The dingo that didn't eat any babies

Over Memorial Day weekend, my trusty assistant Jose and I officially dug into our deck project (pun intended). As with most projects in the mountains it was quite a process, but we had fun as we always do.

The first step, after determining the layout, was digging some big ass holes for the foundation of the deck. We thought about hiring this part out, but since we can't even afford the materials, we decided to save a few bucks and do it ourselves, which meant a lot of driving. The week before Memorial weekend, the cabin saw three feet of snow (you read that right) so it was anyone's guess if the ground was dry enough to dig the holes, so we drove up there Friday to investigate. It was indeed dry enough, so we hopped back in the car and drove all the way past Vail, which was the closest place to get the equipment we needed. That is about an hour and ten minute drive from the cabin. The equipment is named the dingo, which is about the cutest name I can think of for heavy machinery. 


Once we got back to the cabin, we took the dingo for a spin and had a few drinks to celebrate him not eating the baby. The next morning we woke up bright and early for some pre-construction pancakes then got to work. We only had the dingo for 24 hours so we did not waste any time, which meant no snack breaks. We had 20 holes to dig, some were easier than others, but for the most part things went pretty darn smooth. Jose gave himself the fun job riding the dingo and drilling, and gave me a job that is fit only for a convict, using my least favorite tool (a post hole digger) to remove the loose stuff. My arms still hurt, that post hole digger is a real B word. 


It took us basically all day to finish the holes, but I made sure we wrapped up in time for me to take the dingo for a spin up up and down the driveway. It was a lot of fun to ride! 

Next up was returning the dingo to the Home Depot. This time I opted to break up the ride, so we stopped for a drink in vail, then appetizers in Breck, and topped it off with a few pops at the local saloon in Alma. We had to celebrate not breaking ourselves or the house and all.

our neighbor Willey came over to assist



So here is the breakdown of the first of many deck projects.

Duration: about 14 hours if you factor in the 6 hours of driving to pick up and return the dingo

Cost: $450 for the rental 

Lessons learned: The only thing I would have done differently, would have been to pick up the dingo en route, but unfortunately we were unsure of the ground conditions so that was not an option. But we could have gotten the little guy right on the way from our house had we known. What can ya do, at least now I can say I've been to vail. 







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