No rest for the weary

Awhile back I was telling you that I had taken out my hot tub from an elevated deck and replaced the 8 foot x 8 foot hole with Trex decking. I then put up a 12’ x 12’ gazebo over that area making it a covered outdoor “room” for our limited summer season.

It took a weekend to demo the hot tub, disconnect all of the wiring, tubes, motors, and covering to be able to get the weight down enough for three of us to lift it up out of the hole in the deck. The tub was recessed into the deck about eight to ten feet off the ground. It took about two hours to lift the tub clear of the deck when we took it out. The hot tub sat on my deck for about 5 days before my next door neighbor told me she wanted it and would get her father to make a flat patio and install it for her. He was an electrician so it should not be too bad for him to get the job done. It has been moved over to her yard now for over two months with no work or progress. I can still see it but it looks like a giant oversize feeding trough.

We finished the installation of the new floor joists and decking that first weekend and it took a few weeks before we found the 12 foot x 12 foot gazebo on sale at our local Fred Meyer (Kroger). That weekend Charlie and I put up the gazebo and it went up much quicker than my last one. I am not sure if knowing what to expect this time or having additional help but it was only a couple hours work until things looked nice with added Chinese lanterns hung around the top. I’m not sure why exactly as the Alaskan summers are full light so no lantern is needed but maybe as we darken up heading towards fall they may be useful.

Next was moving the different deck chairs around for this new useable area and the addition of a fire pit table (also discontinued & on sale Fred Meyer). It is cheaper for the stores here to deep discount items almost giving them away than to ship it back Outside to the Lower 48.

A few weeks work, a little ingenuity and there is a nice place to read a book, watch the eagle’s overhead, or the occasional thunderstorm in the distance. Lessons learned from previous gazebos are getting the top off before the first snowfall as the weight of even a light snowfall will crush the top in a matter of minutes. I figured a few years ago I would wait out the first couple of snows hoping to get a few extra days use but a quick 8 inches dumped on us destroying the tarp I had put on and the structure itself. I do not want to do that again so I will pull the top off early in September so I do not have any damage.

Next up is adding a couple of electrical outlets so we can plug in a television or radio if needed and for the lights. All I need to make this a true Alaskan fixture is a little duct tape to hold it all together.

Ice