Wednesday, November 01, 2006

I Can Soar Again

Over the past 10 weeks I've given up many days off to design and help build Doug's deck. When Doug said he wanted to build a deck I had no choice but to help. He's worked on my bikes for years, let a friend of mine (who he didn't get along with) live in his house, and helped me pull the motor out of my MG Midget. Needless to say I owed him. It was great brush off my carpentry skills, work with my hands and watch my design come to life. Doug solicited many people's help to finish the project. David brought lunch, Mark lent tools and helped along with Scott, Chris, and even (Doug's girlfriend) Nikki. My landlord James lent us a compound radial chop saw, which was crucial in getting things done quickly. Injuries were minor and mistakes were few, but costly (the Cross Timbers decking is more expensive than Trex). Highlights of the deck are inlaid lighting every 3 feet around the perimeter, herring bone decking patters on both levels, an integrated shed with outdoors speakers, and wrap around stairs with a hidden removable plug to access the crawl space below. Here are some pics Doug took of the final project. (to view pics during the construction scroll down to my 2 previous deck posts)

A composite View



The Shed on the Upper Deck

Herring Bone on the Upper level

Wrap-around stairs

With no more deck building to cut into my hang gliding I'm off to Utah next week for 4 days of flying with fellow pilot / photographers Jeff and Adam. We plan on flying Point of the Mountain Flight Park, mountain sites along the Watsach, and towing on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

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