From: Zach
   Sent: SAT 20 MAY 2006
     To: Deck Crew
Subject: 2006 New Deck/Ramp

Weekend One 29/30 APR: Saturday Morning, bright and early, Rob and I, started the destruction of the old deck and around 10AM Rick, Paul, Laviece, and Rachel all arrived and we all started on the new deck/ramp.  Also, I did not get a picture of it but just after taking the shot of Paul and Rob screwing down the planks on the top deck, little Rachel came out and handed screws to 'Grand-Paulie'.  Additionally Laviece and I officially, together put up the very first railing post.  So everyone was involved. That night Rob and I spent the night and got an early start. 

On Sunday morning Rob and I got the skeleton of the rest of the ramps up and at the end of the weekend we were making the final saw cut using flashlights. We did get enough of the deck done to make the ramp usable. The last picture in this group was just before we started serious 'planking'. 

Weekend Two 06 MAY: John and I converged on Mount Olive about 10AM from Morehead City and Charlotte.  We got in a good days work and managed to complete all the deck posts, we added about 16 posts and 60 feet of railings.  Some of the bottom railings and all of the pickets are still left to do.  Next weekend is the wedding so I'll not be able to get back to MO till the weekend of the 20th.  The stairs are usable and there is top railing all around.

Weekend Three 20 MAY: Rob and I headed out to MO this morning arriving a bit after 10AM.  By 2PM when Gwin returned from the library we had all the pickets up.  Additionally Gwin had stopped by the Woodman of the World building where they were having a Bar-B-Q sale and picked up three Bar-B-Q plates for lunch.  After lunch feeling refreshed Rob and I went back to work cleaning up the work site.  Rob reinforced another of the steps and we moved the excess wood and hardware to the garage. 

We also found, in the garage, the wood that Laviece had spoken about and I think the combination of that pile and the stuff left over from the front deck/ramp is going to be enough to build the back porch deck.  I told Gwin that the back deck would probably a late summer early fall project when the weather got a bit cooler. 

Gwin and Rob had a grand conversation about "The DaVinci Code". Gwin and I had another conversation about how humans came to loose their ability to communicate non verbally, this topic was connected with the recent New Yorker article about the "Dog Whisperer" and an earlier story I read somewhere about how dogs became domesticated and young woman who had autism and has written a book about how to interact with animals.

Zach