We've finally gotten to summer here in the Bitterroots - with a bang! It's been cool and rainy, and then, wham, Monday we had 93 degrees! It's been kind of busy too - all kind of projects.
Dad is working at O'Reilly's quite a bit - he's filling in for folks on vacation - so he's been gone up to 4 days a week, which leaves me stuck at home with Blockhead! He still likes his job for the most part, but gets annoyed at people who thinks he can read their mind, or magically know what part they need without a make and model.
Mom decided she was tired of getting rained and snowed on between the garage and the house, so she decided we were going to build a covered walkway. Dad said "Whatever you want, Dear!" Then, she decided as long as we were going with a walkway, why not build a covered patio back there too? So, since this would take forever (and probably several more trips to the hospital) if they did it on their own, they hired a friend's company (Turner Remodeling, co-workers at the fire dept) to do the job, and Mom and Dad help out with muscle and non-skilled labor. This keeps the project from turning into an unfilmed version of "Renovation Realities."
Unfortunately, as normally happens with these kinds of projects, things have gotten added, changed and found, which is increasing the cost and time of the project - Dad now refers to it as "The Eighth Wonder of the World" - and means that we're stuck behind our temporary fence longer. Of course, that means we have new people to bark at everyday, so that's not so bad!
Mom and Dad started the project by removing the vinyl siding on the house, which isn't hard or physically tasking, except when you have to yank on things when you're standing on a ladder 20 ft in the air. Then the contractors took off some of the house wrap to find a the right place to tie the addition into, and route some wiring (one of those add-ons!) and dug out the patio area and framed it. The first unpleasant surprise was the amount of clay in the soil - they had to dig out quite a bunch and replace it with gravel to have a good patio base. Then there was the second unpleasant surprise...
You may recall from a post over a year ago that Mom and Dad had a Heat Recovery Ventilator installed in the house to improve theair quality and prevent mold build up. Unfortunately, when they tore the house wrap off the lower part of the house (which was conventionally framed, not foam panels like the rest of the house) there it was - mold all over the OSB. So, that all got torn out, and new foam insulation was sprayed in. And that's not cheap! But it will be a much better solution in the long run.
The concrete pour went well, as did the new OSB. Mom sanded all the new beams and pillars for the patio, and then Mom and Dad stained them. There are still a few to go, but the biggest ones are done. We're now at a waiting point - Mom and Dad told the contractors that our project could be done inbetween the other projects they have from the start - so we should see beams and posts going up sometime next week or so. You can see all the pictures so far here:
In other news, Mom went to a class on how to cut people out of cars with Fire Captain Scott. Modern cars are really safe and strong - but because of that, when you get into a really bad wreck, it's harder for the Fire Dept to get you out - the reinforcing materials in today's cars are very strong - so the tools referred to as the "Jaws of Life" aren't strong enough sometimes. Fortunately, this class specifically focuses on how to cope with the new car designs. There are a couple of pictures here - the last three in the album:
Mom also volunteered on National Trails Day, June 5th, with the Selway-Bitterroot Foundation to do some trail maintenance. She helped install new turnpike (timber framed walkways across boggy spots) on the Rock Creek Trail at Lake Como with a bunch of 20-somethings. She's going to take an 8-day backpacking trip with them in early July to clear a trail from Indian Creek campground on the Idaho side of the Selway-Bitterroot National Forest all the way over to Watchtower Campground on the Montana side. She'll be sure to post lots of pictures when she gets back. Here's a couple of pics of the Rock Creek Trail Maintenance - Mom's hiding behind a tree branch, second from left, in the group photo below.
And while Fire Season has been very mellow so far this year, with the warm weather, the problems have started - Mom and Dad fought two "wildland" fires yesterday! One was a controlled burn from April that restarted yesterday afternoon - in 9o+ degree heat - and the other restarted at 0130 in the morning - they didn't get home until 0400!
Hope your summer is a happy and safe one!
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