The Lot Gets A Shed and More

Wow. A lot of work was done last week on The Lot.

I had taken vacation time Thursday and Friday; Thursday I had 28 tons of gravel scheduled to be delivered and our 10 x 12 foot storage shed was to be delivered on Friday. Like most projects, nothing went just as expected but there is always Plan B.

Here’s how it went in photos.

Gravel trucks, two of them, arrive with our 28 tons of gravel

First truck starts dumping at the top of the circular drive

First truck finishes unloading. Note how uneven the gravel is spread

Second truck dumps load “down” driveway

Trouble…note large piles of gravel not spread evenly

I had hoped to have to do very little hand spreading of gravel. Instead I was left with an impassible driveway. My plan had been to start working on leveling the area for the shed, scheduled to arrive the next day. Instead I had to spend hours working out the ‘riffles’ left by the gravel trucks so the shed truck could actually make it up the drive and get close to the work area. (This had repercussions, as you will see in the next segment.)  Thus endeth Thursday.

On to Friday.  A late call from Sunset Buildings informed me our shed would be built on-site instead of being delivered as a pre-built unit. OK with me; all I want is a finished shed.  Here is how that went down.

Two guys and my shed components on a trailer arrive at the top of the drive. Note how much gravel I have spread

Floor done and back wall in place

Sides up and front wall going into place

Front cap going up

Rafters going in

Roof sheeting in place

Shingles going on

Shed done at end of drive

My lack of time to prep the shed area and dig out the shed’s pad resulted in the shed being about knee-height above the drive. Quite high.  A ramp will need to be built to get stuff in and out easier.

Moving the gravel around will be a major bit of hand labor. It will take us many hours of shoveling and hauling to get the gravel where we want it – in the thickness we want.  But, as Pam pointed out, there is the rest of the Summer to get this done. The gravel spreading  just means a lot more work than I had counted on, and grunt labor at that.  At 9,000+  feet.  Bummer.

The only other two tasks on this year’s high country  agenda are putting in a dog run and continuing to clear out dead and downed wood. While I would prefer to have The Box (RV trailer) at the top of the drive, it can sit for some time where we had it all of last year.

I am happy to have the shed in place. I’ve already left the generator, 2-wheel cart, shovels, water jugs, solar panel, and a few other items in the shed, items I would normally have to haul back and forth. I know we’ll get a lot of use out of the on-site storage.

Eventually I’ll be glad I ordered the gravel as well. It’s just hard to appreciate it at the moment.

For the record, the shed guys get started at about 9:30 AM and finished just before 6:00 PM. In addition to lunch there was a pause to let a late afternoon shower pass through.

So Thursday was Gravel Day, Friday was Shed Day (although I spread gravel while the shed was being built), and Saturday was Burn Pit Day.

Getting a start on the first load destined for the burn pit

I managed to get 4 large loads to the pit before calling it a day. I was very tired and my shoulders ached . The three days of labor had taken their toll. It was getting hard to bend over, pick something up, and straighten up again. Originally I thought I would take off Sunday morning on an ATV ride but instead, and partly because of bad weather in the forecast (snow on Hoosier Pass), I shut down The Box, loaded the ATV on our aluminum trailer, and headed home.

Much project work was done those 3 days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but every project seems to generate spin-off  projects  — in this case building a ramp for the shed and spreading gravel. Progress is progress, though, and the delivery of the gravel and shed mark the completion of our major projects for 2014. Next up: putting in a dog run.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

The weather doesn’t actually look that bad in the photos, but I’m told there was both rain and a rain/snow mix during the festivities.

Murphy’s Law appears to be in full effect for mountain projects this year.

Happy Trails.