01-27JUL12 - Sultan, WA (still building decks)

From 01-22JUL we continued to work on big deck in front of the house & finished on 22JUL with most of the “detail” work. We have one set of stairs on each deck & just need to add a few more sections (five more actually).

Total Materials for the deck not including benches & railing:

-five 4”x6”x16’ pressure treated beams (112 lbs each)
-twenty concrete piers w/adjustable beam “saddles”

-thirty five 2”x10”x16’ pressure treated joists (90 lbs each)
-ten 1”x6”x16’ kiln dried cedar deck boards
-thirty 1”x6”x8’ kiln dried cedar deck boards
-one hundred 1”x4”x16’ kiln dried cedar deck boards
-seventy joist to beam brackets
-@3300 hidden deck screws driven by drill
-over 860 hand driven 10 penny nails
-@250 stainless steel screws
-108 deck screws
-28 half inch galvanized bolts w/washers & nuts
-no bandaids

During this construction activity we found time to have Fourth of July hamburgers with our neighbors; & make a few major purchases. First the mowing deck on our free ride’m mower finally fell apart & forced to decide about big money on repairs; or a little more money for a used one; or bigger money on a new one? We went with a brand new one. We also finally got a big screen TV for the house, so we didn’t have to keep running to the RV to watch TV. Dan wanted the latest 80 incher at Costco, but was “talked” into a smaller model.

Ed Riesmeyer, Corrie’s brother (see below BLOG link for our recent June visit at Ed’s in Canada) arrived on 23JUL after a 2-1/4 day motorcycle ride from Brandon, Manitoba! Even though Ed was a little saddle sore; he & Dan headed into Seattle the very next day for sightseeing. In less than six hours they managed to see – Dan’s paternal grandparents house on Capitol Hill & the great free view from Volunteer Park; the center of the universe in the Fremont neighborhood; Dan’s maternal grandparents house on Queen Anne & the great free view from Kerry Park; Seattle Center site of the 1962 World’s Fair; ride the Alweg Monorail to downtown; find the site for Ryan Furniture Store now leveled & replaced by Benaroya Hall; Pioneer Square & Occidental Square; National Historic Klondike Museum; walk the Waterfront; lunch at Ivars; Curiosity Shoppe; Pike Place Market; & finally back to the car to Dan’s parents house in Redmond.
http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2012/06/08-17jun12-spucewoods-mb-canada.html
The next few days were spent making final preparations for the big “120 year” birthday party! 120 years old you ask? Well Dan’s favorite cousin, Steve (who you have read about many times in this BLOG, including wife Bonnie), turns sixty at the end of July; & Dan turns 60 at the beginning of August. So Dan had the brilliant idea (at least he thinks it was brilliant) to combine these momentous occasions into one big 120 year birthday party on the 28th of July. So invites were sent out to family, family in-laws, & various black sheep members of both families.

To add further pressure to the situation the “kids”, daughter Rebecca & hubbie Raymond, along with our favorite grandson, Jaxson J Pitre, arrived at 0130 on 27JUL. So after recovering from their late night arrival, we spent the rest of the Friday enjoying our new grandson & making last minute preps for party. Final preps included the building of the Coast Guard’s first ever submarine, & the start of a series of not so friendly ladder ball games. That afternoon Steve & Bonnie arrived in preparation for tomorrow’s event (see below BLOG entry for our last visit with Bonnie & Steve). They drove over in their camper, so we were able to test out both of our newly installed RV outlets; as well as our first fire in our fire pit.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2012/06/18-21jun12-kittitas-wa-via-glasgow_23.html