Just a little update on my PWRL file

[wroughtn_harv]

Post-Wife-Retirement-Life file is my new role as the post-artist. Artist of course being the person who does for the doing because they have a significant other with a real job. My wife retired the 23rd of June.

One of the misconceptions about retirement is one becomes more busy doing things after retirement. I've found this not to necessarily be the case. In our situation it's became more-busy-finding-stuff-to-keep-me-busy.

One of the things my wife has wanted for some time was a shade over the deck. The first cardinal rule of site selection for a home in Texas or one of the satellite states in the south or west is the patio never ever faces the west. We adhered to that principle when we bought our home.

However, even with the trees and the roofline providing some protection from the sun we still found the sun's rays oppressing summer to early fall in the back on the deck. My wife suggested that she'd be happy with something as simple as a steel frame and a landscape shade cloth if that was all I could do.

So I came up with a plan. Due to circumstances involving a few mistakes by me and even more by others we'd came into possession of some cedar lumber suitable for an arbor.

One of the things I never understood completely was the placing of two by two on the top of an arbor. It always seemed to me that cutting the boards just right would allow one to louver the top allowing good early morning sun while giving more protection against the abusive afternoon furnace.

Attached is some photos of ripping two by fours and staining them. I found out setting my worm drive at thirty degrees and aligning the base far left ridge with the edge of the two by four gave me two boards cut the same.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Yesterday two friends, well one friend and one adopted son, aka "too tall", came by and in less than three hours we had a sixteen by sixteen foot shade over the deck.

I haven't finished the plates that will provide the finished touch and the strength I want to the beams and roof attachment. What we did was find the rafters where they sat on the top plate. To these we laid down flashing up under the shingles and two by six treated boards. Then we attached some four by cedar blocks to hold the rough cut Douglas Fir four by eight beams. On top of the beams we placed sixteen foot two by sixs tail cut and then the custom cut two bys I'd made earlier. Everything was previously stained and all the fasteners are stainless. Seeing cedar tear makes me cry.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

The other day while down at the yard doing some work I heard Doser (my wife's Xmas present, Dachsund puppy) raising heck at a pile of stuff, bricks, junk, pallet or two.

He was acting really nervous about whatever was in there so I figured it was a snake, probably one of our chicken/rat snakes that get some people all nervousified sometimes.

After getting everything but Doser in the truck I went over to see what he was all in a tizzy about. As I approached I heard "r-r-r-r-r-r-rrrrrrr-tishhhhhh!" He'd found the latest nest of the ferral cat that I feed scraps to on occasion.

Digging down into the pile I found three kittens, a calico, a grey tabby, and a yellow tabby. I grabbed the yellow tabby and didn't get et, not a bite or scratch one. I'd guess they'd just got their eyes open.

Yellow tabby came home, believe he's a fella but he's as affectionate as a gal, with me. I named him "Chewie" for chewie toy since Doser seems to think he's his.

The first lesson Chewie had to learn is proper napping.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Chewie is coming right along. In the last three days he's graduated from a kitten bottle with kitten formula (Walmart, go figure) to where he's eating out of a bowl, kitten formula.

One of the issues is getting a kitten's bowels to move. We ain't doing it the way mama cat does. However, Doser does the mama cat imitation just fine, with relish even.

Yesterday Doser and me made a run to town and when we got back he beat me through the door and straight back to the kitten to make sure he was okay I guess.

They are a pair to draw to, and us'ns make four.

 

[jinman]

Harvey, thats a beautiful arbor you and Glenda put together. One day when I get it figger'd out, I'm going to build something on our west-side deck to provide some shade. Right now it's not too bad because we can just go down under the deck, but the topside doesn't get used much in the summer. For me, the view was on the west side, so that's the way we turned the house. Having a shade tree also helps.

Your arbor looks really nice. I think you and Glenda are gonna love it. Did you use flashing on the roof pads? It looks like you just lifted the edge of the composition roofing and put the pad beneath. I didn't see any metal flashing, but there weren't any real closeups so I couldn't tell. Do the louvered cuts seem to do what you wanted?

 

[Knight9]

Looks great Harvey. I'm with Jim though...I'd love to see a close up and have a more detailed explanation of the roof attachment. I gather your deck is "U" shaped? You have two sides supported by the roof?

I too have a "too hot" deck and would like to put an arbor or pergola over 1/2 of it, but haven't figured out the best way to do that. My house is "L" shaped around the rectangular deck. So I am considering a completely unattached pergola with posts that go through the deck to their own piles.

 

[texasjohn]

Great awning! Helpful wife! Cute kitty! Restful nap! Enjoyed the post

 

[EddieWalker]

Harvey,

I like the angle cut on top. Not only will it give you better shade, but it will shed water allot better then a flat top.

What did you stain the cedar with? It's a very nice color. I like it allot!!!!

Any pics of the whole thing?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[txdon]

The best type of retirement is when you retire BEFORE your wife.
I am STILL playing catch up on "PROJECTS".

That is really neat that Doser has a cat he can call his own.
Country life has brought us Gray2 (a dumped cat) but has taken Gray1. He just disappeared in the middle of the night - not hide nor hair could be found (never thought I have a use for that phase).

Timely arbor post Harvey. I am at the point of putting some kind of cover on my 24X12 deck. I like the way you cut the 2x4s. Since I broke the cardinal rule (it's in the middle of the field with trees on the east side only) I have to come up with something special to block the west sun, like a low, long overhang - next month. I don't work in August, it's a retirement thing.

 

[Bird]

One of the issues is getting a kitten's bowels to move. We ain't doing it the way mama cat does.

Yep, that would be going a bit beyond the call of duty.

Now your arbor "looks" beautiful, and of course it'll provide some shade, but this is the first project I've seen of yours that I wouldn't want. I've bought two new homes in my life that had arbor type shade over the patio and I changed both of them because I want both shade and rain protection on the patio. Of course, as I'm sure you know, neither of the ones I bought had arbors anywhere near as fancy and pretty as yours.