My deck project

I am finally getting around to building my deck. We decided about 8 months ago that we were ready to buy a new house. BUT, with the market the way it is, we decided to stay. But if we are going to stay we wanted a few things to be different. In order of priority: 1- fix the yard so that we can use it. 2- build a deck. 3- get a hot tub and put it on the deck. 4- build a shed. So I did (1) and now I am working on (2) and I am anxiously awaiting (3). (4) might not come until next Spring. We'll see. Here is a description of our yard before. House then 10 feet of well groomed and watered grass then a 3 foot rock wall, then a sloping mountain of dirt and weeds. The rock wall is about 45' long then on the South side of the yard there is a steep slope that goes up at about a 40 degree angle for about 15'. Then the yard slopes upward and finally levels at the back of our yard. It was almost impossible to push a lawn mower up that hill, so it's gone. Here is what it looks like now.




UPDATE: 6/17 - I now have all of the decking on the deck, and I now have the stairs on and they are mostly done. However each board only has like 5 screws in each board, and needs somewhere around 20. So at those numbers I have like 4-500 screws left to put it. I still have to put some bracing on my support pillars and so on. Then as soon as I get to that point I can worry about putting rails up. I also have a set of steps from the left side of the deck down to the grass which is about 22 inches, and I figured that would be a tall step without stairs there - since the other stairs are like 8 inches. Still have a ways to go, but I am pressing onward!

More about James in BMT

I've personally talked to James since arriving in TX, and since arriving at BMT (I'm working on my military acronyms - Basic Military Training). If you could like his address, I am happy to pass it on to you. Please contact me at [email protected]

Also see Jenni's comments here.

Air Force Basic Training

As I write this, somewhere in Texas James is likely getting set for a brand new wardrobe - for free. If you don't count the six-year commitment that goes with it.
As all of us might be interested in what's going on in the life of Techmeyer (previously known as James), I found a bit of reading material. This article is fairly detailed, so they split it into four 5-page articles.
I found it a good read. Enjoy: Air Force Basic Training
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/airforcejoin/a/afbmt1.htm

Weekend in Moab

We left a bit later in the week than the rest of the group but made it fine. It was snowing when we left Salt Lake. This trip was a bit unconventional as we were split in two different groups in different locations about 30 miles apart.

We took the 4-wheeler and played around a bit on that. Ended up going on the Kane Creek Trail. We also got some hiking in. Saturday the 26th was the car show and we spent about an hour there before going up to a watering hole up Mill Creek Canyon.



Then on the way out everyone went and hiked Corona Arch and we proceeded out to Dead Horse Point while everyone else went home.





So I guess that's the short of the long. We had a lot of fun. The weather cooperated, but it was still cold at night, so we had to turn on the heater. We were in a campground with power and water, so we brought the microwave and had popcorn and watched movies. Nice kind of camping!

NOTE: This commentary is only one perspective. I know that a lot of fun was had, and we weren't always there. This is just through the eyes of my camera.