Watching the pigskin

Went to watch the Jacksonville Jaguars final preseason game last night against the Washington Redskins. A neighbor came by and said he had some freebie tickets and boy were they good seats. We were only 16 rows back and on the 30 yard line and it was great being so close to the action. I completed the all American action with a giant 12" hotdog.

Swing when your winning

Finished the last few jobs on the swingset just hours before the deadline of Sofie's 5th birthday party. We had about 20 kids plus parents round and it was CHAOS and matters weren't helped when a passing thunderstorm came over and so everyone crammed on to the back porch and then inside the house.

Kids go back to school tomorrow not a moment too soon either. I'm hoping that the house no longer resembles Beruit when I come home from work every day, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Construction day 2

Busy busy day again and after another 10 hour day it's still not finished. It's not totally my fault and there are 2 very good reasons why progress was slower than expected. Firstly the rock wall didn't come with any instructions on how to install it. The company's website offered little help although they did have instructions for a different model of rock wall and this require a supporting frame. I didn't have the lumber to make this so I had to make a trip to Home Depot to get more supplies.

Secondly and more importantly SNAKES. Mrs P came out to look at my progress and saw a snake in the grass at the marsh edge. We watched it slither along and it was a harmless Southern Black Racer. All of a sudden another snake shot out from the water's edge and the two fought it out. There was a ton of thrashing around but the Southern Black Racer stood no chance against the viscious and VENOMOUS cottonmouth. We watched as this snake started to eat the other one whole. All this took place about 10 ft from where I was working and trust me I'm no fan of snakes in general but venomous ones are just a big fat NO. The kinda slowed me down as I was on the constant look out for more hissing Sids.

Anyway I didn't get time to put the wood roof on so the coloured tarp was installed instead, I still need to stake the whole thing to the ground, stake the bottom of the slide and drill and install the swing chair for Charlotte.

Construction day 1

Started work at 8:30 this morning and by some time late morning I'd got the basic struture in place. I needed to create the 2 side structures on flat ground so I did it on the driveway. Trouble is they are heavy as hell and Mrs P and I could barely move them round to the garden. But we managed althought getting them upright was no easier.

Several hours later and we're at this stage. Tomorrow's work is to construct an A frame for the swing rail support, fit swing rail and swings, construct the stairs, attach the rock wall, attach the slide and if I get a chance construct the wood roof. If time is short I'll be using the tarp that the send with the kit, the wood roof is considered optional but it will last longer.

Well construction begins...

Actually I only got as far as pre-cutting the lumber and didn't get that completed as I used up my 3 batteries in the circular saw pretty quickly. The pressure treated lumber is very dense and pretty wet so cutting it requires "mucho" power from the batteries and they drain pretty quickly. And because they got so hot I can't recharge them until they cool down. Here's a pic of my work area in the garage, some lengths of 2 x 4 as a cutting platform, a strip of carpet to protect the knees and a can of Bud to keep the spirits up.

If you're wondering about the tenon saw it's because my circular maxes out at a 2" cut (and I'm not sure it really cuts that deep) and anything slightly over this requires some hand intervention.

I've got another problem too, I used the list of required lumber on the website and it's different from that contained in the construction manual. I'm supposed to use 5/4" x 6" for the roof but the website said use 2" x 6" and this is what I've already bought. I can't face taking it back so the roof will be solidly constructed and possibly a little top heavy.

This weekend's work..

...is to turn this

into this..

and I have to finish it by 22nd August in time for Sofie's 5th birthday party. The pressure's on for sure.

It never strikes twice

The weather pattern for the past few days has been blistering hot sunshine in the mornings and early afternoons, followed by heavy thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening. Today it poured down (and I mean the heavens opened) bang on 4:30 i.e. knocking off time. I got completely soaked in the 100 yard dash to my car.

On the way home there was thunder and lightning going on and as I stopped at a set of traffic lights I saw a lightning bolt strike a power transformer on a telegraph pole not 50 yards from me. And yes, just like in the films, there was a big puff of smoke, plenty of sparks and then it caught fire!