In mid November 2009, I had to have my big beautiful maple tree cut. It was a huge tree and it gave shade on my back yard deck. I loved it so much and on hot days I could sit on my swing in the shade to rest on hot days. All my grandkids loved that tree. They played in the little inflatable pool without getting sunburned when they were little.
The tree had rotted and was so big and high that it was dangerous as the electrical wires were touching.
The Electric Power Commission sent a big truck with a big boom to cut the tops of. My husband cut up the rest and made it into fire wood.
Anyway it's just to give you an idea of how big the tree was. The rot was almost to the center of the base.
I have missed that tree ever since and had no shade on that cement deck. It gets very hot in the afternoon sun. I've been wanting a gazebo for some shade but never bought any.
When I want something I always wait, well almost always wait... after a while if I still want it, then I keep my eyes open for the right opportunity and buy it...
I saw some gazebos with canvas covers and always wonder if they would withstand wind and snow or if we needed to remove the cover off them for the winter, so much trouble to remove it and to store it. I couldn't make up my mind. They were all pretty cheaply made at between $400. to $600.but still a lot of money to spend. I couldn't justify buying it if it would be more trouble than worth...
So one day I went in Canadian Tire to buy a toilet paper holder and saw that they had a huge annual yard sale. I spotted two huge boxes and saw that they were metal gazebo with steel roof. It said on the box, "Regular $2000.00, now $800.00. I like the look of it and got my husband to come to the store with his truck to look at it. He thought that it was a great deal. The top box was in bad shape but the sale clerk assured us that it was packaged in a metal frame and it would all be OK. Just to be safe I asked if the bottom box was also on special that I would take the one on the bottom. The contents of the two boxes were the gazebo.... My husband said, if something is broken, I can solder it, no problem. I can fix it. I paid for it and he took it home.
When we opened the boxes right on the truck, we found that one of the post was badly damaged.
I took pictures of the damaged post before my husband partially fixed it. He took the bottom plate of and tapped a beam inside the post and tapped on it wit some mallet and made it round again and the gazebo was all put together. He faxed a copy of the pictures and sales slip and called the business and ordered one new post.
Finally here is my new gazebo. The old post is on the back and you can hardly notice that it was damaged. So now I'm a happy camper when the sun is hot in the afternoon, I get some shade when I work in the yard and need a little rest... My husband didn't noticed that there was a shelf missing for the front but he can easily make one, or just take the brackets off. There are two flower boxes on the sides.It still needs to be anchored down in the cement.
It's back to work for me now. Enjoy your long weekend and thanks for caring enough to visit and leave comments.
Love you all. JB
