Mike and I spent the day assembling the box for the bed alongside the house, approximately eight feet by fifteen feet. Mike brought up his circular saw and told me he could cut the posts to any length. The perfectionist in me asked for a length of fifteen feet six inches. That length left just enough room to set the water trough in the remaining length of the side of the house, and leave a comfortable walkway around it. I held up one end of the sixteen by four while Mike cut six inches off with the circular saw.
I dug into the ground near the house at the highest level of the slope and laid brick pieces at the corners and the back seams. The sides of the box are level without coming out noticeably at the edge of the lawn, sloping down eight feet from the house.
As with the other boxes Mike undertook to countersink the lag bolts at the corners. Best of all he found a guide that could be clamped onto the end of a twelve by four, and used to drill down at a 45 degree angle. The lag bolts were driven in at that angle and countersunk to join the staggered pieces at the back of the box. Neat and clean.
Meanwhile I cut lengths of the pink vinyl edging to finish off the area where the water trough will sit. MJ wanted to sink the trough, but I reached hard pan within an inch or two of the ground surface and was unwilling to rent a jack hammer. Even through the upper slope is dug in to that level, the trough comes off the ground at the down slope. My solution is to box in the area and to add stones. In tribute to Jerry I been collecting filler stones from around the property to complete this project.
I left Mike to join the Wine Club at the Lone Wolf. I brought a bottle of the 2016 Tempranillo that was our latest vintage. Lammert enters our wines into an amateur competition, and he believes the 2016 Tempranillo will receive a superior rating.
A Year at the Snake 