Dan Antion

Our New Place – #1LinerWeds

Goodbye to the little monkey and welcome the long pier. It’s time to turn over a new badge.

As I mentioned over at the bar on Saturday I am working on the last segment of the garage facelift I started last year. Since the “garage” is really the merger between a relatively large garage and a somewhat smaller workshop, it has six distinct sides. Four that make up the front, back and two sides, and two that from a 6’ x 12’ (1.8m x 3.6m) indentation in one corner. The longer of the two walls in that corner is the one with the entrance to my shop.

The workshop entrance posed two significant problems for me. First, since the wall is set back, the roof is lower than the garage roof. In the winter, snow tends to drift up against the higher sidewall of the garage and, what may seem unfathomable to those of you in warmer climes, that snow has to be raked off the roof. The problem – no, raking snow off the roof isn’t a problem, we have tools for that – the problem is that it falls to the ground in that corner. When a big pile of snow falls from a height of about 10 feet, it packs itself into an iceberg (inside a tight corner) when it lands.

To solve this problem, I extended the roof over the workshop so I can rake the snow to a place in the yard where I can get at it with my snow blower.

The second problem was the entrance. The door is about two feet off the ground, and the path in and out was via a steep wooden ramp. If the ramp was wet or covered with snow, it was absolutely dangerous. I had installed small treads to help get a grip, but most of those had broken over the years – that ramp had to go. I decided to replace the ramp with a little deck. It’s about 40” (~1m) wide and 11’ long. From there, I can build one nice-sized step to the ground.

I framed the deck last weekend, but I’m not ready for deck boards yet. I won’t install those until the siding is up (for reasons that will send this well over the 500-word mark).

After I installed the support beams and what will be the floor joists, I was planning to move on to the work I have to do on the walls. Unfortunately, I was still entering and exiting the shop, only now, I was tripping over those joists.

I found some scrap plywood and I decided to put enough down to make a functional landing pad, and to prevent me from tripping. I took the leftover pavers that had been laying against the garage and formed them into two steps (actually The Editor’s idea). This was simply for the sake of safety.

Until. Maddie. Saw. The. “Deck.”

“Sniff, sniff, sniff…this is new.”
“I think I could get used to this.”
“It’s not my cot, but I can deal with this.”

The above sequence of pictures is what happened. I texted a couple of those to The Editor, and she brought me a lawn chair and Maddie a cushion. Then she said:

“It was nice of you to build this for Maddie.”

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. And, given the time of the year, it’s also part of Just-Jot-January. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

The gallery has a few photos of the construction, a few of the deck’s new owner and a few of the sights we see from the deck. Yes, it didn’t take long for Sammy, Samantha, Smokey and Chippy to realize where we were hiding. There’s talk (joking) of adding a mini-fridge.

One board left to go.
An accident waiting to happen.
Safe and sound.
“Ahhhhh, yeah, this is better. Thanks mom.”
“I think Chippy is running around over there.”
“I’m awake. I was dreaming about a peanut.”
This is not what this was ever supposed to look like.
I think the squirrels have found us.
Our new view.
Maddie’s new comfy place.
Chippy
“Hi there. I see you guys have moved.”
For Faith.
Smokey found us after a few minutes.
“Thanks for the peanut!”
Sleepy?
“I like this new place, dad.”

73 comments

  1. Dan, check your link to Linda’s page…because there isn’t one. :-(

    Maddie made me quietly LOL this morning. She certainly knows when to claim the good sitting spots. It appears that you may have a new place to hang out with the redhead. In the shade. Beer in hand. Squirrels wondering “What the heck are those two doing now?”

    You do nice work and Maddie so appreciates it.

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  6. Way to go, Maddie! Looks like a big job, Dan, but a necessary one before winter. And it’s what you love to do. Raking the snow to a place where you can use the snowblower is brilliant. BTW, when is your retirement date?

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Lois – She might like an ice dispenser, maybe a water bowl/fountain and perhaps an awning/rolling blind to block the sun. The squirrels go through this complicated OCD-like process of getting that peanut in just the right way.

      Liked by 1 person

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  10. PERFECT place for Maddie to hang out. Kudos to the Editor for bringing out her cushion to rest on. Maddie knows a good thing when she sees it. I like your “new
    view”. If you’re lucky, Maddie won’t fully stretch out, leaving some space for you, a chair and a Corona! :+)

    Funny how the squirrels and chipmunks know exactly where to find you….and the peanuts! I swear, if you guys moved, they would follow you! Lol.

    Another great project Dan. Can’t wait to see it completed.
    🐾Ginger 🐾

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Amazingly, Ginger – “PERFECT place for Maddie to hang out” wasn’t the goal :-)

      We do put the chair and cushion in place before we take Maddie out. It’s funny, she steps onto the porch and sees that the chair and cushion are gone, and she starts with the tapping of the front feet and the “oh boy, oh boy we’re going to sit” mode.

      I don’t think the squirrels from the other neighbor’s tree have found us back there, yet. I’m sure word will get around on SquirrelNet.com Hopefully, it won’t take too long to get some proper deck boards down for Her Majesty.

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    • Thanks Deborah. The deck will be about 4-5′ longer when finished. I never really imagined sitting on it. Maybe a place to store the grill in the winter. I guess I’ll be shoveling the snow off of it and trying to keep the cushion dry. It didn’t take long for the critters to find us.

      Liked by 1 person

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    • She tends to see everything in terms of how it serves her needs. I think she learned that from the cats. She loves to sit outside. It makes her so happy, that we do it because it helps settle her down.

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  19. What we would’t do for our four-legged kids. How I laughed, Dan! Reminds me how Cookie and now Charlie have claimed MY love seat in the living room and how they make ME feel guilty if I want to lay on it. Too funny!!! Now Maddie can oversee all the action in the backyard! Cool gallery!

    Liked by 1 person

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  20. Dan you take on huge, difficult projects as if they were nothing. That’s going to be great.
    Long about the time you said plywood, I thought “Maddie!” She looks very appreciative about “her deck.” LOL. Hugs on the wing.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Linda. We’ve had years where we’ve had 4-feet of snow up there. Houses around here have had damage, either from ice dams of structural failures. We generally pull it off so it doesn’t fall off on us while we’re walking the pup around. Maddie seems to like having a roof over her head.

      Liked by 1 person

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    • Wow, that’s a fascinating combination of talent. I have a friend who ran a cabinet shop for a while and now sews different items as a hobby. It feels good to do something with your hands. Thanks.

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