My father-in-law asked me if I would be available Sunday to help him swap a few deck boards at his place. “It should be a quick job. We’re only replacing a few bad ones,” he said. Well, it indeed started off with “a few bad” boards…
On the porch itself, we put in three new boards. On the ramp, we used 4 long boards to replace 7 boards. As you can see from the above photo, the thought eventually was to just go ahead and replace all the ramp boards. And we did.
It actually came out pretty good and only took about half the day. Then at some point, the decision was made to do the whole porch.
In the above photo, you can see the three boards we replaced. Once we knew we were doing the whole porch, we had to rip out the rest of the boards. It was a job! My father-in-law and brother-in-law ran up to Home Depot to get more boards and more screws while I ripped out the deck boards.
When they returned, they helped me with the remaining boards. We worked pretty much up until dinner time and we called it a day. We still had half the porch to finish which meant we were back at it on Monday afternoon. I stayed until about 6pm, and left because I needed to get the kids home, bathed and in bed for school the next day. They were almost finished when I left.
Tuesday morning, I had to stop over there after dropping Ella off at school. My wife bought something from a fundraiser and I had to bring over the money for it. When I walked up the ramp I saw that they had all but the very end board done. They didn’t finish it because my father-in-law was going to put in a different size board to avoid cutting the size they were using.
It looked fantastic. I can tell you, though, Sunday night I was sore. Monday night, I was stiff and sore. My hips were on fire, probably because we were hoping over deck boarding all day. My knees were killing me too because we were on them the entire time we were screwing in deck boards.
I’m always glad to help out my father-in-law. Lord knows how many times he has helped me! I’m happy it is done and that my mother-in-law is happy with the way it looks.
The past few weeks have been crazy. It seems like every one of us has had doctor appointments for various things. Then Ella starting Kindergarten began an entirely new schedule for us. Andrew will start preschool after the holiday, so there are yet more changes coming.
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My father-in-law is the best! As you know, he has helped me with every project I have had to do at home. He is always bringing over tools to work on things because I don’t have them. Well, they sadly had to sell their place up north. When they went up to clean out their stuff, he found some things for me.
My brothers-in-law and my father-in-law each have just about every tool at home. So when they were cleaning stuff, they brought some tools to me.
I was super surprised when he brought home a couple saws (including a chain saw), an oscillating tool, a drill and an impact drill. It was like Christmas came early. I’ll have to rearrange the garage, or better yet, get a nice big tool box to put them in. Thanks, Dad.
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Sunday I took the kids to the Children’s Zoo. The weather was perfect. The high was only in the low 70’s and there was plenty of sunshine.
We’re zoo members, so we can ride the train and carousel as many times as we want. We certainly did!
The animals were plenty active that day. The monkeys were bouncing all over the place, the penguins were swimming, and the prairie dogs seemed extra crazy. What thrilled the kids (and me) was the otter. They usually swim around and ignore folks, but Sunday one was putting on a show! He kept swimming by the glass, doing flips in the water, and following kids back and forth on the other side of the glass. He seemed to come right up to the glass to everyone who was there.
The kids loved every second.
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Monday was weird weather wise. It went from sunny to cloudy and back to sunny. Every once in a while there was a small shower, but nothing big. My wife wanted me to grill burgers for dinner. So I went out, started the grill (as the sun was shining) and put the patties on the grill. within 5 minutes there was crazy rainfall. It was coming down pretty hard along with some good thunder. Me neighbors must have thought I was crazy!
Thank goodness my wife’s car was unlocked so I could grab her umbrella!
Recently, I replaced the main light in our kitchen. It was surprisingly easy. Black wire to black wire, white wire to white wire, and ground to ground. Bingo. It was done. Because of this I got extra cocky and decided to put a new light in above our kitchen sink. Boy, did I make a mistake thinking I could do that!
If you’re not sure what I mean with the wires, here is a diagram that is kind of close to what I was looking at:
My light didn’t have a fan, so imagine this without that fan wire and you will understand. The orange and yellow caps holding the wires together are wire nuts – for future reference. So let’s proceed from the point where I turn off the power at the breaker box to begin this project.
To aid you in my story, I have created a visual of the kitchen area where the fiasco happened.
I thought the main power would be in the ceiling, where the mount is. Instead, a wire came down from the mount through a chain and went into a plate on the wall. There is a plastic wire cover coming from the cupboard that also went to the plate on the wall.
Now, above my stove and connected to the bottom of the cupboard is one of those light/fan hoods. The lights help you see the stove and the fan helps suck up any smoke from what your are cooking. That died a while back and I wanted to take it down. I disconnected the hood from the wires that went from the vent/light to the plate on the wall (hidden by the plastic wire cover). So now I have two wires that I don’t need that are connected to the main power wire, which is under the plate.
I now have to remove cover from the plate to expose the wires underneath. What I see is this huge asbestos wire coming out of a huge hole in the drywall. The wires kinda look like this:
Now that picture is a lot neater than my wire. The first thing my father-in-law, who I have now called for assistance, does is disconnect all of the wires by removing the wire nuts. Of course, we didn’t really pay attention to them when we did it.
Once the wires are disconnected, we get rid of the two that were connected to the vent/light. So from here on out, it should be easy, right? Black to black, white to white, etc…WRONG!
We wire it up and my father-in law tells me to go downstairs and turn on the breaker. When I flip it the bulb in the light goes on. Good? No. The light switch is in the off position. When he flips it on, the breaker snaps off. So we figure we got the two wires from the switch messed up and swap them to the other wires. We turn the power back on again and the breaker snaps again.
My father-in-law didn’t have his voltage tester, so we made a quick trip to the hardware store. I pick up a cheap one and we come home. My father-in-law tells me that the black wire should be hot and the white should be neutral. When we test the wires, it is the opposite! He is perplexed and so am I. That is NOT the way it is supposed to be.
After consulting my brother-in-law, they agree that somewhere in the walls of our house, whoever wired the house, swapped the wires. Maybe at a hotbox or somewhere else. There is more discussion and it is decided that if we take the “hot”(black) wire from the lamp and put it on the white wire coming from the wall (which is now the “hot”) and the neutral (white) wire to the black wire (now neutral) coming from the wall – it should work. So we do that and add the two wires from the switch and TA DA! We have light and the breaker doesn’t snap off.
I tell you all of that to tell you this….
All in all, I must have run up and down the stairs 30 times during this project. Once we got the the vent off the cupboard, I pushed the stove back in place and plugged it in to the 220 plug behind it.
After flipping the breaker off one time, I came back upstairs to see my father-in-law on the counter with the main power wire in his hands. I noticed the clock for the stove was on, so I yell, “WAIT A MINUTE, DAD!!” He almost falls off the ladder as he asks what was the matter. I told him, “The stove light is on and it has power!” I said this totally forgetting that the 220 plug is an entirely separate line. My father-in-law reminded me of this.
“You scared the hell out me, Dad!” I told him.
“I had my hands on the wire. You scared the hell out of me!” he replied.
My three year old son, Andrew was watching all of this and said, “You both scared the hells out of my body, too!”
That was the best moment of the project! A laugh we both needed!
I had a few days off over this past weekend and I got some much needed family time. The time started on a sad note, as Thursday morning, my wife’s family gathered at the National Cemetery where there was a small service for her grandma. They chose her grandfather’s birthday to go and have her ashes placed inside the wall with him. After the service, her dad said a prayer and everyone left.
Her grandparents are buried at the same cemetery as my mother, and my daughter asked to go see grandma. Last time we were there, she placed a heart shaped rock on the headstone. It was not there this time and she said, “Grandma must have liked it so much that she took it.” Who am I to argue with my daughter?
Friday afternoon, we loaded up the car, the kids, and the dog and made the two hour drive to my father-in-law’s place up north. I had been there once with him, but it was only a few hours. This time, we were all going to spend a couple days there. We were all looking forward to it.
The Michigan scenery on the drive up was so nice. I love those farm houses on the side of the road, the horses and cows in the fields, and the beauty of tall green trees. I love when you have to go from 55 mph down to 30 mph because you are driving through a small town. It takes me back to those drives up to Caseville with my parents when I was a kid.
We arrived at the cabin around 7pm on Friday night and we just relaxed for a while. It is just the way a cabin should be, cozy and peaceful.
We were all up early Saturday and the view from out the front window was exactly what I needed to see as I stood with a cup of hot coffee.
My mother-in-law made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. They were delicious! After breakfast, my father-in-law and I went to work. He has about 18 acres of property. He doesn’t mow it all, but there is quite a bit to mow. I hopped on the zero turn and he grabbed the weed whacker and we went to work on the yard.
I never saw the family leave while we were out, but after we finished I went inside to get some water and my phone rang. It was my wife. She said, “I need you and dad to bring the truck up to the merchandise outlet to get something.” I said ok and told my father-in-law. His response was, “What did they buy that won’t fit in your car?!” Well, I found out soon enough – and my son couldn’t be happier.
He got a Mustang long before I ever did! These things are like $200-$250 online and she got it (brand new) for $30! Yeah, what a deal!! There was a sale going on and there was also a 50% off sticker on it, so by the time the thing was rung up – $30! He was so mad that it had to charge before he could drive it. (The thing has a working radio in it!!!) Ella wanted to ride, too, so we went to the barn and got them one of the cars that were there.
We had hot dogs for lunch and then the fun began. My father-in-law brought out the four wheeler! To say that the kids were excited was an understatement.
I had never rode on one, so my father-in-law gave me a quick lesson in where the gas and brakes were, he placed Andrew in front of me and I was off on the trails and into the property with him.
Naturally, I went a lot slower than I would have liked, because I didn’t want him to fall off. He was so content to just sit there and ride. I’d ask if he was ok and he’d say he was and ask for more.
When I came back, Ella was raring to go. I really thought that she would be the one who was too scared to ride on it, but I was wrong. She hopped up and off we went. As we drove down the trail to the open area on the property she yelled, “Whoo-hoo! This is amazing!!” This filled my heart more than I can explain. Once we got to where the trail opened into the large open area, I drove her around and made little jumps on hills and such. She kept yelling, “Faster, daddy! Faster!!” She was a true daredevil.
As we were out in the field, we heard another four wheeler. Papa had pulled out the other one and had Andrew in front of him. Then it became a game. The two of us “chasing” each other, “racing” each other, and laughing the entire time! “Daddy, they are chasing us! Don’t let them catch us!” What a hoot!!
Daisy, our dog, was chasing us as we rode around, too. It was so hot and I can’t believe that she kept running after us. As soon as we’d pull away from the house, she’d be right on our tail. Running and chasing and occasionally barking at us. It was ridiculous.
As it got closer to dinner, Sam and I ordered pizzas from a place in town. It was expensive, but worth every cent. It was so cheesy and you could tell it was hand tossed and made fresh. They had these bread sticks, which were more like rolls, that had garlic and cheese on them. Oh, man! They were sinfully good.
It was a day full of fun. So much fun that we called it a night early. The kids were out like a light almost immediately. There was a huge car show in town that night, but there was absolutely no energy to go see it.
We woke up Sunday, Father’s Day, and coffee was already made. My mother-in-law made up some eggs and sausage. I was drinking my coffee on the porch and could smell the sausage from outside. This took me back to those days at my grandma’s place in Caseville. We’d be outside and we could smell the bacon or sausage from outside.
After breakfast, my father-in-law and I went out and finished up the weed whacking we didn’t get to on Saturday. After that we had to take apart some bunk beds that he was bringing home when we left. He had a rototiller that I needed to borrow and we loaded that up on the trailer, too.
While we were doing that, my wife was packing up and loading the car. My mother-in-law wasn’t going to let us leave hungry, so she made up some turkey burgers and we all had another meal together. When they were in town the day before, they had picked up a chocolate cake for the “dads” for Father’s Day. Before we could even slice it, Ella was eating sprinkles off the top of it!
We had promised the kids another ride on the four wheelers before we left, and they couldn’t wait! Each kid got a few turns riding with me and Papa. Before I put it away, I just had to go and take it for a spin by myself – so I could see just how fast it would go. Man, this one I was on really clipped! I can see how easy it would be to get hurt on one of them. It was extra fun for me to just let loose and be a kid again for a few minutes.
Just before we left, it began to sprinkle. There was a storm on the way and we wanted to head out before it hit. The kids kept asking all the way home when we would be heading up to the cabin again. After the fun we had there, I would imagine the answer is “Soon. Very soon.”
Next trip, however, I will be sure to wear sunscreen!
I had a day off this week and had a chance to see my daughter play T-ball. Before the game, we had to take a drive down to get my son’s leg braces looked at. The whole family was in the car and Ella asked my wife to play “I am a C” song. I had no idea what that was. She proceeded to pull up a YouTube video of a Christian song for kids. Ella knew all the words.
Sam was surprised I had never heard this one before. I’d been in Vacation Bible School and certainly had sung many of the familiar Christian kid songs, but never this one. It warmed my heart a bunch to hear her singing along.
She did pretty good at T-ball, too, this week! I snapped this one and love it.
She’s all SASS!
Meanwhile, my son Andrew is learning all about house repairs with my father in law. My brother in law bought a house recently and they are working on all kinds of repairs and updates. Andrew is in heaven because “Pa” is letting him help!
He’s right at home with tools! I will have a helper for life!
If you have been following my blog, you probably know of the many projects that my father-in-law has helped me with. We made a nook together, put new posts and re-decked our side porch, installed more appliances than I can count and SO much more. I was overdue to return the favor.
When we got our new dishwasher, he took our old one planning on installing it in their cabin up north. Recently, their dishwasher at home quit. We had assumed that he just swapped out that one with the one we gave him. However, when my wife was over there recently, she noticed that it had not been put in yet. We thought maybe he needed a hand, so I texted him on Saturday and asked if I could come over Sunday and help him put it in.
I arrived Sunday afternoon, and we got right to work. We figured that it should be a quick swap. For the most part, it was. We only had to run up to the store one for an adapter for the water line. In a matter of an hour or so, we were finished.
We both thought that the Lions game was starting later, but my phone told me otherwise. I have it set to give me scores and such. So to my surprise, they were actually just starting the second quarter when we got done.
My mother-in-law threw a pizza in the over for all of us (and watched the kids while we worked) and dad and I sat and watched the game. It was probably a good thing that I was watching the game at his house. I’m sure our cheering would have woke her up (she had to work that night).
So the Lions were up 23-31 at the 2:00 warning. Tampa Bay has the ball. We’d seen them put together some nice drives that lead to scores. This game is tight. My father-in-law looks at me and says, “You know what we need right now? A pick (an interception).” Two plays later, Tampa Bay throws the ball and it is intercepted by Derrick Barnes of the Lions! It was magical!
Side note: If you want to hear what EVERY Detroit Lions fan was feeling, check out our radio announcer Dan Miller call the play. This clip is from the Lions’ Instagram, but it also on their Facebook page.
I hope this blog finds you enjoying the remainder of the holiday weekend. My weekend, which was supposed to be very relaxing, wound up being full of the unexpected.
Wednesday afternoon, I got a call from my wife. Her dad had passed out at the doctor’s office. His blood pressure was up and down. They rushed him to the ER, and admitted him for a couple days. No heart attack, no stroke, and they didn’t find any blockages. There were a few things that neurology is going to look into in more detail. He is home now and relaxing.
My mother-in-law was at the ER for Thanksgiving and when she told us that she was going to drive through McDonald’s for dinner, we told her to go home and I’d bring her a plate. I packed up turkey, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and rolls. Andrew and I drove over to bring her the food. At the end of their street is a guy who goes all out with holiday lights. Andrew loved looking at them.
That’s not even his whole set up!!
Ella and Andrew haven’t been feeling all that great and when we woke up Thanksgiving day, we all felt a bit under the weather. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon battling fevers with Motrin and Tylenol. We watched a disappointing Detroit Lions game and had dinner. After that is when everything got scary.
Ella did not look right. Her nose and eyes were watering all day and her fever spiked again. She was far from herself. There was enough going on that I packed her in the car and made the trip to the ER.
They checked her out and said it was viral, which we kind of knew. It “has to run its course.” So we weren’t there too long. I was just relieved it wasn’t pneumonia. Her cough was awful.
We were supposed to go to the Detroit Zoo for their Wild Lights, but we were all under the weather. Thankfully, they had my order and were able to switch days for us. I’m grateful, because I would have hated to have not been able to use them.
We got our Christmas photos back and there were more good ones than bad ones. We sat with them and picked the ones for our family Christmas card. This is one of my favorite family ones:
Being inside has been driving the kids crazy. Sam had bought a few games on Amazon for Ella’s birthday, but decided to bring them out to help keep them (and us) occupied. It’s been a while, but I can honestly say that I still can’t win playing Hi-Ho Chery-O!
Today, I had to take Daisy to Puppy Training. I swear, I gave her a bag of treats during this class. We worked on Sit, Watch Me, and Touch today. The trainer started off the class with what was going to happen over the next 6 weeks. All the pups were given a bone to chew while she went over this. Daisy, of course, broke off a tooth and probably swallowed it. She was bleeding on the bone.
As embarrassing as that was, at least she didn’t pee during the class. Another dog, however, peed like three times. As the class drew to a close, Daisy started to get antsy and began to bark at the other dogs. She was pulling and trying to get off the leash. She was happy to finally leave and get in the car.
I put it on after I took this picture, but I bought her a name tag at the store. They engrave them there for you. It hangs off that loop where the leash goes. It hangs down a bit and “clangs” when she walks. It is making her crazy. It is funny to watch her try to chew at it.
The kids are feeling a bit better today, and I hope that continues with more rest. I’m hoping for some rest too!
Ok, the picture is misleading. This post has nothing to do with the Roy Rogers movie. I should also say that it has nothing to do with the hit song by Bing Crosby. It’s just a fitting title for the backyard project.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, my father-in-law and I needed to put up a temporary fence to keep the puppy in. I even shared this fantastic drawing of our plan:
We put all the stakes in over the weekend and started stinging the fence today. For the most part, it all worked out nicely and should be perfect for the puppy.
Here is the fence that is the back of the area:
This went surprisingly well. We had to play with it a little to make sure it was nice and tight, but it looks pretty solid.
This is the small section by the concrete up against the porch:
This was the easiest part to do.
After we got this all set, my father-in-law said we’d work on the actual gate this weekend. We’re going to build it and attach it to the boards.
My father-in-law decided to come back later this afternoon, after I had left for work. He build the gate and began to put it up, but there was an issue – circled in yellow above.
Those stakes are in the ground, however, the gate is a bit too heavy and the stakes move. So tomorrow, I guess he his coming back over with a plan. I don’t ever worry with him. He always finds a way to make it work.
All in all, I’m happy with the way this looks and am excited for the pup to arrive!
If you have followed this blog, you know that the majority of the home projects I do are done with my father-in-law. He is always there to help me with things and I am so grateful for him.
Recently, you may recall, we got a second hand playscape. We knew it would probably need a bit of patch work. The other day, when Ella was climbing the rock wall, one of the rocks just fell off.
Most of the wood on it was starting to dry rot. So I went into my garage and took a look at the wood I had left from the deck/porch project. I had plenty of boards and a couple 2×4’s. That was really all I needed. I knew that Menard’s had the little “rocks” that were mounted to the boards, so I could pick those up after I put the new wall together.
It didn’t take long to measure everything out. The speed square I bought got a lot of use that day. Once the wall was finished, I packed the kids in the car and drove to Menard’s. The problem was, that they were out of the “rocks.”
I began to wonder how I could get around this problem. We looked at some of the other “swing set/playscape” accessories and there it was. It was a big plastic thing with holes in it. Basically, you build a square frame and mount this inside the frame. I, of course, thought “Why can’t I mount this thing right onto the wall I built?”
I ran to the tape measure aisle. Measured the plastic piece and saw that it would fit! So 8-12 screws later – it was mounted and guess what? The kids love it!!
An entire project finished without having to call my father-in-law for help!! Woo hoo!!
Once again, I am forever grateful for the handyman skills of my father-in-law. Whenever there is some sort of project that Sam (or I) want to do, he is able to see the finished product in his head. Nothing is impossible and even though there always seems to be a hiccup or two, the project always turns out fantastic.
Recently, we decided to lay down new deck boards on our side porch. We also put up new columns, as the old ones were dry rotted. It’s been a project, but the hard part is finally complete. I know I have shared some of the before pictures….
The missing post in the above picture is what led to the rest.
Then we had issues with the boards. Ours had no groove in the middle, so we had to make adjustments.
New posts went up first and some of the deck board, but there was much more to do.
The above is where we left off a week or so ago. These boards, while not in the best shape, were going to take some work to get up. Despite having some minor surgery earlier in the week, and me telling him we could wait another week, my father-in-law said he was coming over Sunday to work on the porch.
So, on Sunday morning, I brought out all of the tools we needed for the day. I had the air compressor, nail gun, impact drill, hammers, pry bars, table saws, jigsaws, miter saws, and another bag of various tools ready to go. He was there at 10am sharp and we got right to work.
The first thing we did was start laying boards where we left off. We worked right up to where the post was and then ripped the rest of the old boards out. Around the posts we had to cut notches so the boards would fit. We did some creative cuts when we got to the end and against the house. Then we had to go to the other end and finish a couple boards there.
Once the deck boards all down and in place, my father in law took some excess wood and made some decorative boots for around the tops and bottoms of the posts. I learned that my table saw can be adjusted to cut at a 45 degree angle! Who knew!?
I thought the boots looked very cool on the posts.
All I need to do now is paint the posts and figure out whether or not to stain or paint the deck boards. The finished product…
It was a long day. I spent a lot of time bending over and on my knees. My back and knees are a bit sore today. It was worth it … and the countless ibuprofen pills I have been popping all day!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 