Late July Forecast: Deck, with a chance of Delaware

I took the last two weeks of July to step away from fly fishing and complete a home project that Bonnie and I have wanted to do since we moved in, build a deck. Since our backyard was a wet, muddy ski slope, I decided to go with a big deck, as a muddy ski slope isn't good for much other than mud skiing, an extreme sport we both gave up years ago.

So...we went with a 14'x20', rectangular deck, all built with pressure treated lumber. By far the worst steps were digging and filling nine, 12"x36" footings. My father and I now know that wielding a two-man auger is not for the faint of heart. Forty-five, 80lb bags of cement made for another long sweaty day as well. Bonnie was a huge help throughout the entire build and had the patience to install all of those black railing balusters you see in the picture above.

But in the end we are very pleased and look forward to using all this new relaxing/eating/entertaining space.

Of course, you can't build a deck every day!

Took a couple trips to the Delaware, fishing spots as far north as the Delaware Water Gap and as far south as Lambertville. Picked up your typical mixed bag on both trips, using clousers, hellgramite patterns, big stoneflies and assorted buggers.
Unfortunately, had sunny days to fish which didn't help, especially combined with clear water.

A few DD's. (Delaware Dinks)