Shed Building 101

First, get all of the tools you can possible need (knowing there will be many trips to get one more tool, use kids for this) then start with a base to build the shed on.

 

Finish putting down the chip board for the floor. If you want to spend a lot more money, use plywood.

 

 

Get your 87 year old dad to help you pack all of the heavy stuff, he needs the exercise.

 

 

 

Get wife in on the action. They can help pack the heavy stuff too.

 

 

 

Get dad to show you how it is done, later you can start pointing fingers and acting like you know what you are doing. Get the kids to help out, they can pack the heavy stuff by themselves.

 

For the really heavy stuff use the skid steer so you can give dad, wife, and the kids a rest.

 

 

 

Get the kids to do the low stuff so that you don't have to bend over so much. Just being there is enough of a workout.

 

 

 

 

Now that you know what you are doing...don't forget to finger point a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

Use your tall kids on the tall side, short kids on the short side...lesson learned.

 

 

 

 

 

Kids can be used to work up high, they heal better when they fall.

 

 

 

See, they seem to like being up there.

 

 

 

 

Be prepared, some kids just like to sit in the shade, but they still want to go to dinner afterwards.

 

 

Remember, finger pointing is what the boss does.

 

 

 

 

 

No time for a lot of smiling, finger point some more, its getting hot out here.

 

 

 

Remember, kids can pack the heavy stuff by themselves, work up high, they bend better, and don't forget to use their height.

 

 

Project finished, 87 year olds, and some kids just can hang in there.

Finger pointing also helps them clean up the mess.

St. Louis - June 2008

On our way to the National Sheriff's Conference in Indianapolis, IN, we stopped at St. Louis to see some sights. We first visited the Gateway Arch, what an awesome thing.

We even rode the incline elevator up to the top of the arch for a great view. If you are claustrophobic or scared of heights, you would have hated it.


It was great fun but I was nervous that the cubicle that we sat in to ride to the top would stall. On the way up, we rode with some people from India, they didn't smell so great.


After visiting the Arch, we walked through Old St. Louis and had dinner at "The Olde Spaghetti Factory". Very tasty food.

Then we started on our 4 hour road trip to Indianapolis.

Look at our darling grand doggy!!

We are having a busy, fun summer and I am trying to learn to blog.....so here is a starter for me. We will be catching up on some of our activities soon so don't give up on us or our blog spot.

Laurie

Road Trips

Since the weather has not been cooperating to do much yard work (break my heart), we have gone on a couple of road trips. First, was to Teona & Richard's place for Memorial weekend. Mostly we hung out with the family, but we did get a load of rocks (that made it all the way home this time!)

We your together with family, what's more important than eating....


We went up to Fish Lake, and had a great dinner at the Bowery Haven Resort. When we got home it was nice to dump the load of rocks in our yard vs at the side of the road!


This past weekend - still raining - we decided to take off early and celebrate our anniversary. We wanted to go somewhere we hadn't spent much time - so we went north up through Idaho. We stopped in Idaho Falls and checked out the remodeled visitor center at the temple. We watched and listened to the testimonies of the many of the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles in a new display they had - way cool. The we went to Rexburg and saw the new temple there.


Apparently, BYU-Idaho had Special Olympics going on so every hotel room was booked for miles around. We found one in St. Anthony, just up the road from Rexburg. We now know why there was an open room.


I gave Laurie a new camera, so she could take better pictures...


Then next day we went to West Yellowstone, Yellowstone, and Bear World. Lots of rain and snow, plus we got to see a lot of animals. It was fun to see them in the snow.

Major Project: Landscaping Yard

We started working on the yard in the spring of 2006. By the way, we both dislike doing yard work! Having to put in a new yard was the worst part of buying of new home.

The projects included building a parking place for the trailer on the north side of the house, filling in the park strip by the road with rock, building a decorative wall in the front yard, and building a fountain. Jon, Chris, and Matt helped a lot, even grandpa got involved.

I felt bad at how hard we worked grandpa.

The rock wall went together in one day thanks to a lot of help. I think it made the front yard look a lot better. Grandpa worked his butt off.

We got a large rock from Richard and Teona’s place, it was so heavy the skid-steer had a hard time lifting it, in fact I tipped over frontwards several times! We got it in place and then I drilled a hole through it so water could be pumped up through it. The fountain is a pond-less water fall.

We went back to Richard and Teona’s place and got another load of rock. The whole family got involved loading the trailer. The rock was beautiful and had a lot of lichen on it. On the way home we had a flat tire. We didn’t have a spare the same size but we tried it anyway, that didn’t work, so we had to unload the rocks at the side of the road.



One of Laurie’s co-workers put together a landscape drawing for us this past winter. I just got the sprinklers system designed. The sprinkler guy saw the drawing and said, “Boy, you’re energetic!” We had him draw in lots of plants (perennials), trees, and a little grass.

Remember we don’t like yard work.


Plans are in place to get some more rocks, locally and back down to Richard and Teona’s. As you can see from the landscape drawing, we want to have a couple of ponds and a stream connecting them, so we need a lot of rocks. If we ever quit having winter, we will be forced to go back to work in the yard.

Laurie wants to hire it out so that it gets done.