Weekend Project: Pergola - Day 1

We have been saving our credit card points for a rainy day project....or in our case, a sunny day project.  So after years of socking away the points we decided to cash in and build ourselves a pergola.

Pergolas.  Mike has always wanted one.  Plus it's just a fun word to say.

Let me preface this by saying Mike and I may be creative and motivated but we are a far cry from being "handy".  The key to this successful endeavor was recruiting the right friends to help us.  And that we did.  

Day one of the pergola extravaganza began at 8:30am.

The first order of business was to dig really, really deep holes for the posts.  Thankfully with the help of some fellas with very large biceps we busted through these in no time.

Mike and the Colonel mixed the cement by hand.
Tough work.

Sanding and staining.  Hour 1.

Work hard.  Play hard.

With so many people coming and going the gate was left open a couple of times.  Ringo is normally pretty good about staying close but he was clearly bored by us and he slinked away without being noticed for who knows how long.  We found him at his friend Reilly's house scratching at the door - "Can Reilly come out and play?"

The four main posts were set and stained by 4pm.  Nice!

Hour 5 of staining.   The sun is now beginning to set.  Fumes going to the brain....

And 11.5 hours later, day one concluded.   

Bed. Is. Calling.