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Saturday, February 10, 2007
Fog again. A balmy 40 degrees. A heat wave.
By now you must be thinking,
"Oh no. Not another shot of the barn/deck/snow/..."
Perhaps you would like to see something else,
like some other aspects of our daily lives.
OK, how about feeding grain to the sheep.
Seems simple enough... Start with six bowls.
But don't let them see the bucket.
They will storm the gate, knock you over, and spill it.
As you fill each bowl, all six heads are crammed into it immediately.
That gives you time to fill the others.
After some head butting, and a few heated words,
they soon learn that there are enough bowls to go around,
and that each bowl contains the same quantity and quality of grain.
But they are sheep, and this lesson must be learned each day.
The garbage pile has awoken from its frozen slumber.
Funny thing about a trash pile, it will let you know
when it is time to go to the dump.
Stopped on the way home to enjoy the view.
Felt like I was being watched. I turned around.
Yup. I was. There are several Pyrz on this mountain.
They talk to each other at night. It's the Poopie Party Line.
Back to work.
Folks have been asking about the deck fastening system
we are using. So, here is a little tutorial...
We have a Dec-Klip, and two 8d 2-1/2" Hot-dipped Galvanized Box nails.
Slip the clip under the deck board and above the joist.
Place it such that the hole is near the center of the joist,
and that the flat plate underneath rests on the joist,
and will support the deck board.
Using a 1/8" drill bit, drill a hole into the joist.
We like to use a slight angle, rather than vertical.
And not too deep, either. When the nail is inserted,
there should be some "meat" left to drive it into.
Hammer it home.
Make sure the nail head is completely flat.
Next, drill through the deck board at about a 45 degree angle.
The pre-drilling will prevent the deck board from splitting,
and provides a nice guide for the nail to follow.
Again, not too deep. We like to stop just as the drill
breaks through the deck board and hits the joist.
Insert the nail.
Drive it in.
Tap it in until the nail head is flush.
This locks it in tight, and minimizes the gap between deck boards.
Repeat this process for each deck board and joist.
In our case, that will be about 3,400 times.
And no matter how hard other people see us working,
they all say that it will be worth it.
The fog rolls back in, giving some relief to the heat.
