The deck

Earlier this year, I stepped through a rotting plank in our deck. I put a planter over the hole and went on with my life. Later that year, a guest at a barbecue stepped on a nail as the wood surrounding it had rotted away. Little harm was done, and we hammered the nail deep into the base. Problem solved. Forever.

Then last week, when James was in town, he decided he'd do a proper job of it. He pulled up the one or two planks that were rotting to replace them with new lumber.



It quickly became clear that we'd have to replace a good chunk of the deck.




Christine won the endurance award for spending hours sanding down the non-rotten planks in preparation for staining. The choking dust from the sander was intense. As was the high pitched whine from the sander that summoned complaining neighbours from more than 5 houses away.


Clara came by, who hadn't seen Christine in years. She was quickly put to work sanding down the railing.


The work went surprisingly quickly, and we managed to stain the deck just before a freak thunderstorm in Vancouver. In the middle of 4 weeks of endless sunshine, 6mm of rain, thunder, and lightning pummeled our freshly stained deck minutes after we had finished painting. The storm was magnificent, and the second coat didn't take all that long.

The new deck is wonderful. James was rewarded for all his hard work with a devestating case of food poisoning, followed by a nasty virus, once again calling in to question the Karma model of the universe.



A great big thank you to James! Isn't it amazing to have friends who build decks for fun on their vacation.