10.25.2022

Jim did a little tweaking on the package drop box frame... 

He got about half of the joints welded today - there are so many!  But it's all one piece now...

Kyle bought an electric rebar bender for a job he was doing and brought it up for Jim to use.  It was very cool to watch!  He's making a hook to help move the car dollies...

Kind of hard to see the hook on top of the frame, but he has the top hook done - he'll cut the bottom and bend that end over - end result to come!

Yikes - the light rainy weather brought out these weird springtail insects.  It's kind of creepy - they are so small and they jump.  It almost looks like mold - they seem to like the bottom of the garage doors just every once in awhile!

A break in the drizzle allowed us to go down and take apart the post forms...

Starting to unwrap the cardboard tube...

It looks amazing!

Jim used the rest of his time to do a little moving in the lean to - pictures to come!

High 66.3/Low 57 - drizzly

10.24.2022

Jim continued doing the millwork on the bottom frame of the package drop box... 

By milling out a small amount from the top, the support bars slide underneath so Jim can make a cleaner weld...

Really coming together!

It was a light drizzle kind of afternoon, so Jim spent time starting to hang tools up and bring things into the lean to...

At the end of the afternoon, we walked down to the post to do a reveal...

Looks great!

We just did a little bit to see how the tube would come off...

High 58.9/Low 48.7 - drizzle

10.23.2022

Jim did some shop and clean up work this morning, including getting things all set up for our last concrete work of the year - pouring the post for the package drop box.  This afternoon, we got to work - getting the pumpkin all hooked up to the Bobcat...

Starting to make concrete...

Pouring it into the box...

Jim figured he would only need 3 bags, but since we had to make it up on top of the hill and carry it down to the bottom of the driveway, he erred on the side of caution and used 4 bags.

Dumping out the second batch...

Cleaning up the pumpkin...

An inside look before...

Checking the fit of the upper rebar frame into the lower rebar...

They mate together just the way he wanted...

Jim had brought down the bucket filled with the generator and other tools.  Then he started filling up the tube with shovelfuls of concrete...

Vibrating the concrete...

Putting the upper frame in...

One last vibrate...

Smoothing the top a bit...

Then it was time to make trips up and down the hill, bringing the bucket of tools and equipment up first, then going back down to get the concrete box and those tools.  He brought the box with the extra concrete up and cleaned it out on the upper driveway...

Then it was cleanup time and time to put all the tools and equipment away.

Then he went back down to the post, took off the wood spacers, did a bit more smoothing of the top...

He draped plastic over the top because there is some rain in the forecast...

I didn't get a picture but the sealer on the concrete floor of the lean to came out great!

High 62.3/Low 37.5

10.22.2022

This was a picture perfect fall day - got into the mid-60s with lots of sunshine.  Mom and I had some grocery store errands to do and we picked up another bag of concrete at Home Depot.  Actually, picking it up is a misnomer - I sat in the car like a princess and some guy brought it out and put it in my car.  

Jim got the curb off the front of the lean to this morning...

Then he got the concrete saw out and cut the last remaining bit that he couldn't get to with the curb in place...

Pouring the concrete curing agent/sealer into the sprayer...

Starting to apply...

All sealed!

Then lots of clean up...

Jim built some forms to hold the concrete tube into place both at the top and bottom...

Then we went down to the end of the driveway and Jim staked the frame into place...

Checking out how plumb it is...

He wanted to straighten it just a bit so he used the trusty Bobcat...

Putting the tube on and leveling it...

Bracing the top frame into place...

Jim moved the cars around - all four vehicles are now under cover!

High 67.4/Low 32.3 - beautiful!