So today the wood showed up for our shading structure.  After much anticipation we were finally able to begin!  Most of the morning was spent sorting and pairing up the 2x8x12′ for the first row of columns.  Each member was paired with another primarily based on both color/tone, and crown direction.   After pairs were matched, we marked out the bolt placements and starting drilling holes through sets of pairs.  After all of the holes were drilled they were off to the sander.  Palm sanding action with some finely gritted paper smoothened each stick out to a smooth finish.  When sanding was through it was time to start fastening the pairs together.  Shortly after laying out the hole placement on the 12 footers, I began cutting the 14 footers to exact length and the previous process was repeated for this set.  Later, Lyle and Melissa began assembling the floor structure. Some photos of the process thus far:

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