Epic Success

WARNING! This one is long.

We spent much of the winter and spring working at the shore to repair all of the damage from Hurricane Super Storm Sandy.  The house had at least 18" of water on the first floor and there was a lot of damage to the deck and dock caused by several large boats that floated in at the peak of the storm.  The house is getting back to normal but the dock suffered significant damage and we weren't sure how it was going to get fixed and really didn't think it would happen this summer with all of the other pressing projects.  I've been keeping track of the work in the shore in separate photo books so I haven't shared too much on the blog but this one is worth sharing!

Here is the dock before the storm.

And here it is after.

 

The pieces of the dock are designed to float in high water but they should generally stay between the pilings.  When we saw that all but one was missing we figured that they had been swept away in the storm.  As we started to investigate the yards and areas around the neighborhood we found every single missing piece (minus one bench)!

At the house next door two of the pieces were trapped under some debris and a boat.

The first full weekend we were allowed back to the property after the storm we cleared as much of the debris as we could and with the help of a neighbor carried the pieces to the side of the house and tied them up for the winter.  

This picture doesn't even show the full scale of all of the boats but the white boat with the blue cover is a 40' yacht that was stuck between the two houses.  We couldn't even walk between them.

Here is the same boat from a different angle.  That's Andy in front and a 2-story house in the back.

We found the last piece of the dock (and the largest) later that that month as were winterizing the house.  It was trapped under another large boat and a shed.  

Andy  marked it with our contact info and address and when the marina moved the boat they lifted the piece of dock back into the water.

While it was nice of the marina owner to crane the dock back in the water it was only tied to one piling and wasn't going to survive the winter in the water.  When we went down to check on the house in December Andy put on his wetsuit and tried to pull the dock out with the kayak.

When the kayak idea failed because the dock was just too heavy Andy decided to get in the bay.

It took Andy in the water and 4 people on land to pull the dock out of the water and get it propped on the bulkhead for the winter.  We had no idea how we were going to get the dock back in the water but knew that there was no chance of salvaging it if it spent the entire winter floating in the bay.

BS and JS came to help in April and Andy and BS were able to get the two pieces of dock that we found early on in the cleanup back in place. It wasn't perfect and a few boards were still missing but it was just nice to be able to walk back on the dock, even if only part way.

 

Later in the spring Andy bolted the floating sections of dock to the pilings.

He also managed to replace some missing boards and get the lower dock installed.  Complete with a ramp for Kodak.

Kodak could hardly contain his excitement.

We thought the dock repair ended there for the summer but as we talked through different ideas and options the neighbor convinced Andy that he could probably cut the large section in half and move it out in two pieces.  This may seem like the logical answer and it is possible that we were over-engineering a solution since we were convinced we needed ramps and winches to get the dock in place.

On Father's Day weekend Andy decided to make the cut.

I don't have any good photos because I got put to work, but Andy, my dad, and I were able to carry the pieces out to the end and get them almost in place.  Some of the pilings shifted during the storm and everything didn't line up the way it was supposed to.  

With some additional shimming and cutting Andy was able to get it back in the correct position.

He also managed to find some great chowder clams too.  We didn't keep these but they may not be so lucky next time!

The dock isn't perfect and it still needs some work to replace boards that were cut to help offset the seam and realign some areas that were temporarily patched but it looks wonderful considering that we weren't even sure we would have a dock this year.  Epic Success!

And a bench too!

A Snake in the Grass (or Epic Fail)

This spring we had a rabbit make a nest and have baby bunnies in one of the raised beds INSIDE of our garden fence.  I was convinced that they were going to eat everything I planted since it was pretty clear that the mother rabbit was already doing some damage around the yard.  After a weekend at the shore re-plumbing the house Kyle and Andy came home and inspected the nest (luckily I wasn't home).  When Kyle inspected the nest they all jumped out and ran around the garden.  After attempts to capture them all and return them to the nest, one bunny squealed and they all jumped ship for a second time.  I think some of them many have stayed in the nest for a few more days but by the following weekend the nest was abandoned and we covered the small gap in the fence where they were getting in.  I figured plants inside the garden were safe but anything outside of the fence was going to be rabbit food. 

I am trying to maximize the veggies we grow that are protected inside the fence so I figured I would take a risk and plant an herb garden just outside the garden fence.

See the tiny green stem in the foreground?  This used to be one of three beautiful, yellow cosmos that the rabbits destroyed. My mom read in a garden magazine about a woman that put fake snakes in her garden to keep the rabbits away. A few days later we made a special trip to the fake snake store Dollar Tree a bought five plastic snakes. 

 

I managed to give Andy a good scare but the rabbits don't seem to be bothered.  They have now eaten all of my cosmos, most of my cilantro, and some of my parsley.  They seem to stay away from thyme, rosemary, and dill.  We will have to call the fake snake experiment of 2013 a failure.  But I'm leaving the snakes there!

Connecting the Dots

At the start of spring our front yard looked like this.  A few large trees, a few landscaping beds near the street that we have enlarged significantly over the last two years and two new beds toward the house.  The ultimate goal is connect all of these in one large bed with a path from close to the house to the mailbox.  In order to plant more beds and finish the mulch we need to locate and build the path so that we can connect all of the dots.

Late last week, in the pouring rain, we had 5 tons of 3/4" Delaware River Jack delivered to the house.  This will be the foundation of the path with flagstone stepping stones.

My parents came down on Sunday to help with the path and plantings.  We marked the path with paint and then mowed the grass as low as the mower would allow, then we placed some landscape fabric (leftover from a retaining wall project at the shore -- thanks, SD!) and tucked some newspaper underneath to kill the grass under the new mulch areas. 

 

My dad and Andy transported over 7000 lbs of stone via wheelbarrow and started placing the stone on top of the fabric.

We already had the flagstone pavers.  They created a straight path that cut right through the middle of the backyard...

And a path to nowhere around a bed of pachysandra. I was happy to get rid of both paths although now we need to plant some more grass in the backyard before the weeds start invading. 

  

We pulled up all of the pavers and carried what we needed around to the front.

We test-walked a few sections to make sure the spacing was correct and then set all of the stepping stones.  The one closest to the curb required some measuring and cutting to make sure it was parallel to the curb.

 

We were all exhausted by the time the path was finished.  I figure that between all of the stone, mulch and pavers we hauled over 8,000 lbs of material on Sunday (or 2 average size cars!). We still had a few plants that wouldn't survive if left unplanted.  We got all of the Hypericum plants in before my parents left for the day and then Andy and I planted a few more things before it got dark and we crashed for the evening. 

 

We love the new path and are excited to fill in the rest of the bed. Thanks Mom and Dad for all of your help (and free plants too!).