Wednesday Report from Rick & Sandy's

I've been a busy little beaver here at Rick and Sandy's home in Portland's Woodstock area. Saturday Rick and I went shopping from lumber and supplies. Saturday Eric (a friend of Rick's) brought his tools over and we spent half a day framing out the deck. Monday I screwed down the deck boards with the assistance of Terry to straighten out some of those that were bent. Tuesday I dismantled two of the sets of steps leading up to the the front porch and rebuilt them into sturdier formats.

Then Tuesday evening we went to Eric's house for a grand dinner. The deck is a 6'x16' affair with cedar boards supported by pressure treated lumber.

  Nearly completed deck with a photogenic model for scale 

Being the Northwest, the steps to the front porch were suffering from moss, mold and general decay. They were never protected from the weather with stain or weather proofing and were on the verge of collapse. The new four foot wide steps built from pressure treated 2"x12" (sides and treads) and 2"x6" (risers) are very solid and sturdy.

  New side steps

  New front steps. 

Terry spent time admiring Rick's raised bed gardens that are chock full of delicious snap peas begging to be picked right now.

  Rick's garden plots 

 ******

Yesterday afternoon (June 12th) we got an email announcing the arrival of Samantha Rylee McMahon. Sammi is my niece's first and makes my younger sister a Grandma. Suddenly my knees hurt even more.

 Welcome Samantha Rylee! 

 Ryan and Sandy McMahon made something far more beautiful than any deck and sweeter than the sweetest snap pea. Congratulations kids.