Gravel, a nice parking area and more rails

Here are the feather boards that Len cleverly has placed to cut out the right amount from the upper and lower rails .

 Here is a view looking West along the rail with the posts and top rail in place.

 Friday was spent getting ready for  Ross and the gravel guys to come on Saturday.  We want the parking area to have better drainage and more gravel for the winter and so next spring we aren't up to our ankles in muck.

The first thing was to move all the house strapping strips which were in a pile next to the house.  

This is where all the wood strips were - now a pile of top soil

We loaded them on to the truck and moved them across the yard

Stacking them on the "hill"

All covered up and ready for the winter

The next thing to move was all the left over stone from the fire place.  

The hand cart helped, but it was still heavy

It's new home on the "hill"

Then bright and early Saturday, Ross came with his bobcat and started leveling and moving dirt.  He carved off a bit of the hill and moved top soil.

Ross moving top soil where the pile of strips used to be

2 loads of gravel/sand were dumped

Lots of gravel to move

Ross got it done in 1.5 hours

Nice and level

Lots of room for parking and turning around

My job was to fill under the front step.  First we took off  2 of the boards and then I shoveled the dirt into the hole.  We Cariboo women are "strong like horse".

Planks removed

There is a drainage pipe from the downspout to our system

Shoveling in the dirt

On Sunday, more railing work was done - almost finished the bottom rails. And I painted all the brown sealant that Len had done earlier.

Screwing in the lower rail

The east rails are complete.  Now pickets!

Brown sealant looks bad

Painted sealant looks better, yes?

A busy weekend with lots of VP!
Cath