way harder than you might think

so, i don't know about you, but when i think of putting in a little ground level deck, i think . . . easy, fun, simple project. and, well, it was fun and it was simple . . . but it was noooooooot easy. duke isn't sure about this whole deck project. he likes his shady spot and decides to stay right there most of the day.

digging holes for the concrete pilings was literally back breaking work. thank goodness there were only six holes to dig. erik of course helped me and it was a good thing because he has a much better eye for the framework than i do. but, he was not feeling well this weekend so i had to do more of the digging than i had anticipated. he sat back and supervised though, which, believe it or not, was very helpful.

and, he did certainly push through not feeling well and help with the digging. he was a bit faster and more efficient than i. and when i say "a bit" i mean a lot. at one point i told him he could go and sit back down because i knew he didn't feel good and he replied with, "i can't . . . watching you is like watching a dying dog". as much as i wanted to take offense, i really couldn't because it was kind of true. but, like i've said before, my mama taught me that i can do anything if it just go slow and steady. i was getting the job done, but certainly not at a very fast pace. the boys made it easy to take breaks because they were particularly cuddly, given just the slightest invitation (like me sitting down for just a moment because my back felt like it was going to stop working)

as we dug up the holes and uneven ground, i tried to be a human sod machine and save areas of grass to replace patchy spots in the yard. I have no idea if it will grow or not, but i thought it was worth a try. i placed one of the pieces of sod along the fence line, but had not yet filled in dirt around it. it sat right in the sun and in no time frank and henry decided it looked like a perfect little grassy bed for the two of them. they're so cute i can't quite stand it.

so, at the end of day one we had the holes dug, pilings in, and frame built. long day, but it felt really good in the end.devin came over on monday to help do some drilling on the deck and give my fancy new lawn mower a whirl.

monday was pretty smooth sailing actually. We had a few technical cuts that took some time, but the lion share of it was just cutting the 12 foot 2x6's in half and just drilling them down. i planned it that way so that i could have as little waste as possible with the wood. its not cheap.
the deck awning didn't make it in, but its not going to be too hard to finish that up eventually. understatement, i'm sure. i need to save a few m0re bucks before i do that part anyway. i figure, i've got all summer before it really needs to be done, so the finished pictures probably won't be making an appearance anytime soon. for now, here is the progress we made. it ended up being 6 x almost 19 feet. just enough for duke's house and a couple of chairs. makes a nice addition to the backyard.

and no, i didn't get to do any planting in the greenhouse. again.