Joan asked if I'd get the flagpole mounted today... before noon. Apparently, it is important to put a "done by" time, but in this case it is so I don't have to stand in the sun on that side of the house. My early morning was taken up with a walk, exercising, and a bicycle ride. Then, time to tackle the project.
The flag kit she bought came with the mounting bracket, pole, and solar light. It even included stainless steel screws for attaching the mounting bracket. Of course, the screws were too short. They may have worked if you were going directly into something solid, but we recently had PVC sleeves put on all the 4x4 support posts on our deck. There is a bit of space between the PVC and the wood posts. So, to get a good bite into the wood, the screws need to be about an inch longer.
I grabbed my wallet and keys to head to the nearby hardware store (2 blocks off our island). Joan asked, "Don't we have some screws somewhere?"
"Probably, but it will take longer to find them than to go get some and know they are the right size."
On the way to our bridge, I got behind the slowest golf cart I've ever seen here. When that guy turned out, another golf cart turned onto the main road, just ahead of me. Yep, we have a new slow-moving winner! When I got to our bridge, the "stop" arm was just coming down... a bridge opening. Thirty seconds sooner and I would have zipped right across. The bridge opened for a small boat... then continued to open further. Timing: a tug pushing two barges was just coming around the corner.
Something I haven't seen before: a small fishing boat came roaring through the bridge when the first barge was about 100 yards from coming through the bridge! The there isn't room for both of them to fit in that bridge opening, and the tug can't stop on a dime. The dumbass in the little boat, made a hard left, then a hard right to keep from getting splatted by the barge. Incredibly stupid. No, I didn't get a photo; I got in my pocket to pull my phone out when I saw the little boat, but he was already on the far side of the barge - and there isn't a lot of room there, either. Here comes the barge...
The bridge opens well in advance with an approaching tug; it is not unusual to sit there for 10 minutes before you even see the first barge coming around as the tug makes his turn to line up on the bridge. This means plenty of traffic can back up, waiting for the bridge...
Just as the bridge was closing, another small fishing boat came roaring up to the bridge. From his actions, it was clear that he wasn't happy that the bridge operator didn't hold the bridge open for him. The bridge operator needs to clear that traffic, and the small boat will have to wait. Weekdays, the bridge will only open on the hour for recreational traffic; on weekends and holidays, they will open anytime on request. The proper way to contact the bridge is via VHF radio, but most of the small recreational fishing boats around here don't have a radio.
With the bridge set for vehicle traffic, I went into the hardware store, got the 4 screws I needed, and knew the bridge would be open again for that last guy. Yep, I get to wait both directions...
Oh, well, the air conditioning in the car feels good and I enjoy some music on the satellite radio. This was a short wait for the bridge since it didn't have to open far for the small boat. I would imagine on some summer weekends, the bridge is open more than it is closed during daylight hours.
Back to the house and up on a ladder to screw the bracket in place. Climbing a ladder is something I haven't done in a while. This was the "5 minute" part of the job. Well, it may have taken a minute or 6 longer than that while there was discussion of the final placement of the bracket. Holes drilled, screws put in place. Joan put the flagpole into the bracket and this project is done. Looks good...
Now, the only thing missing back there is a boat at the dock. ;-)
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