What I Did on My Mid-Summer Vacation: Day 2

Definitely feeling my age, I got started on Day 2. The day’s goal was to clear the platform and assess the leveling situation. Stretch goal was to get the three 4″ x 4″ x 12′ pressure-treated beams on site. Of course, there were delays in getting out in the cool part of the day, so it is a good thing that I like heat.

I started off by checking in on the status of the new shed order, which Lowe’s has been telling me is de to arrive on Wednesday, Aug 3rd for about a month now…which is why I took this week off.

During the noon-day heat, I was finally freed up to head to Home Depot to pick up the beams and to scout out the available leveling options, which were scant. I did manager to get the massive timbers on the roof of the Outback by myself. I then over-engineered their tie-down to the roof rack, and away with me. With Jenny’s help, once back home, I hit my stretch goal before getting the actual goal. Three 12′ long beams in the yard…along with some concrete blocks and a couple of bags of gravel. Nothing about this has been “light” so far.

Now, we have long known that someone was living under the shed. In spite of setting up the trail cam pointing at the entrance, I’ve only come up with circumstantial evidence that it might be the skunk. But, we have not ruled out the groundhog or the possum, either. One thing was for sure, after the noise of the previous day, I severely doubted that anyone was in residence at this time. That said, I was still very nervous while lifting that first board out of the way.

I spied that hole in the opposite corner from where the “entrance” was in the broken wood lattice that was there to keep the critters out. This explains why I could not see anything when I stuck my colonoscopy/bore hole camera in there to take a look previously. I pitched a fist-sized rock down the hole. No one came out. So I grabbed the shovel and filled in the hole.

While doing that, I had the sense that I was being watched. I looked down and saw the skull. Now tuned in on what was around me, I then saw the possum face and the mummified arms. I then dug a hole of my own and gave these poor beasts a proper burial. I suspect that skunks are scavengers.