The Deck

Our backyard is 52 feet wide and 25 feet deep. If you don't want to cut grass you soon realize you have to fill the space with something! Our deck is 20 feet wide and 22 feet deep, roughly half the yard.
My Dad drove up on a Thursday in late June with his truck and trailer full of white cedar boards. All of this wood had been harvested during the winter from his own woodlot and cut on his portable sawmill in the spring.
We started unloading and staining the boards in the early afternoon. As the kids came home from school, they joined the staining assembly line and half a dozen of their friends tagged along for the fun. By 7pm we had stained every board at least once and paid off the workers with ice cream!
Jeff took friday off and he and Dad finished leveling the deck blocks on patio stones and started constructing. They weathered some dark clouds and worked through a measuring conundrum but everything was finished and cleaned up by Saturday afternoon and Dad took off home early!
In addition to decreasing the use of the lawnmower, the size of the deck eliminated the two and a half foot altitude drop from the back door to the back of the property! We now had a level, 400 square foot, outdoor living/dining

room.
We use the deck almost every day. It's wonderful just to sit outside in the

morning before work and relax with a cup of tea before the mayhem begins.