All Hands on Decks!

Hi, everyone!

It’s been a very busy time since I wrote last!  When Grandma and Grandpa met with the contractor, they had to decide what to do about the north and south decks around the boathouse.  The new ones, and the boathouse walls, will be higher than the current ones so they won’t be underwater next time the lake level is high.  They decided to have the contractor pour concrete that would serve as both decking and foundation for the boathouse walls.  Before the concrete was poured, the contractor said he would replace the old timber retaining walls on both decks with stone block walls.  While that was happening, Grandpa planned to jack up the north boathouse wall, so the concrete could be poured under it.  Before the south deck concrete could be poured, Grandpa would need to put out the dock (because the dock sections were sitting on the south deck), set the north boathouse wall down on its new foundation, and jack up the south boathouse wall.  Lots of things needed to happen in order to allow the next step to happen!

Meanwhile, the local sour cherry crop arrived.  Grandma and I have a tradition of making a sour cream sour cherry pie every year when that happens!  I helped roll out the crust and put it in the pie pan with a wide brim.  Then I helped pit the cherries.  I made sure nobody would get a cherry pit in their piece of pie!  After that, I helped mix the sour cream topping.  Grandma didn’t let me help with the top lattice crust, because she didn’t want my paws to get messy.  The pie was yummy!

When Grandma and Grandpa took me back out to the bay the next day, the contractor was already busy on the new parts of the project!  All the caps on the steel breakwall sections in the boathouse were welded on.  That’s where the jacks for lifting the boathouse walls would be placed.  The old timbers from the cribbing had been picked up and put on the barge along with the  timbers from the retaining wall on the north deck .  The Bobcat had taken out the decking on the north deck and was all ready to start doing the same on the south deck.  I helped Grandpa figure out what was supporting the front of the north boathouse wall.  Grandma and I wire-brushed the legs for the dock section supports, so they would be ready to install.

Grandpa was planning to get the dock put in by the weekend, but he ended up having unexpected appointments, instead.  The contractor’s crew put in the dock so they could go ahead with tearing out the south decking.  They also built the north block retaining wall.  Meanwhile, Grandma and Grandpa got the lumber for the new bottom plate of the north boathouse wall.  We managed to fit it into the car to bring out to the bay!

It’s a good thing the crew got the retaining wall done, because it rained  all day Saturday!  Uncle Steven came out to help Grandpa and carried the lumber for the plate down to the boathouse during a break in the heavy rain.  Luckily, most of the work they needed to do was inside the boathouse!

James and Thomas had a laser tag session on Saturday, so they didn’t come out to Sodus with Aunt Kara until after dinner.  On Sunday morning, Grandma decided we could have on-line church in the loft, sitting on bean bags!

The rain was over, so after church we could be outside!  I made friends with one of the hydraulic jacks lifting up the boathouse wall.  Thomas collected dock spikes from the rubble left of the south deck.  Then he made a design with some of them.  He and James made an obstacle course around the south deck, walking mostly on the breakwall caps.

Once the north wall was jacked up, Uncle Steven cut off the old bottom plate and some of the wall with a circular saw.  He and Grandpa had been careful to mark an even line to make that cut!  When the lower part was cut through, I got to help pull it away from the wall!  Then Aunt Kara helped Uncle Steven build a new bottom plate for the wall and attach it.

While the plate was being built, James and Thomas and Grandma and I went back upstairs.  I made friends with the latest batch of lily blooms.  James and Thomas got to play Terraria on Uncle Steven’s computer.

Monday morning the crew came back to build the south deck retaining wall.  The Bobcat operator made a dirt ramp by the side of the steel breakwall so he could drive up close enough to the deck to excavate behind the location of the old timbers.  In order to place the stones, they had to cut off the bottom part of the steps!  Once the blocks were in place, they put the steps back.  Then they moved the barge around so they could pick up the pieces of the north wall Uncle Steven had cut off over the weekend.  We were ready for the first concrete pour!

Grandma and Grandpa had appointments in town, so I got to spend some time in my lookout post by the front window.  Guess what?  I have a new rabbit friend!  After Grandma and I watched my friend clean up, Grandma decided I needed a bath, too!  After all, I have been hanging around messy construction sites all month!  It’s not the right time of year for a snow bath, so Grandma used carpet cleaner on me.  I was pretty damp afterwards, so I had to hang out to dry!

Friday was the scheduled day for the concrete pour, so we went back out to the bay Thursday evening after dinner.  The first equipment from the concrete vendor arrived at 7 a.m., and the first ready-mix concrete truck showed up at 8 a.m.!  The ready-mix trucks (there were three of them, but not all at once) stayed back on the road and poured their concrete into the hopper of a pump.  From there, the concrete was pushed through a bunch of hose sections, stretching all the way down to the boathouse!  When the hose sections were first connected, there were some clogs.  The crew hammered on the hose with a mallet to clear them!  When there was a clog at a hose connection, the crew placed a wading pool under the connection so they wouldn’t spill concrete on the ground.

Grandma made sure I stayed way out of the way of the concrete!  I could see it filling in the north deck from the other side of the boathouse!  Then I went out on the dock to watch while the crew spread the cement evenly and smoothed the surface.

When the north deck section was filled to the height of the breakwall caps, the rest of the concrete was spread in the south deck section.  That didn’t come close to reaching the breakwall caps there, so it didn’t need to be spread so evenly.  When all the concrete had been delivered, the crew took the hose sections apart and carried them back upstairs to the concrete vendor’s truck.  They decided to pull the part that was on the hill slope up in one piece, just like a firehose race!

We had to go back to Fairport for another appointment, but before we did I got to watch the north deck get stamped designs.  The stamps have wavy ridges like a natural stone shelf would have.  When the concrete was partially set, the crew put down three stamps at a time and pounded the design into the concrete.  Later, it will get a tan stain color and sealer.

Before we knew what the timing of the first concrete pour would be, Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara made plans with Annie’s parents to go to the Renaissance Faire in Sterling last Saturday and stay at the bay Saturday night.  I helped Grandma make three batches of party mix and two pans of overnight-rise sticky buns on Saturday morning before we went back out to the bay to help entertain.  The concrete on the north deck was set, so we could walk on it.  When Thomas came back from the Renaissance Faire, he came right down to play near the water.  I made sure his new sword stayed safe!  Annie came down, too!

It had been a long day outside for everybody who went to the Faire, so there was some inside time on electronics to unwind.  After dinner, there was a bonfire with s’mores and a game of hide and seek.  I watched Annie’s sword when she was “it”!  When it got dark enough, Grandpa used the laser level to make sure the north boathouse wall would go down on the concrete foundation and stay level.  With all the electronics in use, there were charger cables in my bed!

Sunday morning we had fresh warm sticky buns on the porch, along with an egg casserole.  I made friends with Annie’s elephant!

After Annie’s family left, it was back to work on the boathouse walls!  The north wall was lowered onto an additional tapered plate so it stays level where the concrete slopes for drainage.  Then Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara moved the jacks over to the south wall and repeated the lifting process.

While Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara worked with Grandpa, Grandma and I stayed with James and Thomas.  Grandma actually won two games of Connect Four from James and helped Thomas win one, too!  James almost never loses at Connect Four! Thomas came down to the boathouse barefoot.  He needed a piggyback ride, because the south deck concrete was very rough!  It took a while to level the jacks so there was no sag in the lifted south boathouse wall!

When Uncle Steven trimmed off the bottom of the south boathouse wall, Thomas added some nails to his dock spike collection.  We were both careful to stay out of the way when Uncle Steven made the final cut near us!  Aunt Kara helped support the wall when Uncle Steven used a different saw to cut through the studs.  Then I helped pull the trimmed off piece away from the wall again!

Grandpa took a break to talk to Thomas about fishing.  Thomas made a fishing rod out of “found” materials.  It attracted dragonflies, but no fish!  James did some railing walking.

After Uncle Steven’s family went home Sunday evening, Grandma and Grandpa and I decided to go watch sunset at Sodus Point.  There was so much haze from the wildfires in the west that the sun disappeared very early!

The concrete vendor’s delivery slots are all booked for this week, and the some of the contractor’s crew are on vacation.  We don’t know when the south deck final concrete pour will happen.  The contractor still has the armor stone work to do on the shore line north and south of the boathouse and decks, too.  Grandma says it’s a good thing the jacks are well secured, so the south boathouse wall can levitate as long as it has to!

Love,

Lion-san