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| Our Yard: A Fireweed Garden |
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| Deja likes it, but she doesn't realize she needs a fence so she can run free! |
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| We didn't like it as much as Deja. |
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| Bye-Bye Fireweed! |
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| The fruits of our labour at this point: A truck full of vegetation! |
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| Hello cement blocks! |
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| "Chelsea! Where's the shovel?!" |
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| Mike and Chester collaborating on the next step. |
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| Digging and Leveling and Measuring... |
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| Mike's architectural plans |
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| We picked up our hot tub; literally, it took 5 of us, and only one fell in a hole! |
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| YES! Our very own hot tub!!! |
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| Fence Post Holes: Only 5 casualties throughout the deck building process! |
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| A wheel-barrel of fun! |
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| Mike consulting with Chester and Judy |
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| Deja has the final say. "Chester, it's just a whisker off." |
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| As usual, Grandma Irene's right in the heart of the project. |
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| Finally, the posts are at home. The cement is next. This will save some ankles. |
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| Our Neighbour's Sidewalk: Luckily, he was nice enough to let us use his property. |
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| Cheryl and Judy collaborate on the next stage - renovating the old deck! |
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| We attached the deck to the house for even more support. |
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| We used every inch of our space up to the neighbours' fence. Now the fence is sturdier. |
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| The Crew: Chester, Irene, Cheryl, Judy, Mike (and me). Finally, we take a breather. |
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| We found a way to reuse our boardwalk and old deck. |
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| We moved the old deck up against the house and connected the two decks using the boardwalk. |
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| It was meant to be! It was Cheryl's genius idea and Irene's strength that made it work. |
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| Chester and Judy built a long step off the new deck, which also connected to the boardwalk. |
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| Luckily, we had storage and work space in this parking spot we created two years earlier. |
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| Every deck board had to be cut (on an angle) - Judy's Job! |
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| Every board had to be stained (on 4 sides) - Chelsea's job (with help from Judes and Irene)! |
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| Building around the hot tub so that it is somewhat sunken in |
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| Mike did almost all of the drilling (over 3000 screws), and his hands suffered for it. |
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| Mike standing back to appreciate the results of all the hard work! |
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| Cut boards are placed for future use. Trying to use our wood wisely! |
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| We can actually walk directly out of our sliding doors and onto our deck! |
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| One by one the deck boards were measured, cut, stained, and drilled into the joists. |
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| No one can keep up with Grandma Irene while also maintaining such a fun-loving attitude... |
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| ...except for Judy, who is ready to tarp up the wood for the night! |
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| Chester comes to check on us after his long days at work. ("Where's Judy?") |
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| The last corner board is put into place. |
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| Mike drills in the last screw. |
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| What a great feeling! |
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| The deck floor is finally done!!! |
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| Now, the fence: We painted the posts and frame chocolate brown. |
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| The deck floor was nicely bordered by the bottom of the fence frame. |
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| Irene carrying the fence boards, stained on only 3 sides this time. |
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| Judy cutting the fence boards, while Irene keeps them sturdy. |
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| After the fence boards were installed, they still needed to be trimmed. |
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| Installing the last fence boards. |
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| Judy holding the board in place while Mike drills. |
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| Irene helping Mike on the other side |
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| Mike trimmed the top of the fence boards with a hand-held mitre saw... |
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| ...and he was covered in saw dust to prove it! |
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| The fence after its trim |
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| The fence was all done on the inside, but still had to be painted brown on the outside. |
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| Mike finally putting all his hot air to good use |
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| We decided to stay up late and paint the outside of the fence in the dark! |
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| Judy filling our hot tub |
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| It took one hour to fill... |
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| ...and two more hours to get to operating temperature. |
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| An Arctic Spa hot tub - designed for extremely cold conditions |
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| Painting myself into a corner! |
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| Trying to make the old deck look new again |
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| The first hot tub experience in our own hot tub! |
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| We couldn't get Mike out of there! |
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| Cleaning up the wood and backyard |
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| Judy carrying the wood from our parking space, across the decks and boardwalk and into the back. |
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| Our deck is almost complete: Mike built a removable "lip" to fit around the hot tub. |
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| We renovated, reinstalled and painted an old fence and gate to separate our back and side yards. |
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| The painted boardwalk connecting the two decks |
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| Mike built exta-wide steps and a large gate leading onto our deck. |
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| Our neighbours' walkway between their house and our fence |
