Spring May-be!

Hi, everyone!

Right after I wrote about spring last time, we had snow again!  All the spring flowers got a coat of heavy, wet snow!  Most of the flowers that got bent over straightened up again when the snow melted.  I guess that’s part of being a spring flower!

Even though it was cold and there was snow on the ground, Uncle Steven was able to work on the tree house!  He decided to build the walls in his garage, then lift them into place and attach them when the weather was better for outdoor work.  I helped him lay out all the frame pieces for the south wall.  Then he used a sheet of plywood to make sure everything was absolutely straight before he nailed them together.  Uncle Steven is a very careful carpenter!

The weather got warmer for the weekend, so Grandma and Grandpa took me out to the bay to stay over Friday night.  We went to the Point to watch sunset for the first time this year!  The wind was blowing the sand around, and the sun set into clouds.  We didn’t stay long!

When we came back into town, I had some nice surprises!  Last year, only one of the striped botanical tulips bloomed.  This year, I saw four blooms!  I made friends with a big bunny with brindled fur that visits our back deck.  I have a groundhog friend who visits, too.  I don’t know if it’s my friend from last year or not.  Last year, my groundhog friend liked to do prairie dog imitations.  So far this year, the groundhog is more interested in grooming!

The last Sunday in April, Uncle Steven’s family came for dinner.  It was St. Mark’s Day, so Grandma tried a new recipe for a traditional dish to eat that day.  James and Thomas weren’t too excited about that, so they finished eating quickly and went outside to play.  Uncle Steven had made a Snickers pie for dessert.  James and Thomas came back in to eat that!  I thought everything was yummy!

Last Monday was a major wall-building day for the tree house!  Grandma and I helped Uncle Steven build the east wall — the one with the door in it.  Uncle Steven used a pneumatic nail gun for some of the fastening.  I helped him keep track of which kind of nails he needed to load for each kind of fastening.  The compressor that powers the gun is so loud that everybody has to wear hearing protection when it’s in use!

Grandma and I went home to make lunch for Grandpa.  Before we went back to Uncle Steven’s, we helped Grandpa take down the dead apple tree.  We stacked the branches for the town to pick up.  While we were working on that, two big trucks from the Water Authority pulled up in front of our house.  They had to dig up a water connection on our next door neighbor’s lawn.  That was a lot going on at one time for a little lion!

After that, we went back to Uncle Steven’s to help him build more walls!  He finished the east (door) wall and Aunt Kara helped him lift it up and prop it against the south wall.  Then he went to work on the west wall.  Some of the lumber was a little warped.  Grandma and I used a big wrench to keep it straight until it was nailed squarely in place!  Uncle Steven laid out the north wall before we quit for the day.

While Grandma and I were helping Uncle Steven with the walls, Grandpa cut the trunk of the dead apple tree as close to the ground as he could.  He had some help, too!  A pileated woodpecker showed up to peck at the remaining stump!

On Tuesday, Grandma and I went back to Uncle Steven’s house to help him finish the north wall.  First, he made sure he knew where the studs lay and marked them off on the plywood sheathing.  Then he used the pneumatic nail gun to fasten the plywood in place.  After that, he had to mark the opening for the window and saw that piece out.  When the wall was finished, he checked again that the window fit!

When we got back home, I spent some time with my trillium friends and some forget-me-nots growing in the front lawn.

Last Friday, Grandma and I went back to Highland Park.  I always like to visit my lilac friends while they are blooming.  The weather forecast called for several days of rain next week, so Grandma thought we should go see them sooner, rather than later.  We were a little early!  The magnolias, red buds and early azaleas were in bloom.

The lilacs and pansies weren’t quite fully out yet.  Grandma said this is going to be one of those years when the Lilac Festival and lilac blooms agree!

Saturday was a major construction day for the tree house!  Uncle Steven asked his friend Keith-san to come help raise the finished walls up to the deck and fasten them together!  I was eager to help move the walls out of the garage, but Uncle Steven and Keith-san needed to plan out their work first. Uncle Steven built the walls in the reverse order from how they would be assembled, so the north wall was last built and first out!

Uncle Steven did a lot of planning for hoisting the walls!  He had a chain hoist attaching to the first lifting beam he put up between two trees.  He attached rubber rollers to the side of the deck frame where all the walls would be hoisted up.  There were sawhorses to hold a tipped-up wall high enough that the chain hoist could attach to the top header.  I could help lift a little, but as the wall got hoisted it was too high for a little lion to reach!  Even Aunt Kara and Keith-san had to use braces to support it!

Uncle Steven’s plan worked really well!  Once the wall was on the deck, he and Keith-san moved it into location and fastened it down.  Then we did the same thing with the west wall.  Grandma took me up the ladder to watch Uncle Steven and Keith-san work.  Then I went up another ladder with Aunt Kara to make sure the outside parts of the west wall lined up with the edge of the deck before the wall was fastened down.  Once the top plates of those two walls were attached,  it was safe for me to sit on the deck!

The east (door) wall was next.  Getting the last (south) wall up was a little tricky, because the other walls were already in their places.  When it was up, Thomas came out to inspect and I got to sit in the window opening!

The weather was calm and sunny and getting warmer by the time we stopped for lunch.  The weather forecast for the next few days called for rain.  Keith-san left to work on a project at his house.  Uncle Steven decided to keep going and get the rafters in place.  First, he had to saw down some tree branches that would be in the way.  Aunt Kara and Grandma and I brought all the pre-cut rafters out from the garage.  Uncle Steven carefully measured where each one would attach to the ridge beam.  Measuring is very important in carpentry!

When the rafters at one end of the ridge beam were attached, Uncle Steven could secure the other end of the beam and add the rest of the rafters, one by one.  Grandma and I helped by handing him what he needed next, so he didn’t have to climb up and down the step ladder all the time.  I enjoyed being up in the tree house!  When we were almost done, James and Thomas both came up to inspect!

Saturday was a busy day!  By the time the rafters were all attached, I needed a rest!  Everybody was happy with how much progress we had made on the tree house, especially since rainy weather was coming!

Sunday morning, our apple trees started to bloom!  By the time Grandma and Grandpa took me out to the bay, the rain had started.  Grandpa had an inside project — replacing the hinges on the kitchen cabinets.

This morning, we had enough dry weather for me to check the water level in the bay and see what was blooming in the woods.  The water has risen enough to cover the stones Thomas was picking up to skip two weeks ago!  I saw more trillium and my first Jack-in-the-pulpit.  The May apples have big flower buds.  The azalea by the front porch is just starting to bloom and the emerald gold euonymus is very eager to grow!  Grandma had to prune it to keep it from invading the deciduous azalea!

Love,

Lion-san