A Visit With Some Little Friends

Friday, Feb 15th – My sister, Joann, came out to visit us at the cabin with her son, Matt, and his two children, Daniel (4 yrs) and Ella (2 yrs), who were visiting from Atlanta. It is always special to have the little ones come out to see us “in the country”….

Matt has been visiting us in the country since he was a little boy……

Matt was (and still is) fascinated by anything that he could ‘drive’. Back then, it was our tractor…..now, Matt is a pilot.

It feels like life coming full circle to have Matt’s kids out to visit us. Fred gives the little ones their first lesson in the art of rope swinging.

With a little coaxing, Daniel decides to give it a try……

And before long, is swinging ‘high’……and ‘higher’!

Ella waits her turn, feeling a bit shy and hiding behind her Daddy’s legs.

But, make no mistake….those blue eyes were watching everything…..

And when it was her turn, Ella hopped on the swing…..

What fun!

Do you remember the simple pleasure of a stick?

You can measure ‘how tall’…….

Swat at the tree branches…..

Engage in a little ‘sword play’……..

And discover the world!

The Roof Construction – a Lot More Than My Pictures Show

After the slab was dried, the work crew came to frame up the carport roof.

The entrance of the carport needed a very big beam to span the 26 foot opening. Fred helped out with his tractor, lifting the beam up…..

And setting it into place.

I did not get as many pictures of the framing process, but this picture shows the roof with decking completed. This was the first time we drove the car into the carport. So exciting!

I don’t know why I just didn’t get pics of the rest of the building process – the siding we used was left over cypress from the cabin siding. And the finish work was tedious…..finishing the ceiling and framing and finishing the soffit all around.

Fred decided that he would install the metal roofing. The roof pitch is pretty steep, so Fred worked VERY carefully.

Fortunately, he had help with putting the metal sheeting on the roof. Brian worked from the scaffolding, while Fred worked on the roof…….

And Rebekah was there to lend her hands.

Many hands make quick work. Working Friday afternoon and Saturday morning…. and they were done!

A (mostly) finished carport! There is construction trash to pick up……

And another 1/2 course of bricks to add….then a bit more dirt work. We will need to paint the ceiling and run some lights……but we are enjoying our new covered parking. Just in time…..because we are having several days of RAIN!

Carport Construction–Concrete Slab

The next day saw several more truck loads of dirt delivered and smoothed out……

With only one incident -  one of the dump trucks got stuck as he was turning around. Fred had to give it a push with his tractor.

Once the pad was leveled and packed down, a frame was built for the concrete slab. (The posts will support the carport roof.) This concrete truck had to have been the heaviest truck to ever go down our little road! Thank goodness he didn’t get stuck!

And, I thanked goodness that WE were not doing this project……I so respect the skill of these workers……

They waded around in this concrete…..

Raking it into place…..

Smoothing and leveling it off…..

And applying the finishing touches.

The concrete will need to dry for several days before it is strong enough to drive on.

Carport Construction 2013- Bricks and Dirt

Our project for the New Year has been the construction of a carport. Our little cabin sit on a hill, and the only place we had to build a carport was off to the side…..The solution, a retaining wall and dirt….LOTS of dirt to fill in. 

We decided NOT to do this job ourselves (thank goodness!) and hired a contractor and crew who started work Jan 17th - as soon after the New Year as the weather permitted. Work progressed fast that first day. As the workers were laying the landscape bricks for the retaining wall……

Dump trucks came with loads of dirt – 15 yds of dirt in each load.

The Bobcat scooped and spread the dirt around…..

And filled gravel around a drainage pipe that was positioned along the back wall. Fred helped out, using his tractor to move pallets of brick.

Before long, the wall was taking shape….and growing higher…..It will need to be about 4.5 feet tall when finished.

Leveling out a parking pad required a lot of dirt! 16 truck loads in all!

By the end of the first day, our parking pad was taking shape.