get that dumpster here early this week, I should be able to empty out the old shed during the week before work, and then dismantle the hull, and cut down the juniper this coming weekend.
I'll also have the sledge hammer by then, so I can bust up the barbecue slabs and toss them in the dumpster as well.
It should all be gone before Mendez gets here on the following Monday, April 3rd!
------------{=0=}------------
9:00PM
Well, I've already shaved & taken my shower, and the laundry's in the washer.
Colleen's supposed to call soon, so I'll spend the evening catching up with her.
I'm happy with what was accomplished this weekend.
Got the garden light situation up to speed. The barbecue is being dealth with. And the SCOP is down!
A sledge hammer and wood chipper are coming early this week, and if I also schedule a dumpster tomorrow... the barbecue, juniper, SCOP debris, and the old shed will be gone before the tree guys get here on April 3rd!
--<>--
A contractor is coming in the morning to talk about a patio.
And this week at work there's no school, so we'll just be doing busy work of some kind.
I'll also be taking care of April bills this week... paying off the cards and the car, and zelling money into BMO for the mortgage.
--<>--
Next weekend will be a three day weekend, because I took Monday the 3rd off.
But we also have Friday the 7th off, so week after this will be a short three-day week, and then I'll have a second three-day weekend in a row!
With any luck, that patio will be constructed on Friday the 7th!
And then the weekend after that will be when Brian, Karen & Max come to visit!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
As soon as I wake up a bit here, I'll get out to the scop with some tools and see if I can't take her apart.
Of course, that means the canopy hoist too! But maybe I can figure out a better canopy hoist that goes higher up into the locust tree.
Also, the timbers of the scop are pretty long, so maybe I can use one as a lever to move the huge barbecue hunk out of it's hole.
Well, as soon as I got all my tools out there and started to work on the SCOP, the sky grew dark, distant rumbles could be heard, and it started to rain.
So now I'm back inside.
I did remove and save all the parts of the canopy hoist; the crank, the pulleys, the cable, and the weighted hook.
And I also saved the anemometer.
But as soon as I took a socket and ratchet to the bolts, it became clear... all the nuts are turning with the rusty bolts, inside their countersunk wood seatings so they can't be loosened.
I'm gonna have to cut it apart with either the chainsaw or the sawzall.
So it rained for a while, and we had some thunder, which prompted Yvette to come out here with me in the back room... which is a good thing, because she never leaves the kitchen lately.
But then the sun came out and there was still time before sunset, so I grabbed the sawzall and the chainsaw and got to work.
The swingset section came apart fast. I found that the chainsaw was all that was needed.
It's worth noting tonight, that I am the one who originally assembled this jungle gym back in 2000.
Back then Mom & Dad still had four small grandchildren coming to visit.
It stood 23 years, mainly because of Dad's sentimentality about it. Though my neice Veda was also fairly sentimental about it.
And her daughter Emberly, Dad's first great grandchild, Did get a chance to swing on the swingset in 2021.
But after that I removed the swings, and the slide... which was about all that Dad could handle.
The vinyl rooftop of the turret held up pretty well, but, it was getting kinda stiff and brittle.
The screws and bolts were rusty. The surface of the wood was dry rotting and mossy. And down at the base, it was full on wet-rotting into pulp.
It was time for this thing to go!
Once the scop was down, I had a perfect square of clover and flaked flagstone in the footprint of the turret.
I'd piled the rocks in there last summer in the hopes of luring field crickets.
Once a stately jungle gym... now a pile of scrap lumber. I'll get the dumpster delivered this week and toss this all in there.
I gathered all the rocks into the wheelbarrow and took them back over by the ruins of the old barbecue, because they'll be part of the new rock garden.
By the way, I flipped over a hunk of the barbecue concrete and you can see here that my grandfather used not just coal klinkers (one in the upper left corner of this hunk) but also limestone and broken bricks.
He was a depression era guy, who also built an entire garage out of scrap lumber.
Here, he was at it again, building a barbecue out of scrap rubble from around the property, and a bit of concrete poured over the top.
I raked up the landscape debris from the footprint of the turret, bagged it up, and threw it away.
So now we've just got this pile of wood, and the juniper sapling... which will get cut down and chipped up next weekend, in advance of Martin Mendez the tree guy.
The yard's already looking a lot more open, with the jungle gym gone!
So imagine how open it's gonna be when the juniper, the mother mulberry, and the old shed are also gone!
Assuming I get that dumpster here early this week, I should be able to empty out the old shed during the week before work, and then dismantle the hull, and cut down the juniper this coming weekend.
I'll also have the sledge hammer by then, so I can bust up the barbecue slabs and toss them in the dumpster as well.
It should all be gone before Mendez gets here on the following Monday, April 3rd!
Well, I've already shaved & taken my shower, and the laundry's in the washer.
Colleen's supposed to call soon, so I'll spend the evening catching up with her.
I'm happy with what was accomplished this weekend.
Got the garden light situation up to speed. The barbecue is being dealth with. And the SCOP is down!
A sledge hammer and wood chipper are coming early this week, and if I also schedule a dumpster tomorrow... the barbecue, juniper, SCOP debris, and the old shed will be gone before the tree guys get here on April 3rd!
A contractor is coming in the morning to talk about a patio.
And this week at work there's no school, so we'll just be doing busy work of some kind.
I'll also be taking care of April bills this week... paying off the cards and the car, and zelling money into BMO for the mortgage.
Next weekend will be a three day weekend, because I took Monday the 3rd off.
But we also have Friday the 7th off, so week after this will be a short three-day week, and then I'll have a second three-day weekend in a row!
With any luck, that patio will be constructed on Friday the 7th!
And then the weekend after that will be when Brian, Karen & Max come to visit!
°¦}
