Summer Half Way

If feels like I just finished work for the summer yesterday.  I don’t know where the summer has gone.  It has been a busy summer so far.  We built a new dock this one happens to float.  It turned out nicely.  Jesse worked up all the plans in Solid Works which is just amazing.  With those plans, we had exactly what we needed for not only lumber, but down to the very last screw.  How many of you can say that about your building projects.  Anyway we took a day to build the frames, and then I spend a couple days digging out the foundation for where it anchors into the shoreline.  Then a few 55 gallon blue plastic drums and some decking we had some floating docks.  We bought some galvanized pipes and with some help from Greg at work we were able to get some augers installed on the ends of them that just burrowed their way down into the lake bottom.  It was really amazing how well they screwed in.  With some mounting hardware they were attached to the dock and now we have a secure floating dock.  All thats left for that project is figuring out what to do when winter comes.  Do we pull it out, or let it deal with the harsh effects of thick lake ice?

The other big project of the spring was a new roof for our house.  We decided to put a metal roof on instead of shingles in hopes that the snow will shed during the winter which should prevent those pesky ice damns.  Also there is the hope that it will last longer than a shingled roof.  Either way with the help of Glenn, Jim, and Jesse we were able to remove all the old shingles, and tear off the flat portion of the roof.  After a lot of figuring, and plenty of lumber we were able to create a new sloped roof line over the gutted existing flat roof.  With all that taken care of and a fresh layer of ice guard, and tar paper laid down we began the process of putting on the new metal.  Our roof is so funky we ended up with nine different lengths of metal.  It was a bit of a process, but the roof is now covered and keeping the water out.  We still need to do some trim work to really finish things off, but we have been so busy, that hasn’t happened yet.

Besides all the changes around the house, Erin has been working on her Masters and doing an amazing job of juggling that along with everything else in her life.  I don’t know how she does it so gracefully.  We have been enjoying the summer and have been out on the motorcycle and the sail boat.  It sure is nice to get out in the fresh air.

I have also been working on getting my private pilots license.  It has been fun learning to fly with my dad who has license to be a certified flight instructor (CFI).  We have been using a friends airplane for the lessons and it really has been amazing.  It is fun to get up and see this land from the air.  Looking over lake vermilion and the surroundings I drive through on a daily basis is really cool.  If you’d like to keep up with my flight training you can follow that over on www.iflymn.com.

Erin and I are about to head down to the cities this weekend for a Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concert at Target Field.  We are really looking forward to not only the concert, but also getting to spend some time together.  It seems like we have been going non stop for the last few weeks.  Crazy how summer can be like that.

I hope you all are having a nice summer.  If you have to work, I hope you get the opportunity to relax and enjoy the warm weather.  Take some time to relax with the ones you love and don’t let time fly by as it can so easily do.