Back Deck...9 months later...

Well, "we" (meaning Paul) started building our enormous back deck last October, and this weekend we (again, meaning Paul) had hoped to finish it. But Lowe's didn't have more of the roofing material that we wanted, so we couldn't get it done. So for now it's on hold, but I've had requests for pictures of the deck so here they are.

Here's the whole deal so you can get the perspective of size (in relation to Paul). I like that you can see my shadow in the grass (as I'm standing in the cow pasture), and my shadow looks tall in comparison. :)

As you can see, we only have about 1/3 of the roof on.

The roofing material is "smoke" colored polycarbonate plastic - made by Tuftex if you're interested. It's UV proof, crack proof, damage proof, yada yada yada. Supposed to be great stuff. I like that it lets light through. We're going to put 2 more rows of the smoke colored panels on, and then the rest will be a white opaque panel. Basically the same material, but lets less light through (although it won't completely block out the light). But it should help with the summer heat (we think). That's the plan anyway. First we have to find a hardware store that has the white opaque panels in stock. That was the hold up today.

Here's the view from the roof. (Paul took this picture, as I do not climb on roofs).

Here's Paul putting the first panel up. Again, I am on the ground. I don't climb up on roofs. But I did help get all the stickers off the panels. It involved lots of "Goo Be Gone" because the stickers had gotten wet, and then the paper separated from the glue. It was a big mess, so I'm glad the labels were only about 3x4 inches big.

And of course I have to include pics of the rest of our family enjoying the deck. Chessie likes the shade, and until the roof is finished, will probably prefer the mud underneath the deck. Hopefully when the roof is done and we have shade all over the deck, she'll enjoy the top of the deck more.

And Flurry is definitely more interested in what's beyond the deck in the cow pasture. So it will be interesting to see how bold she becomes as she explores. Yesterday she tried to get about half-way under the barbed wire fence between the cow pasture and our yard. Technically her wireless collar will allow her to go under the fence, but not very far, so I'd like her to think that the fence is the limit. We'll see.

And Paul didn't want to let me get away without a picture of what I wore into the cow pasture to get the pictures. But if you've ever walked into a cow pasture before, you'll understand exactly why I put these boots on, despite the lack of rain. :)

I guess we should give credit for the deck to all parties involved. Matt Wall (a fellow Virginian living in Texas at the camp) is probably the reason why this deck is still standing, and why it is almost finished 9 months after starting it instead of 2 years. Thanks Matt!!!!

Life Stages...

So I was thinking today...remember when you were seven and the biggest thing you had going during summer was "Ghost in the Graveyard" with all the neighborhood kids until it got dark and everyone's parents called us back inside to go to bed (at 9pm)? I kinda miss those days. And remember when you were in 6th grade at the "top" of the elementary school and all the younger kids thought you were cool, and wise (okay, maybe not, but it felt like they were looking at you with awe). I was thinking today...that was a long time ago! Back then I couldn't even imagine being out of high school, and here I am - now 28 1/2 (because at one time in my life the 1/2 in my age was very important). How did that happen???

On another semi-related note...for Christmas I was given a journal to write in, which was pretty cool. I started out by immediately listing out goals for 2007. And at the end of each month I evaluated how I was doing. I was failing miserably at all of my goals at the end of January, at the end of February, and same with March and April. Then yesterday I realized I didn't even get to the point of evaluating at the end of May, and now June is practically over (I'm still failing). Again, how did that happen??? Not the part about failing to meet my goals - that happens every year, so that's not a surprise. But how is this summer flying by so fast? And I feel like I'm missing it.

But this weekend we don't have any campers here. Which means we get 2 days off in a row. Sailing, here we come! Sleeping in, here we come! As Walter Mathau said in "IQ", "Wahooooo!".

Well, that's all I have to post for now. Basically I'm tired and distracted, so I don't have more energy to write any more. I'm training a new staff member in the office to take over part of my job, so that I can be trained to help with the accounting. I never knew how many things I do during a day that take explaining. It's pretty draining trying to say every detail that you normally just do without really thinking.

On a more positive note, Jason Edgerton (friend from high school) has a 5 1/2 week old daughter named Alexis, and his wife Jess has a blog for her. It's fun to read just because I don't know anything about babies, so it's all so interesting about the feeding schedules and all that kind of stuff. So if you happen to also be interested in baby pictures, etc, check it out at http://alexedgerton.blogspot.com/.

Beatboxing...

So my cousin, Will, does this beatbox thing that I can't describe, but was super cool. My youngest sister, Rachel, got married on our Uncle Chris's birthday (May 19). So we were all together at my parents' house, and Chris asked Will to "perform" for us. Will sang Happy Birthday to his dad, Chris. Granted, Will had just gone to his senior prom the night before and had had no sleep, so he was going on adrenaline and he claims it wasn't his best performance. But I thought it was pretty cool. Here's a video clip of it. If the player below doesn't work, you can go to the link at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6755550700248802981

I'm still trying to figure out how to make the video players work within my blog page.




He also performed at his school's talent show - the link to that is at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5904327079684258353, or you should be able to play it below. It's 4 minutes long, so it might take a while to load.

Summer is here!!

Well, summer is here in full force. Today 403 campers/chaperones arrived, which means after you add our staff, we are feeding close to 500 people each day - 3 meals a day. I'm glad I'm not in charge of the kitchen, although I am in charge of hamburger night, which is going to be a challenge. But I'm up for it! (I think). We returned from Rachel's wedding and went to work for 8 days straight, and then took yesterday off before the big group arrived. Of course, we got up at 6am so we could drive to Austin for our dentist appointment, and then we filled our car to the brink with sodas and candy/snacks from Sam's for the camp concession stand!

So we didn't exactly goof off all day. But we did get to see the 3rd Pirates of the Carribbean. I will admit I was pretty tired going into the movie so I don't think I was swept away as I might have been had I been fully awake. Also, I couldn't remember what happened in the 2nd movie all that well, so I was a little lost at the beginning, but eventually I caught on. Overall, though, it was a fun movie.


While we were in Austin, we kept seeing tons of motorcycles running around. So it must be some kind of Biker weekend in Austin this weekend. But this guy below really caught my eye.


I mean, I understand that Texas doesn't have a helmet law. And, as I've discussed with friends/family before, the necessity of a helmet law isn't all that important. If a person is dumb enough to ride without a helmet on, maybe it's just as well because in the event of an accident, they will be cleaning up the gene pool a bit (since there's no way they'll survive the accident to reproduce). But this guy, man, I'm almost speechless. A helmet on the back of the bike? We weren't even in a quiet neighborhood where the speed limit is 15 mph (I'd still recommend a helmet even in that case). We were coming out of Sam's club (filled with rushed soccer moms and other crazy drivers, turning onto a super busy 4-lane road, which dumps onto the highway at about 5:30 on Friday afternoon!!! Humanity never ceases to amaze me.

That's all for now. I don't have energy to think up anything else to comment on. Summer camp is definitely here. I started this blog at lunchtime, but didn't finish it until 8:30pm, since we didn't get home from the "office" until 8pm. Whew! Until next time!