A Little boy Gets a Big Job In 1960 when Chet was not yet three we moved from Hayward to the top of the hills east of Hayward on Fairview Avenue. It was a big house that needed a lot of help. In back of the house was a patio that was very poorly done and not too big. There was a concrete wall at the end of the deck and then the ground was about five feet lower. We decided to build a deck so we could enlarge the area and make it on the same level as the house floor. A friend had some very large bridge timbers and he was moving. He asked me if I wanted them. I gladly said yes. He had ten 20-foot 6X12 timbers. We rented a 20-foot flat bed truck and loaded them up. We hauled them up the hill to our house. Unloading them was not too bad. The big problem was getting them to the back yard and into place for the deck. Landon was just born and Chet was a little small for such heavy lifting. I had to come up with a plan to get them to the back yard. After some thinking I came up with a plan to successfully accomplish my needs. The picture on the left shows Chet on top of the timbers with his bulldozer I made for him.
Deck Construction in Progress My plan was this. I could lift one end of the timbers but not the whole timber. I placed one timber on top of another timber. This gave me a solid platform to roll the second timber. I fixed six two-inch rollers two foot long to use as rollers. I would lift the timber and Chet would place it under the board. When we had enough rollers under the board we could push the top timber out to the end of the bottom one. It then became the second bottom board. We would then start a third timber with rollers and roll it out to the end and so forth. When all the timbers had been rolled out we started with the first bottom one and it was moved to the end. In this manner we got all of the timbers moved to the deck area. We then had to position then into place. Bernice was terrified that I would crush the little fellow. He did a fantastic job of placing the rollers and we had a great time working together that two days we moved the timbers.
We are Enjoying our New Deck Chet helped me put a concrete foundation on the deck and placing the timbers in place. Next was nailing the deck 2X6 boards into place. Chet kept me supplied with nails and we finished the deck sometime later. Last was the railing and we were ready to enjoy the fruits of our labor. That winter we bought a swimming pool. People sell swimming pools in the cold of winter very cheaply. It was a large pool with a heater and filter. We sold the pool (too big for us) for twice what we paid for it that summer and bought a one that was the right size for us. Here we are enjoying our new "Free" pool that summer. We had many a good time in the pool there in California. Bernice still cringes when she thinks of two-year-old Chet working with those big timbers. Chet is still very handy with any construction or woodworking.
