FINALLY GOT ME A GAZEBO, AT LONG LAST

Believe it or not I'm relaxing this afternoon. I've took some pictures and dug some up from my old iPhoto library in the old computer as they did not transferred to the new MacBook Pro.

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.

The photo is crisp clear on the computer screen but got all fuzzy after I uploaded it here. Nov. 14 2009.
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.

They shipped us two new post free of charge. Great people to do business with.

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

I'VE BEEN IN THE TRENCHES AND THE ONLY GUN FIRE I HEAR...

Today has been another busy day here at the farm. We've had such an abundant hay harvest this year that we ran out of place store it. The barn is full, the tarp building is full and there are several large piles outside covered with tarps but the high wind did some damage to the tarps  so my husband ordered another tarp building. It's going to be 120' long X 22' wide. The floor will be raised up and cement will be poured later.

 Today I was asked to help the guys getting the trenches ready to receive the cement. The heavy digging was done with the back hoe yesterday but it still needed to be levelled for the footing. My son Vaughan and the hired hand were also there to helped my husband. I helped in making sure that the lines were level, then I shovelled in the trenches to level the soil ( no pictures of me working since I didn't had my camera with me. You'll have to take my word for it...)  We were all rushing as the cement truck was supposed to arrive at 1:00 PM. It arrived about half an hour late.

 I carried the long boards in the trenches to hold the cement, then I cleaned up all the little scraps of wood that was left behind from the sawing. My husband  had a generator on the back of the truck so he could use the table saw to cut wooden stakes.

When my work was done I went home and made a lunch for the workers and brought it on site. Sorry, no pictures of the lunch.   There was a few drops of rain and the wind was blowing and since the soil was dry and there was a lot of dust flying. The weather forecast was calling for thunder storm in the afternoon but it did not materialized except for the wind. That was lucky.

 It's just as well that there are no pictures of me. My hair was a mess and I had my big safety rubber farm boots on. I should have wore a white hard hat so my hair would have looked OK. lol
Yes I've worked in the trenches but the only guns shots I heard were my own tooting in the wind, thanks goodness.

Here are some pictures of the site.

120 feet long by 22 feet wide.

You can get an idea how deep the trench is.
My son Vaughan directing the flow into the trough while my husband George rakes the wet cement level with the board.

All in all, it was a good day but I was tired after all that and my afternoon barn chores. The best that I could come up with for supper was grill cheese sandwiches and tea.

A special welcome to all my new followers. I can't believe that I've reached 120 followers since I've been a bad blogger for so long this summer.I hope that you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

JB