Spring?

For those loyal and regular readers (all 4 of you - you know who you are), welcome back to the HoLmestead News.

It has been a long and hard winter, combined with cataract surgeries in both eyes spread out over almost 2 months and, as I posted earlier, almost all projects came to a halt and I had very little to say.

Now we are into spring, right? Ignoring the sub-freezing temps last night and the dusting of snow, the crocuses and lilies are blooming and the grass is greening up. I even saw one of the first signs of spring the other day: a motorcycle. Not just parked, either.

So, this past week we were able to get back to one of the major projects we were working on last fall: the new deck. I got one set of steps built and we were able to start laying out and screwing down decking and attaching some of the railing posts. We learn on the job, as usual. We had decided to put the posts on the outside of the deck so it is most convenient if they go on before the decking so I can reach inside to tighten the nuts onto the bolts. But we really wanted to get some of the decking down so I decided to put as much decking on as I could between putting up each post.

In other news, I was able to get started on preparing the wood for Amelia's treasure box. She wants to build one with my help. Of course she can't do the work on the saws and other big power tools yet. Maybe in a couple of years. I planed some oak to 1/2" and cut them to length and width and started mitering the corners.