The Pergola and deck are done!

I just have to do some landscaping around it and find the perfect hot tub. I'm thinking of some climbing plants for the corners, Jim mentioned grapes... We'll see. These projects have given me such a feeling of accomplishment once they are complete. I was just telling Rob that it looks like a professional built it, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'm a pro at this point...Haha. The sun is here so all of you up in WA better start planning trips to come down south and make a stop at my place.

The sun is back!

Work hasn't been super busy these days so I've decided to build a pergola and deck in my back yard, for an eventual hot tub. I started in on this project thinking it would be fairly simple. All I'd have to do is level the ground and build it. Well, easier said than done but I've enjoyed every minute of it. The first picture shows the the area I had to dig to make it only one step onto the deck from ground level. Probably would have been nice to have a bulldozer since it seems like that was the amount of dirt I ended up moving with the shovel and wheel barrel. Once I had it all leveled out, I placed the blocks and started building. It's taken about three days to get to the stage I'm at in time for the delivery of all the wood. This project also gave me an excuse to go buy a couple more man tools :-). I have a little more sanding, constructing and staining until it is finished, but so far I'm very happy with how it is turning out. Thank goodness for youtube, there were a couple videos that really helped me out. I'll post a few pics of the finished product, but for now I'm gonna have to take a break. I have a trip to the Bahamas with the owner of the airplane.. They aren't letting us stay out there with the plane this time so I'll be airlining back and forth for this one, all part of the cost cutting.