Railing going up

I put the rest of the screws in the deck boards like I had planned and drained the battery of one drill halfway through the process. Luckily I had borrowed an extra corded one to complete the job. [Have I mentioned how much my friends rock? Maybe just a few times.] It wasn't quite dark when I finished that, so I decided to go ahead and tackle the railing. I knew I shouldn't need to cut the railing at all for the long side (18ft vs 12ft), so I started there. That involved putting up 3 of the pre-constructed railings. I started at the end closest to the house and lined up the bottom part of the railing with the edge of the 4x4 post. Then I needed to adjust the top part of the 4x4 to match. I only have 2 hands so I wedged my trusty ply-board scraps between the picket and the post.  I would put a screw into the railing part of the way and used my feet to push it flush with the 4x4. Since I had secured the bottom, I used my body weight to lean against the railing when I screwed in the top. On the other side of this railing, the top 2x4 wasn't completely straight and I couldn't just push it flush so I grabbed my vise anyway and fixed that problem. I have a new-found love for my vise, which was a hand-me-down gift.

Anyway today is my day off and I have a little time to get up the last 2 railings, so I'm going to go for it. Hopefully that will result in a new blog post today or tomorrow!