Shade
Shade Sail
Terri bought a shade sail last year, and I hemmed and hawed about putting it up, being a little intimidated by the directions, which called for massive posts and possibly re-enforcing the house where it attached. Terri of course was not to be disuaded by my qualms, so we went ahead and set the post (the directions specified the angle), and decided that where we intended to attach it to the house did not require the re-enforcements. This spring, I finally got the "tuit" (hey, a round one, I almost never see those!) and completed the rest of the installation.
The house side uses the mounting eyes and turnbuckles that came in the hardware kit. So far so good. The posts use 1/2" eyebolts. The one at the freestanding post uses a caribiner that also came with the kit, as well as a quicklink and a length of 1/4" steel cable, spliced like so and so, with clamps closing the eye down around a thimble (re-enforcing piece) to keep them from wearing out. I actually had to do two of the eyes twice, since the sail stretched out so much in the first week I had to shorten the cables by 6". On the dogpen side, since the posts are smaller than specified in the shade sail directions, I used a union to put two eyes end-to-end and a turnbuckle to help distribute the tension between two posts. In the time since I installed it, birds have used this section of wire as a convenient perch to access a new nest (I don't know what kind of bird, yet).
This is not the first time something like that has happenned. Earlier this spring, I noticed a blackbird nesting in my shed. They use the lifting rail as an access, and the nest itself is inside one of the bays of the roof that's not been sealed off yet (I need to add some bracing for the rail, and need it open to attach them). I'm hoping once the nestlings have fledged I can finish that off, assuming I find another "tuit".
Oh, and the shade? Terri was right, of course, it does make the house cooler, and makes the deck quite pleasant even in the late afternoon sun.
Hammock Shade
I _had_ another "tuit", but I used it for this. It's been in the works for a while now, but I finally got all the grommets set last summer, and built the frame this spring. The canvas mounts with hairpin cotter pins snapped over drywall screws. Haven't lost any yet, so it looks good. I do think I need to add some bracing or guy lines so that it holds the angle better.
