Monster Board!

The good news is that my deck boards are about 3/4 done!

Onto the challenge of the night...What I call, Monster Board! Whitney came over to help me put on deck boards and, per normal, there was a board that was bowed at the ends. It didn't look any more drastic than some of the ones that Rachel helped me put on over the weekend. We screwed in the first 3 joists and then decided to move to the end to get it in place. We pushed and tugged. Not close enough. We went back and screwed in the other boards to pull it closer, but no matter what we did it would not budge the last little amount we needed. Why was this board so difficult to move? Here's a look at the end of it

Our theory is that this board is from the dead center of a tree, which made it very strong. See how the rings are pretty symmetrical and the circle is right in the middle of the board. There is no cup or umbrella to be seen (see last post if this confuses you). We got it on though (keep reading for details)! The board is a little short, but so are the subsequent boards, so it doesn't look bad, and it's long enough for the screws to secure it well. Besides, as Whitney pointed out, you won't really be able to see that when the railings are up.

This blog post is also about how amazing my neighbors are! Whitney has been a great help on this deck throughout the whole building process. The neighbor whose backyard butts up to mine is also super cool. In addition to just being really nice and encouraging about the deck process (all of which he's had a great spot to witness) when Monster Board was refusing to budge and he happened to come outside with his dogs (one of whom loves to bark at other dogs, people... well, anything that moves) Rick came to our rescue when we asked for some help. He hopped the fence despite my dog trying to protect his territory by barking, jumping, and nipping (not to hurt, but to warn)... I should add, my dog normally LOVES Rick, and he got over his protectiveness quickly and apologized by pushing his head under Rick's hand. Anyway, we used my leg power AND his arm strength to get Monster Board in much better alignment. It was crazy, but my neighbors are the best. Oh, and Whitney is coming back to finish them tomorrow and Rick has offered to help again if we run into problem. See... The.Best. Period.

BTW - I may or may not be finishing this post on my laptop while on my deck (ok. I'll admit... I definitely am!)