This morning, when I woke up, there was a hot tub in a gazebo in my back yard. By 4 pm, I had a lovely extended deck, shaded by said gazebo, thanks to a tag-team duo of engineers looking for a Sunday project.

With a squad of assistants (including moi), these mountain men ripped off one side of the gazebo, lifted out the 650 lb hot tub, dollyed it through my back gate with mere inches to spare and then put my gate back together (and levelled it). No rhododendron or fencing sacrifices needed.

Then, they decided to tackle building my deck. For the fun of it.

I'm pretty handy, I've refinished the drywall in my living room and laid paving stones at my front entrance. But these guys were wielding skill saws like swords, cutting 2x6s in mid-air. Their tool belts had shoulder harnesses and their regular hammers could double as sledgehammers. One of their several crowbars was taller than my nine year old daughter.

And so, I stayed out of their way and watched with awe and respect.

I have to admit, I've never seen anything built so fast and so well. They even lowered the gazebo railing, re-cut a bunch of trim and fixed my step.  All for a couple of turkey sandwiches and a few beers at the end of the day.

As my good friend (and fiancée of one of these guys) would say.... "Holy Hannah."

Footnote: By dinner time, my nine year old and the neighbour girl had built themselves some ramps with footholds to scale up the backside of the gazebo and hammered together a sign to block the entrance saying "Stay Out". Kids learn so fast.