My Backyard: May 2013

Mostly, just Birds

Lots and lots of bird pictures today. I have them on the feeder, on a pole, on the ground and even in a tree.

At the Feeder

On a Post

On the Ground

In a Tree

Here is our new landscaping project. You can see the difference between when the house was first built and now. Wow, the paint has faded!

And here's my attempt at catching the birds in action. Needs some serious improvement. Too many little buttons on the camera to choose from.

These would have been pretty cool if they had been focused.

We Built our own Floating Dock

We had that old crane span pulled out a few months back that was set across the pond to be used as a bridge. The thing was rusted and about to fall in on one end anyway. We needed a new solution. So we decided to build our own floating dock.

I'll try to give you the basic instructions of what we did and what was used to build this dock.

It's made from all pressure treated lumber and the finished size is 10x10'. It's held together with galvanized screws. Mike paid $5 for each of the six barrels that he got from work. Two were missing the small lids on top so we had to improvise. I found an old pickle jar lid and an old frosting can lid. With the use of mass quantities of silicone we sealed all the lids tight.

The basic frame is made from 2x6 wood with all the smaller cross pieces being 2x4's. The ramp is made solely with 2x4's and all the decking are 1x6's.

Here's the basic frame. 2x6 boards form the outer square and one down the middle.

We set the barrels in to measure where to set the next cross boards so that they wouldn't be floating up

against the deck.

Here it is with all six barrels set.

And now we add more 2x4's for support.

We wrapped some really good marine rope around the barrels and secured them with some extra brackets Mike had lying around.

Have to make sure it's good and tight.

We placed L brackets on each outside corner for more support.

And now for the launch....

Okay, good, it floats! We were afraid that the two of us wouldn't be strong enough to slide this into the water. There's about a 3 foot drop right now over the edge, but she slid right in.

Mike drilling in the planks.

Me and Dusty supervising.....

Here's the basic frame for the ramp, made from all 2x4's and then planked.

So we set the walkway on the dock, ran some rope to the other end and we floated it to the other side.

Here's Mike reeling me in.

There she is... pretty solid, too.

Still have some work to do. We'll need to find a way to secure that ramp. We may end up getting another barrel and floating one end.

Mike fell in. We need a to add a swim ladder. Anybody got one laying around that we could use?

Oh, and another thing....
We plan to name her like a boat. Any ideas?

Birds and Chips

I'm getting back to my roots, taking pictures of birds on the feeder. We dumped out a bunch of old bread and stale chips. I'll start with a short series I call "Birds and Chips."