Tuesday, May 3, 2011

A job for the dogs

What's up with this?

Loaded up some of my tools.

Almost ready to leave.
So what's up with these photos you ask?  Well, two blogs back I talked about how I was changing out my RV storage wooden gates for custom made, powder coated, steel gates.  Well, my good friend was in the market for a custom made dog pen. It was to be built in his back yard.  One of his daughters has two dogs....big dogs....and the family felt a pen would help contain them during the day....and keep them from destroying the lawn and plants in the yard.

The house....with the dogs....and a family too.

Custom made wheelbarrow ramp.

Some of the work crew......!!!!!....and one observer!!!!  Emma, Mike & Al.
This all happened last Saturday when Mike, Rick, Emma, Kalen, and I put shovels to dirt, dug deep, mixed and poured cement to solidify the steel posts, and leveled everything with a string line and level.

Even the house cat looked in on the activities.

Posts are in the dirt, lined up and leveled.

Cement fills each post hole.

We were able to complete the leveling and cementing of all posts before lunch.  After lunch we were able to attach the required hardware and continue working on the dog pound  project.  Using quick drying post cement really speeds up the work.  Sure beats the days of old when cement had to dry and cure for 24 hours before continuing to work.
Kalen, the youngest male of this crew, did a nice job digging holes and hauling the wheelbarrows - filled with dirt - up the ramp and onto the front driveway.  Not to be outdone, Emma showed her strength too.  She hauled the wheelbarrow up the ramp a few times too......and there was dirt in the bucket!Way to go!!!
It's all coming together.

Sufficiently cured concrete made the installation of the gate possible on the same day.

Rick, the home owner, is busy with the rake once the 4X4 pressure treated ties were placed.  Mike is removing sod to prepare for some landscaping cloth before moving crushed rock in place.
Mike keeps focused on the job.
Rick tries his hand at pounding the 16" re-bar through the landscape ties.  Mike gives directions on how to pound the stakes in....and Kalen observes.  Pretty good work crew!  One worker.....two observers!
With the major work accomplished, all that remains now is to install the remaining hardware, roll out the powder coated black wire fencing material, bolt it all together and the family will have a much needed dog kennel.  That will happen on another day.
Not sure what Rick is up to here....but maybe he decided to pull weeds.

With a bunch of dirt moved from the back yard to the front driveway, it was now time to wheel that stuff away,  That's what Kalen and Emma were up to here.

Almost done with moving the dirt.

Only thing left to do is to unload the crushed rock from my utility trailer.
With that done, we hurried in to the house, turned on the TV, enjoyed a wee dram as we watched the opening period of Saturday's NHL Hockey game - Vancouver Canucks  v. Nashville Predators.
So, that's how I spent my Saturday.  Thanks for dropping by.



 



2 comments:

  1. a productive day..and what a great big 'help' you are!!..very nice!!
    go Canucks go!!

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  2. Pretty skookum looking dog kennel, looking forward to seeing it all finished! You seem to have mastered the art of fence posts in cement.

    Nothing like having lots of help on projects like these.

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