Heading out to the woodshed

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It’s a dark and stormy night; you’re cold the woodpile is hidden under a deep layer of snow.

Thanks to my daughter, Kate and her husband, Jason, I now have a great woodshed ready for that will be used to keep us warm during the winter.

Jason’s a mastermind at construction and well, anything he puts his mind and hands to. Kate has an incredible amount of energy and can see creative solutions to just about any problem that crosses her path. Two plus two equals a great woodshed built for around $800 and in only two days.

Awesome.

Jason designed the shed to stand about 12 feet from the front door and with the back facing west. The top of the shingled-shed has a slight overhang along the back to allow for protection from wind and snow but also allows for air circulation in and around the cords ready for this winter and cords curing for next winter. The sides are partially enclosed, again to allow for airflow. The angle of the roof is an unexpected bonus – I see it helping keep snow off my car although how much snow gets transferred to the roof. Isn’t that the heat tape is for? Well, time will tell.

Since the area near the door gets a lot of run-off in the summer, the floor of the shed is just wooden pallets but the posts are sunk into concrete tubes to protect the structure’s base.

It certainly beats covering the woodpile with a tarp and slumming for dry pieces of wood come February.

My own experiences with husband/wife projects (After all, the straw that broke the camel’s back in my own marriage was the installation of a shower door in the basement bathroom, but I digress) has left me skittish but I soon learned my own child is indeed smarter and did a better job of choosing a husband than I did. They literally work together with some give and take, a snappy response here and there but with an overall understanding of what each other’s part would be in the building process. I also learned things about my daughter – she’s a pro with a two-person hole auger.

Tenacious. I have never met anyone as tenacious and hardworking as Jason. Whether trying to get me to be tougher with my post-TANF clients when as my supervisor when we both worked at Goodwill Industries of Denver a decade ago, or building a structure in just a weekend, Jason is pedal to the metal energetic.

Thanks to his creative genius my wood has been given a new lease on life; that is until I toss it in the woodstove.

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