A few months ago, my daughter came to me with an idea. She has been living with us for several years; most of the basement is her sleeping and work area. She wanted to buy a Spyder motorcycle to ride with us, but didn’t want to leave it outside, especially in the winter. Her idea was to add a second small garage in our backyard on a paved area we had on the side of our corner lot. She would pay for it with money she’d saved. This required a lot of research into the feasibility, which included a solid enough design to hold a 1000-pound bike. And what building codes and permits we had to follow for the City of Westminster for the garage. After a bunch of calls with companies about options, we determined it was possible, with some labor involved, for the 10×12 garage to fit on the space, as well as a reconfiguration of the gated fence, which gave access to the paved pad. Below you’ll see a few pictures of the space before the shed was delivered.
Because we had to be three feet from the property line with the new structure, we didn’t have enough paved space to fit the shed. So we had to put down 4 feet wide and 13 feet long of brick pavers. Lots of digging of dirt and then making certain it was solid and mostly level. This took several hard days of work by Dakota and me to get this done before delivery day. The fence picture below is the section which would need to be removed and then reconfigured. Because we have two dogs, they had to do the removal on the delivery day, and once the shed was in place, set up the new fence. A local father-and-son company that we hired to complete the task.
The delivery was supposed to happen early on a Friday morning, between 10 and 11. Unfortunately, the delivery was delayed and didn’t show up until 2 PM that day. This made for a stressful day, since the fence team had to sit around and wait to set up the new fence, and ended up having to come back Saturday morning to finish, given how late the delivery happened. We also hired an electrician to bring power to the shed. Thankfully, he couldn’t come out until Saturday, or there would have been another ticked-off contractor I had to deal with. Below is the opening for the shed after the fence team took down the old fence.
When the truck finally showed up, he had the pre-built shed on the back of his semi, along with another shed. Watching the process of how this single man got the shed off the truck and put it in place was fascinating to witness. Below is a photo of the truck and a video of how he maneuvered onto the space. It was a large file, so I’ve embedded a YouTube link where you can watch it. The video is a little more than 17 minutes long. And excuse my thumb, as it got in the way a few times! LOL!! If the video doesn’t come through, you can watch it directly on YouTube via this link.
Here are a few pictures of the shed once he got it properly in place and mostly leveled.
Here are pictures after the fence team returned on Saturday and did their work, which turned out exactly as we imagined it.
The electrician did his part on Saturday, running power to the garage. The door opens and closes smoothly by the remote. This past weekend we built a ramp for Dakota to drive the Spyder into the garage and a box step for the side door, which you see below. All in 90+ degree heat. Testing done on Sunday, with her driving in, a few other modifications needed before she was able to park inside. All in all, after all the hard work and the one delay, I believe the project came out as we hoped. Dakota was thrilled with the results and is calling the garage her Spyder Cave!!
Shortly before the shed was delivered, Dakota purchased her Spyder. A brand new F3 Limited unit, a step under mine, which fit her better, with the seat being 3 inches lower. Coming in a beautiful blue color, she also added a cool Spyder decal to the front hood and back storage trunk.
With Dakota buying a Spyder, Kim and I decided to get her one as well, since her riding on the back wasn’t the most comfortable for me. Here is the unit we bought her, so all three of us can ride together.
To add a little pop to my white Spyder, for Father’s Day, Dakota gave me two cool decals.
Here is a picture of all three bikes together.
With everything else going on, Kim finished the Little Free Library, which she received as a Christmas present from her dad. This one, for out front yard. We’ve received wonderful feedback from our neighbors about the design. We have a few books inside, including three of mine. We’re hoping to add more from those in our neighborhood who have extra books at home they want to donate. If you live in Westminster or the surrounding areas and have books you’d like to donate, drop me an email, and I’ll make arrangements to stop by and pick them up.
Justice For The Accused has been sent off to my editor. Feedback from my beta readers to this point has been positive. The cover is still being worked on, and I hope to have a reveal for it next month. Right now, the book should be ready to release this fall, if all goes well.
With all the project work mostly completed and the purchase of two Spyders, this week we’ll be getting the motorhome ready for our trip to the Wild Deadwood Reads event in Deadwood, South Dakota. We’ll be leaving on Thursday and won’t be back until the following Friday. As per tradition, my father-in-law has built a Little Free Library to be given away at the raffle held each year for the Shilo Horse Rescue. Here is a photo of this year’s library. If you plan to attend the event, be sure to buy lots of tickets for a chance to win the Little Free Library and many other baskets.
We finally got some decent rain, which helped our flowers. The beautiful iris below was given to us by my author friend Helen Starbuck. I’ll share more pictures next month.
During the shed install, to keep the dogs out of the hair of all the contractors, Kim and Dakota took them up to Kim’s family cabin in Frisco, Colorado. The drive, one they enjoyed, as you can see by the pictures below.
Because of everything going on, there won’t be any Book Funnel eBook giveaway links this month. A few are still active, and they can be found in last month’s newsletter on my website. And no links for my books this month. If you’re interested, you can always visit my website and purchase signed paperbacks and other merchandise through the Book Store.
Thanks again for reading. Stay safe, happy, and healthy!!
R. Weir