Chicks for Decks

We started this past Monday and today is Friday. The reason I mention the days is because yesterday was the first day that we could actually note any visual progress from when this deck was initially started a few weeks ago. We had to go back and "fix" a few things such as all the structual support "stuff".  We had to brace the bottom of it, place joist hangers and more support posts; all things that aren't noticeable to the casual observer. We were excited when yesterday (Thursday) the railing started to happen and it was a noticeable difference in the appearance. Now it is beginning to look like a deck instead of a "stage". 

I am no carpenter. My brain is exhausted after a day of working on this. I don't think like a carpenter so fixing problems and coming up with a solution takes a lot of brain cells.

"Hey" I yell to the daughter who is standing at the opposite end of the deck from me. "It measures 3 1/2 inches plus two hash marks." She is standing beside the saw and understands perfectly what I need. She picks up the saw measures the wood to  3  1/2 inches plus the two hash marks and makes the cut. You see neither of us can read a tape measure past the full inch or the 1/2 inch markings. Anything past that and we just count the little lines and call out that number of "hash marks".  Did I mention neither of us were carpenters? So far this has worked for us. 

I'm putting up the railing and the balusters while the daughter will deal with taking down the stairs and adding another stringer and putting them back together again. I could finish up on my portion of this job today if only I could talk the daughter into allowing me to work on it and helping me a  little with it but yesterday  she had a little melt down and may need to take today off.

I've already started researching information on adding a roof to it which will be the next thing we have to do and which is something I am not looking forward to. If I get more then 3 feet off the ground, I get dizzy and disoriented. My fear of heights kicks in and working on a roof is not on my list of things I want to do.

I'm off to ring my daughter's house and hope she answers the phone. I think she is monitoring her calls and me. Could it be that she really doesn't want to work on that deck today?

I'm gone!