Project Complete

The wind we had yesterday was about a 15 hour experience. The wind got even worse following my post of yesterday, and we had a high gust of 30 mph for the morning. The wind stopped around 10:30 so I got started on the outside project a little late. Even with the late start, I got all the grass put down and the project is done:

That is, the main part of the project is done as I still need to put in the fence. I'm not sure yet if the fence will be a "keeper" since we aren't sure yet how much trouble it will be to open a section of the fence to take out the fifth wheel. It should be easy, so we'll see about that part. I should get one final shot of the site with the fence included for tomorrow.

There is a slight breeze this morning and it is going to warm up again. We are hoping for a nice day Friday when we entertain our "local" family members for the first time this year. We won't have to worry about running out of propane for the grill as we ran out shortly after I started to cook our pork chops last night. I will refill the tank today after Josie comes home from work. So far, we are getting along fine with just the truck as our only transportation. It is getting some much needed miles on it and I think we are up to 37,000 miles. That's still pretty good for a truck that is 6 years old...

Dealing With Grass

Before giving an update on the site project, I wanted to mention the winds that we have had all night long. We know that this area does get some wind, but it is rare (that we can remember) when it blows so hard for so long. It started right after we went to bed last night and hasn't stopped yet. The high gusts are around 18 mph, but they are steady at 12-15 mph. We're hoping the wind stops before we go out to do more work on the grass.

The entire day yesterday was spent figuring how to get the maximum coverage from the two rolls of artificial grass we purchased from Lowe's. Plus, I had to figure out how to lay the grass with the least visible seams and keeping the "grain" going in the same direction. It's quite a bit more involved than just laying carpet. Then, attaching the grass to the ground was no small challenge. I finally got it all figured out and used the two rolls we bought. We went back to Lowe's after Josie came home from work and purchased one more roll to complete the project. The area looks pretty good with just a little more to do before completion:

The main thing today is to finish with the grass. We have a small fence (left in the above shot) that we will install when everything else is done. We can already see that the dirt and dust has been almost eliminated from the usable area on the site. The one problem remaining is the messy tree on the site, but there is nothing we can do about the shedding from that area. We keep the rear of the gazebo closed most of the time, and with the gazebo underneath the tree, we have minimized that impact.

We are getting our first visit to our new "digs" on Friday. George, Cheryl, Brian, Amy and the kids are coming for a visit, and possibly Cot and Lois if they aren't going to their cabin on Friday. We're ready, and it should be much more fun entertaining in this location than last year at Happy Trails. We have much more privacy and the Resort is much nicer with the Lake.

Josie doesn't start work until 11 AM this morning, so we hope to get some work done on the grass before she leaves. All we have left is an area on the side of the gazebo and to tack down some grass that I cut yesterday, but didn't attach. The end is in sight...

Unexpected Storm

I did some final work on the pavers yesterday and started to lay the artificial grass until I ran into a small problem. The flimsy "U" staples that they recommended to attach the grass to the surface wouldn't work. Our ground here is so full of rocks and just about every attempt to drive one into the carpet was met with a hard subsurface, and they would bend in half without attaching the carpet. I waited for Josie to come home so we could return those staples and buy some large galvanized nails that should penetrate this hard surface. We'll know today.

While cleaning up last night, Josie captured these neat photos of the sunset which occurred about an hour before a surprise storm:

The weather forecast indicated only a 20% chance of rain, but it should have been 100%. It started raining with some pretty strong winds at about 8 PM last night and I'm sure I will have a clean-up chore to perform before starting work outside. Our furniture under the gazebo should be fine, but the table and chairs that are in the open surely got drenched. My rain gauge showed a .15 " total of rainfall, but it seemed like a lot more.

I hope to get the grass done today along with placement of the fence, so we'll see if I can get all that done by the time Josie comes home from work at around 3 PM this afternoon...

Project Near Completion

The main accomplishment yesterday was that we completed the pavers phase of our project. The rules and regulations require that no digging or concrete could be used to lay pavers on a site. That made it somewhat easier as we leveled the area and used sand to hold the pavers. This is what it looks like:

Both of us have aching muscles from all the physical work. I even dropped one of the pavers on my right foot and they weigh about 35 pounds each.

We're nearing completion of the project as we only have the artificial grass and fencing (new addition to the plan) to add before ending the improvements. It is going to be a nice setting when all is said and done.

Josie is back to work this morning so any more work I do outside will be alone. I hope my body is up for some more physical work today...

Slow Progress

We discovered a defect on one of the chairs we purchased that are in the gazebo so it was back to Home Depot to have it exchanged for a new one. The plan was also to buy an umbrella for the table and chairs that are now out in the open since we returned the second gazebo. The chair exchange went according to plan. We also bought a huge umbrella - one that would cover the entire area over the table and chairs, similar to one we used to have over our swimming pool at our home years ago. The problem we had following assembly of the umbrella was that it involved too much interaction to open, close and store. It was also prone to falling over in winds, so it was back to Home Depot for a refund on the umbrella.

It seems like we should know the people that work the returns department at these stores since we have seen them so much recently. We don't feel bad though, since you expect to be 100 % satisfied with any purchase, and they accept the returns if you aren't happy. We ended up buying another, standard umbrella. Below is a partial shot of the site where you can see the new umbrella and table and chairs (and also Josie):

The other areas of the site project, namely the paving, will be shown when it is completed. It was like we were spinning our wheels yesterday as we expected to get more work done, but the trips to the store took up much of our time.

We also had a visit from the Manager at the office who stopped by to chat. She apologized for the gazebo issue and also told us about their plans to continue improving the Resort to the high standards they envision. She also indicated that our site would be used as a reference to other prospective annual site users that want to improve their sites. That's probably the best compliment we could receive for what we have done so far.

Our plan for the day is to complete the paving and also to buy the artificial grass necessary to complete this phase of the site improvements. It should be done today if there are no more unplanned trips to the store for returns...

Switching Gears

The first order of the day was to take down the smaller gazebo and return it to Home Depot. It was an easy project that we finished in less than an hour and had all the pieces organized and packaged in the plastic bags that I saved from the original packaging. The only thing we were missing was the box that it came in, but Home Depot didn't care and we got a full refund.

That meant that we had to modify our original plan for this area. We moved the larger gazebo back further in the space and set up the furniture. As this is a larger gazebo, the furniture we had wasn't enough, so we added another chair. The gazebo is complete, and we will be laying more pavers today to complete that phase, and then we only have the artificial grass to put down. Exact measurements for that will be taken today, and hopefully, we will finish the project by tomorrow. Without the second gazebo, we will need some kind of cover for the table and chairs we have in that area. An umbrella will most likely take care of that problem.

The Resort is beginning to fill up for the winter season as we see an increasing number of units checking in each day. While more folks are checking in each day, we lost our next door neighbor yesterday so we have an empty space next to us. That is a long story about the family that was staying there. The short of it is that they have two children, were moved to a couple of different sites during their 4 month stay, and had way too much clutter on their space and were probably asked to leave. It is another example of the management attempt to create a better (Resort) environment here.

The muscles are getting a little sore from all this physical work, so the end better come soon. It looks like the hard work and money spent will pay off though as we are pleased, so far, with the results...

Halloween and Glitch

This Halloween was very different from years past. First of all, I was always gone for this holiday for most of about 20 years before we went on the road as it always conflicted with hunting season. Josie always performed the Halloween duties with the kids during those years. Then, we rarely stayed anywhere that had enough kids to really celebrate the holiday. Last night, we both sat outside and handed out candy to about 20 kids before going inside for the night at around 7:30 PM. We have enough candy left over that we will have to fight temptation not to devour the high calorie remains.

Josie's second day at the store, and final work day of this week, went much better for her than the first. She will still be working at the Production Center as her main base of operations for this season. That means that she will be working at the Production Center entirely during holiday periods.

Now for the glitch. Our regulations for the Resort contain descriptions of site additions, rules for those, and generally, what is allowed and what needs approval from management. We have been sailing along with our site improvements and have followed the guidelines to the letter - except for one aspect of our additions. We purchased the second gazebo and began installation prior to gaining approval for the second one. That's a no-no. I received a call from the office informing me that the second gazebo was not approved because the rules do not allow it. What? The rules specifically state that only one car-canopy was permitted, but no mention was made of a restriction on the number of gazebos. I went to the office with rules and regulations in hand and respectfully asked them to show me where the rules limit the number of gazebos. They couldn't, and they admitted and agreed that the rules did not specify only one gazebo was permitted, but I agreed to remove one in the spirit of the rules that required me to obtain prior approval, which I did not. We submitted our request for the second one on the same day I began installation.

The management is attempting to truly create a Resort environment here, and they are strictly enforcing guidelines to try to get control of the poor management decisions of the past. We feel that the new approach is healthy for the Resort, and totally support them. We will take down the smaller of the gazebos and return it to Home Depot today. We will then continue with our improvements and additions with some modifications. I did get the pavers laid for the grill yesterday:

and the grill fits nicely on the new "patio":

Josie and I are probably going to carry those pavers over to the front steps of the fifth wheel, but that is not finalized.

We also received delivery of our new carpet for the larger gazebo which we are keeping:

The second carpet from the gazebo we are returning will be still be used for our planned eating area. Stay tuned for changes that will be made today as Josie is off from work and we hope to finish this phase of our additions by the time she returns to work on Monday..