Yard works

You probably noticed that there isn't much woodworking related posts lately...

I am a full time nurse these days.

Still, with friends help I am able to take care of small stuff around the home.
With the sun getting stronger every day, she has expressed an interest in going out on the back porch to take it in.
That means time to get into the backyard shed....

But before I go in, I need to take care of a broken tree in front of it.
And thankfully Rudy recently graduated from twigs to small branches, so he is rearing to help :-)

Earlier in the year we had freezing ice/snow and high winds damages.

That white birch tree by the porch has recovered... some 

The cherry tree by the backyard shed has lost two trunks.

It need to go before I can get in the shed 

So, Rudy and I went out to cut down the two trunks hanging down in front of the shed.

Notice the accumulation of dirt inside the trunk, 

there was not much solid wood holding these two trunks

You can see where I cut, there was not much wood left holding it.

The two removed trunks.

With these out of the way, I was able to retrieved the deck furniture.

I think this tree will have to come down, I'm not sure

 it would survive much longer with that big scar.

Whenever I cut it down, I will try to salvage some wood to make something out of it. I'm certainly not expecting much board foot out of it, but should be able to get some piece to turn or carve.

When I went in, I noticed that the roof on the right hand side part as sprung a leak. About three years ago I looked into putting on a new roof and siding, but after pricing the work required, decided against it and just fixed it and repainted it, intending to built a new one down the road.  That point is coming soon...

We did not had a bad winter this year, as opposed to the never ending one last year. But the freezing rain and high gusts of wind took their toll on both the shed and deck.  Similarly, 4 years ago, I decided to just fixed the deck instead of replacing it for now.  It too would have to be replaced in the near future...

At the time we bought the house in 2011, we knew from the inspection that the deck needed some attention. The ledger board was rotting and attached to the house by rusting away spikes. We simply temporarily support it in order to detach it and replaced the ledger board  .

This is how we pulled the deck away from the house, 

while being supported in order to replaced the ledger board.

New pressure treated ledger board installed in two sections, 

lag bolted to the house and flashed

Once that was done, some of the worst damaged or 

rotten deck boards were replaced. 

Additional support added to the understructure.

And a bunch of new parts were made to solidify the railings

The final look in 2013. Safe and sturdy for a few more years

 before being replaced.

That was to buy us a few more years before being replaced, its time is coming soon, it too suffered damages this winter. Not sure yet what I will replaced it with, but the back yard is in need of landscaping, so I will tackle it at the same time. Something bigger for sure and probably multi levels (?)

This morning we had a short visit from her cousin Cathy in New Brunswick, they arrived yesterday. Cathy and her husband Maurice came with their little dog, Mike. As always, it is comforting to have loved ones visiting but the goodbyes take on a different meaning...

Time is marching on inexorably... :-(

Bob, with a lump in his throat