Tripod Lamp Project

Heather found a vintage surveyors tripod at local vintage store that we love to shop at called Renovation Home.  She has seen these tripods turned into lamps and called me to see if I could tackle this project...let's give it a try!

 The top of our tripod looks similar to this, there is a round treaded opening to attach some sort of surveyors equipment.  I simply cut a piece of wood to sit in there and hold the lamp.

I then took apart an old lamp to reuse the cord, threaded pipe, socket and bracket.

I cut the wires, threaded the lamp through the tripod, tightened up the locknut and rewired the lamp.

Here is the final project.

 This project was pretty easy to do and I really like the way it looks in the room!

Fishing Trip to the North Woods

Since I was about Trigg's age, my family has gone up to northern Minnesota for a week of fishing in June.  I haven't been up there for probably 10 years and I thought this year Trigg is old enough to go on a fishing adventure!  So we made the 6.5 hour trip up north with my parents and my grandpa to Green Valley Resort outside of Nevis, MN!

First morning on the lake...here we go!

 All the boys loaded up and ready for some fishing

 4 generations in the boat and on the lake.

 Trigg was really excited to ride in the boat and give fishing a try.  Earlier this spring, we created a chore chart and if he unloaded the silverware 10 times, he would earn a shopping trip to find a new fishing pole.  Well, he put away the silverware and diligently checked off each box to earn that fishing pole...

 ...and sure enough, he caught the first fish on the fishing trip with his new pole!

 He was really excited...even when the fish wiggles and flopped around.

 He caught blue gills and crappies like a true fisherman!

 We had great weather and Trigg had fun out on the boat

 Grandma even caught some fish!

 There was plenty to do besides fishing, there was a playground right in front of our cabin that had a fun swing set...Trigg figured out how to swing like Superman...

 "Dad, look...I'm flying!"

 We also took daily trips around the lake on the paddle boats.  Trigg brought his bug net and we were able to catch dragonflies, snail shells and some lily pads...

 We managed to cover most of the lake on that little paddle boat!

 We even found a turtle!

 Hanging out in the cabin was pretty fun too...we made a train track with our Go Fish cards and chugged some trains around the table!

We headed back home on Wednesday and left Grandpa and Great-Grandpa there to do some more fishing.  Grandma made the return trip with us.  3 days of fishing was about the right amount of time, we both were starting to get a little home sick, it helped that we were able to have daily FaceTime chats with Mom and Garrett!  We had a great time in the north woods and are already talking about our fishing trip next year!

Deck Re-Do

This was the spring to tackle the deck project.  The old deck was showing a lot of wear and the steps where too steep and narrow, so it was time for a re-do.  Here is the "before" picture.

 Step 1 - remove the old deck.  It came off fairly easily.  We ended up using a Bagster bag from Waste Management to get rid of the old deck.  We filled the bag, their website was easy to use to schedule a pick up and they hauled it off!  Step 2, pour new footings, we didn't change the foot print of the deck much but I wanted bigger posts, I used 6x6's instead of 4x4's and added one additional post for more strength.

 Step 3 - frame up the new deck and add deck boards

 This step was easier said than done, that 29 foot 2x12 was heavy!

 Step 4 - add deck boards.  We did our deck boards at a 45 degree angle, this took all the wiggle out of the deck.  This also eliminated any seams in the boards.  We needed to run our joists at 12 inches instead of the normal 16 inches...

 ...but I am really pleased at how this turned out.

 Step 5 (or so) - add railings!

 Step 6 - the landing, the stairs and the slide!

 More railings to finish it off and we've got ourselves a deck!

 We moved these big flagstones to line up with the new steps and make a path down to the patio and fire pit.

 We added more pavers around the fire pit and then filled the gaps with river pebble...

And the finished deck!

 And the finished patio/fire pit!

Now we are ready for summer!