Sukkah - New and Improved!

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It is Sukkot again! I love Sukkot and am looking forward to when everyone else loves it too, so we don't celebrate alone.

This is our third year building a sukkah. If you remember last year, the kit we put together that we hoped would be reusable for several years proved us wrong.

So we were really glad to have some 4 by 4 treated posts I'd bought in hopes of building a back porch a year or so ago, but have just been decorating the side of the house since then. So we changed out the silly little scrap wood corner posts for something substantial.

Here's the first wall we put together; the back wall.





The 4 by 4 posts made each upright corner, and we reused the 1 by 4 pine for the horizontal pieces. The broken boards were reincarnated as cross supports. And the whole thing was screwed together using an L-square to make sure it wasn't catty-whampus.





With only two people, getting these things up and screwed together always reminds me of Laurel and Hardy movies. But there is no way to do it, but to just jump in. So the next thing we did was use that wall (all the walls are 8 by 8 feet square) as a template to get all four corners level. You can see the little scraps we stuck under there to level it out.





Then a side wall was assembled and readied to be hoisted up and screwed to the post very quickly.





Not an easy thing to do. One person has to hold up one wall. Another person has to hold up another wall. Another person has to line it up and hold it. And a fourth person has to be in position to screw it together. With only two people I can't tell you how we accomplished it, only that it hurt, and it's possible one of my arms is still laying out there in the grass.

But it was up. Make sure, if you do something like this, that you stabilize and support those horizontal boards well, so they are not flopping around while you are trying to fasten the whole thing.

Also, you can see a board leaning up against the post. That is being used to support the wall to keep it from alling that way, which was the direction it was inclined to go. We put in the post a temporary screw and tucked that board underneath it. You could actually do that on both sides.

I won't admit that I didn't think of that while we were out there.





Once the two walls are up, the third wall is much easier, and the fourth wall is a breeze to connect.





We did not finish it in time for Sukkot, but had to leave to go do a job. We were back at it the next morning though.

We brought down the fabric we've used every year





and laid it out to staple up.





Well, some of us were working. Apparently some of us were supervising.





So I went and brewed some iced tea. After all, we were supposed to be relaxing by now.





OK... Good.... still relaxing...





And we began putting up the fabric. It was a beautiful day! Sunny and warm, with big puffies, and a nice light breeze.





While I finish stapling





Michael makes a twine grid for the roof.









It's getting pretty hot though, so we used twine to make pretty bows. We really liked this effect. You still have walls, but airflow. Precious Oxygen, I love you!









Neighbor is busy. Looks lovely.





Boy, you turn around for a minute...





Going on the third day now.

We made a trip up for cedar bows.





And tossed 'em up!





Making slight adjustments from the interior.





I love Sukkahs!





Fixed up the front and it was time to enjoy.





And then the rain came in and we've been waiting to get out there and enjoy it.

We love rain and we love when the skies clear.

It's all good.

~Faith

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Them Are Some Big Rats!

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That's what I was thinking at 4 am yesterday morning as I heard scuttling in the walls and could even FEEL the vibrations from them.

However, as the sun rose, I was relieved, sort of, to find this:





The weight of all the rainwater this week finally pulled the sukkah over onto the house, where it slowly slid down into this sorry pile you see now.

Lesson learned, either invest in building sukkah a lot sturdier, or don't try to put one up if the weather is going to be bad. We had not gotten much time in it anyway, so I was a little disappointed. But the sun came out as we were working so we spread all the fabric out to dry.





Here is the Autumn color beginning to be more noticeable lately. It feels so Autumn-like this week!





A new victim has fallen prey to our wild and keeeeeeeeerazy group of sewing and dance aficionados. She is a natural dancer!





Dorcas, dressed again for the occasion.





Having taken up a new sport this year, we've added a second model to our racing fleet.

The first model is still in use at the other dental track, but is the handle and no-wheels type.





THIS baby really flies!





And we get multi-level tracks, because this place is huge! Elevator up!





I think all places everywhere should have charming nooks about every 75 feet, don't you? After cleaning that office last week, I took the time to take a few photos in the area where it sits. Here is an alleyway. I love when old downtowns are renovated.





Early Sunday mornings are a prime time to go on a photo hunt.









We began our day yesterday with the tornado-inspired sukkah cave in, and we ended the day with getting in the car at nearly 11 pm, only to find our oil light suddenly screaming at us, "CODE RED! CODE RED!"

Bummer, can we make it to Walmart?

No, the car is overheating right now. Drat! That means we have to stop at a convenience station to check the oil. Sure enough, almost to the end of the dipstick.

Can we make it to Walmart?

Better not risk the engine... Taking the quart up to the register, the girl with tattoos and chewing gum rings it up and emits a half choke - half giggle.

"What?" I say.

"That's what you pay for convenience." $4.98

Remind me, today I need to add oil into the van from our stash here at home.

~Faith

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It's Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

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I tell you what, I really needed a break, so I took a vacation from a lot of things, including blogging.

Once the spring and summer adrenaline rush was passed, and I slowed down a little, it got to where I felt like I was in molasses and needed to rest. Autumn has arrived just in time.

Our adventures lately included not getting any income from my missing husband at all. Last I heard there is a warrant out for his arrest until he comes up with the money he owed. So life has been a bit tougher financially. Wouldn't you know, my big car insurance bill came due. Anyhow, we have received help from our church family, and we have found another temporary cleaning job to get us through this crisis. But it's been a bit exhausting for both of us. We really needed some time off, and I'm trying to hold back on the things we are doing so I don't end up in a padded room.

We had to repair our electric fence, which meant a new battery and charger unit. Ouch!

We got to spend some time ministering to others. I'll try to get to sharing some of those pics. They make me smile!

Here is another view of our Autumn skies. I love blue with big puffies.





On Friday we drug out the framing for our sukkah and put it together.

















Sukkah means portable dwelling, in Hebrew. We built one as part of our learning in history and taking part in Sukkot, one of the Lord's festivals.

Getting ready to staple the fabric to the sides.





And here is the main part all done. We have yet to put the pine bows across the top, where we strung rope across to hold them.





Sadly, all week is to be cool and showery. Not much fun for an outdoor, week-long celebration with friends, which is what Sukkot is supposed to be.









Who IS that masked man?

~Faith

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October 23, 2008 ~ Back Porch Goes Up and Sukkah Comes Down

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The following day was the end of the Feast of Trumpets, so we took our sukkah down. We really loved it. It was also windy, so capturing the fabric to fold it was a challenge.




We took took the boards apart for storage and to be reassembled for the next time.






Then we got back to work on the porch. We had already dug out the holes some weeks before. The ground was so hard to dig that we sometimes just dug a few holes a day. But one they were done, we laid sand in the bottoms to give a flat place to set the pavers that would support the posts.



Here you can see where we changed the plan on the fly. It was going to be so hard to affix the ledger board to a wall that was falling apart anyhow, I just wanted the whole thing to be freestanding. You see, when the crew laid the foundation, they didn't bother to do it according to the frost line. So as the ground freezes and thaws, the wall cracks and breaks apart. It's just decorative, but it looks awful and is not going to get any better. Sadly, this is a common problem in this part of the country. Many construction crews are not the best.

We leveled the gravel and put large stones under each post near the house. Ideally, I would have buried those posts as well, but I have a french drain directly underneath them, so that was not going to work out.



Here we are setting the perimeter posts, getting the whole thing square and level. You just keep moving them up and down, back and forth, until it's right. It can be tedious, but anyone can do it. Level is easier for me than making it square. I've always been less than adept at getting building frames square and I get peeved over it sometimes. LOL But to level, just affix the end that is the correct height to the post with only one screw. Then you can raise or lower the far end until your level reads correctly with the bubble between the two center lines.



It's late, but we got the joists up and level! Well, with one caveat... We actually put a slight slope downward as the porch goes away from the house wall. You can't notice it really, but it's enough that rain will run away from the house.



Beautiful!



And then we had to lay some boards across the top to pretend we could walk out of the house and use a porch for the first time in 4 years!



Another great day of fun, and getting goals accomplished!

Faith
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