I was out there earlier and cut off the posts so I can start with the beams... A little while later, Chance and Tanner decided to play "Survivor" and see who could stand on the post the longest... Somehow, they talked Carolyn and I into paying them $10 each if they could stand there an hour... 
We'll see if they can do it... :)
Luckily the neighbor came over and helped... It took half the day yesterday to get a concrete footer out that was right where the last deck post was to go... It was a MAJOR pain getting it out, but finally got it...
That's it! Now just have to slap the wood on... I'll let you know if it really IS that easy... :)
I wonder how many Americans even know what Memorial Day is about... I would bet that the vast majority don't have a clue... Picnics, cookouts, swimming, etc. According to some surveys, which can be made to say just about anything but can be insightful at times anyway, most Americans have zero idea what the purpose or meaning of Memorial Day is... Do you? :)
I went to Home Depot this morning and got concrete to set the posts... I'm like, I'll get 12 bags, we can come back... Yeah RIGHT Matt! I had to go back and get 45 more, and MAY have to go back for the 'final few' tomorrow!?! Well, at least the posts shouldn't GO anywhere... It didn't help either that the holes in the front were 'off' and once you correct that, then the hole is twice as big, which means more cement... So I suppose had I measured correctly the first time, I would have saved a few bucks... :)
Finally getting started on the deck... NO, the pool house isn't done yet... :) I got all the holes dug for the posts though, ripped down the bushes on the side and ready to put the posts in the ground tomorrow... 
I actually replanted those bushes above the pool on the bank there, we'll see if they live through the whole transplanting process, my bet is they don't... We'll find out soon enough... :)
I'm sure my neighbors will be glad when this mess is cleaned up, soon enough... Although, I think they are all happy I'm doing what I'm doing... So we'll see how much gets done this weekend, and I have an extra day because of the holiday, so while everyone else is grilling out and celebrating, I'll be working... Soon enough though, and I will be working on this house no more... :)
Taylor and her friend Hannah at their party...
Taylor and Hannah again...
Of course Tanner's party was yesterday, and his room parent never really mentioned that it was yesterday and not today, so no one went to his party... :( I did go see him at lunch today and he wanted to know if I could just take him home now, so we did... :)
Final stop, our celebration dinner... Of course some people likely think we are NUTS for eating dinner at 4:30, but whatever... :)
Chance did manage to get the Honor Roll all year!
On to Middle School!!
Their last "walking the halls at Russom"...So that's it, last day of school... The kids are SO excited about it being summer vacation, not that I blame them, I never did like school at all! Off to Taylor's 'end of the year party'...
I spent a good part of the day getting that shower drain moved over... It was a nightmare! I had paid the neighbor kid to dig out the concrete, but I had to move it over another 8 inches because I was unable to get a saw in there to cut the damn pipe off... I'm GLAD that's done!!
Of course the kids took turns riding the dirt bike and swimming... Canyon came over last night, and believe it or not, they all swam LATE last night... I can't do it, the water is still too cold for me. They don't mind though. Tanner FINALLY made it to the "big boy track"... They call it that because you have to be able to maneuver between those trees there... Of course you can't really see them in this picture, but there are three trees at the right that you have to go through, anyway, Tanner is now riding on the "big boy track"... 
Yep... I got the bar varnished, the lights on and the ceiling fan is working as well... Not sure why I'm surprised, I just am... :)
AND! I finally got the water from the house hooked up!! We'll soon see if there are leaks, because I haven't tested any of it yet.... :)I doubt there are though, I'm anal about my solder joints, etc... Who knows though. So yeah, that's what's going on around here. I am on a mission, I MUST finish this soon because I'm tired of working on it!! We'll see how that works out!
Of course now that I am transferring everything over, it's like, hmmm... I thought 170GB would be PLENTY of space... Turns out it may not be though, ugh!! I suppose it will have to do for a while, but I remember when 60, 80 or 100GB of hard disk space was MORE than enough... I think I need to setup a separate storage device with a TB of space just so I never run out, at least for the next year or so... It's stunning how much space just the average user needs these days with digital pictures, movies, songs, etc... Of course my song collection doesn't take up all that much space because I listen to the same songs over and over, but the rest?? Yeah, it's starting to take up too much space...
I suppose I should just consider myself lucky that I can do all this myself though without having to pay someone else to do it... :)
So anyway, I've been working on the inside of the pool house for a few days now... I did hang my first piece of drywall, that was pretty exciting... Here I was thinking I was "almost" done with the thing, and it hit me today... Umm, Matt! You've only done the rough in, you still have to FINISH the damn thing!!! Ugh!
Of course the kids are enjoying the pool, along with all of their neighborhood friends!
I did manage to 'almost' get my first so-called 'finishing' project complete... which was to build the thing that will cover the door over the bar when it is up and then hang the lights... :)Lot left to do though... Sigh!
This was the first test... Worked like a charm! I got motion sensor lights, just have to adjust them, but I'll figure that out later, I'm just glad they work!! On to another topic though, for a change... The 'Federal Gas Tax' holiday that both McCain and Clinton are touting... I'm with Obama on that one, it is pandering PLAIN and SIMPLE!! It will save most Americans about twenty or thirty bucks... I read somewhere that it would be the equivalent of solving the obesity problem in this country by making Twinkies, ho-hos, and deep-fried Mars bars tax deductible. They are right! It's pandering for votes, no way around it. The problem is, most people are so Fing stupid, they probably think it will save them money.
Lets say you drive 41 miles a day, the average would be about a gallon and a half of gas a day... The federal tax on that is 27 cents! Wow! So this 'proposed' Federal Gas Tax holiday will save the average consumer about 23 bucks over the entire summer... Try not to spend it all at once... Idiots... That would be the American people who would vote for those morons for proposing it, the smarter American people would denounce McCain and Clinton for being so idiotic and vote for Obama even though they don't agree with everything he says... Obama though has called it like it is, pandering for votes amoung the great unwashed, and wow, there are a LOT of them!!
Can you spot the differences from the last photo I posted?? It's tedious! I've had to make all that trim around the siding, and it has taken FAR longer than I had anticipated... Oh well, it will soon be done! How long have I been saying that?? :)
Still a LOT to do, but it's getting there, slowly but surely...
I've TOTALLY neglected the front since I had it done, LUCKILY it doesn't look that bad... Also, I'm SO glad Cory does our lawn maintenance, if I had to do it I'm sure the grass would be knee high!! I'll get back to that once I'm done in the back!!
Canyon about to have a go at it, he was a bit nervous, I think he was too nervous actually. He finally gave up.
About to go again... Canyon gave it a good try, but then decided he would rather swim! So Tanner and Canyon went swimming, Chance took the bike around until it got dark. Then Chance joined them in the pool. Myself, I was out watching all of it of course, reading my book, "World Without End". I'm so close to the end of the book, I don't want to put it down! I ran out of light at the pool watching them swim, but now they are all in. I'm on page 810, and it is a 929 page book. I WILL finish it tonight!!
Yeah, I've been working on the pool house as well! I actually today finished the LAST of the electric work, tomorrow I hope to do the same with the plumbing! No exciting pictures to post though... :( Drywall is next!! I can't wait for that! I will just be GLAD when this is done, I'm OVER it!! Got to finish what I started though... :)
I'm not sure how many times Chance and Tanner did that, but it was a LOT!!
One of the many failed attempts... What's that hanging from Tanners jeans? Well, we DO live in Paulding County... :)
Finally got it running though!!! I was SO thrilled! You can't describe how happy I was seeing Chance finally tooling around the property on the dirt bike!! I may be more excited than he was! He is SO happy! He's doing a good job too of learning the basics! Wow! I've not seen Chance this stoked in a WHILE! It makes me happy!!
