Roses, Stairs, Rowing Machine and Writing

Th title has 4 totally unrelated things done this weekend.
It’s October, just a week from Halloween and my roses are a wondrous sight to behold. I never grew roses before, until this year, and so I am not sure if they are supposed to bloom this late, but they look great. My favorite color is yellow, and boy are the yellow ones looking beautiful. I will have to research how to keep them alive through the winter, because I don’t want to lose them. Now I will show you some photos:

Close-up. I think I may make this my desk top.

I am having issues with doing this post as I can’t find my tags or other things I am used to seeing on the old dashboard. Blog-talk. Found them in Edit mode. Now where was I. Oh, yeah, roses. Here are a few more pictures of a red rose bush and my beautiful pink climber:

My pretty red rose bush

My pink climbing roses.

Had to get a close-up of this one.

On to the stairs. Lynn spent the week getting the stairs to the correct thickness and cutting them to size. I spent the morning going over the underside of the stairs with a planer and wood chisel. Installed them then stained them. They aren’t perfect, but good enough for me. Much better than they were. There will be a runner down the center of them that will cover some of the imperfections and seams. But they are real stairs now. Only have 8 more to go. Right now, they are waiting on a budget increase. Remember this part is “a pay-as-you-go.” Maybe by Christmas.

A distant shot of the stairs I just installed and stained this morning.

Up to the first landing done. Visualize a carpet runner down the center. It will match the living room carpet.

This has been a little progress on the house.  In between times, I am trying my luck at writing my second novel.  The first one is on the house and is a result of this blog.  It is what I did on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) from last November 2014.  It is still in it’s revision stage.

This November I will be writing a novel on human trafficking and that is why I have been doing all the research for the last 3 years.  I will tell you more about that in a later post.  In the meantime beginning November 1, I will be focused on writing 50,000 words, so my updates may be a little slow coming in.

Whoops, I almost forgot the Rowing Machine, mentioned above.  Yes, about the rowing machine 😦

Lynn has decided that we needed to pull out the rowing machine that he has had in the storage shed for at least 27 years.  You know how you have the best intentions of doing exercise and you buy these machines that sit and gather dust?  Well, we have a few of those.  I have gone through this so many times with him, but alas, if he will use it, I can’t complain too much.  Can I?  I will let you know how that turns out.

On that note I think I will head to town to get a banana split.

Thank you for following my blog.  I am always open to comments and suggestions.

Annie, the Stairmaster.

 

Move-in Date is Getting Closer

I talked to the contractor and it looks like they may finish up by Friday.  That is the target date so far.  The plumbers and electricians have some hook-up work to do.  The electrician has almost everything installed.  I just asked him to switch out the light fixture in the entryway and that will take some creative ladder work to get to the ceiling as the railings are up now.

The plumbers, on the other hand, have a lot to install.  1 toilet, 3 tubs, 4 vanities, one small wet bar, one dryer vent, a dishwasher, garbage disposal, and last but not least a geo-thermal water heater that runs off the heat pump.  Supposed to be economical.  Lord knows I need economical after the really large heat bills.  I am hoping that was resolved with the correct thermostats.  A $799 heat bill for one month almost gave me heart failure.  As my dear son points out, “Mom you are 60+.”  I thanked him very much and told him I would out-work him any day.  No argument from him.  Kids these days are soft.  Huh, Steven?

Well, I do have to say, I like having him help me.  So here is what I/we have done this weekend:

I will begin with easy first.  We unboxed the microwave and put it on a shelf. I told you I was beginning with the easy part.  Then, we unboxed the trash compactor and wiggled it until we got it in the cabinets.  Steven did the wiggling.  Then we unboxed and muscled the freezer into the utility room.  I was so ready for a new freezer as we are still using the one we bought 26 years ago.  I hope this one lasts that long.

Now on to the study as Steven had finished up the caulking and I finished with the primer and the final coat on the window ledges and baseboards.  That just makes 2 rooms that are actually (completely) done with the painting before the carpet goes in.  The rest of the house will have to be done later.  The outside will be finished up this summer.  Promise.

Now for the pictures.

Stairs are coming together. When the pieces are sanded, the staining will follow

Looking toward the one guest suite upstairs

My favorite part. The reading nook.

Another view of the stairs

The light that will be hanging over the pool table

Another beautiful view of the back pastures, through the bonus room. aka Lynn’s man-cave

This is the view from the reading nook

Where did December go?  I was supposed to rest in December!!  And you know, winter is my time to hibernate.  No hibernating and I really get cranky.  Just has Lynn.  If our marriage survives this last 7 months it can survive a lifetime.  I have totally lost my sense of humor, and I broke a mirror so that may be responsible.  I wonder if you have the mirror replaced, does that help take away some of the bad luck?

Can’t wait to show you pictures of the carpeting and the finished kitchen.

Annie, the unlucky 60+ Jack-of-all-trades.

It’s All About Electricity – Lights and Fans

I haven’t done a Monday blog in a while.  Today it was full speed ahead.  The electrician (aka Sparky) from Hays Electric came to put in more lights, fans and appliances.  And I was anxious to check out the progress when I got home from work.

Now remember I said that I was furnishing the house with a medieval/victorian/eclectic theme?  In the following photos you will see what I mean.  The medieval will come a little bit later.

I fell in love with this small fixture with its etched glass and rough bronze. This is in the breakfast-nook

This is a small light under the staircase bar. I wanted something a little subtle as it may be used as a back light for TV watching

This is a fixture over the kitchen sink with the panoramic windows. This was a a polished silver. It was a hard one to pick because I wanted it to blend but not really be a focus in the kitchen.

Fan in the living room.

Fan in the study.

More to come tomorrow, or at least in a few days.  Can’t really promise tomorrow as I have been so busy with work and packing and other commitments.

This journey is coming to a close really fast now.  Landscaping will have to wait until spring as will some of the exterior painting.  So I may have a few days to relax after moving, or maybe not.

I really appreciate everyone reading my blog.  It has been a kind of therapy along with a motivating factor to keep me positive and on track.  To be able to look back and see where we started and where we have come up to now.  It has been through hard work and getting out there even when we were tired and didn’t want to do anything, that this is coming together.  Taking almost every extra penny and putting it into the house and keeping the dream alive.

Dreams are powerful, but the power only comes if you are willing to do the work toward that ultimate goal.  This can be applied to everything in your life, not just building your dream home.  My son’s dream is to be a nurse.  It is only going to happen with hard work and keeping the goal in focus.  He just has to believe that he can do it and it will happen.

Enough preaching, for now 🙂

Annie, the hard-working dreaming philosopher

 

Counter Tops and Tubs are in Place

Today is the day when things are starting to really come together.  There was a flurry of activity going on at the house.  Counter-top installers, soffit going up on the back porch, plumbers moving the two claw-foot tubs into place and the stairs are looking better and better.

What a fantastic way to end the year.  Not moved in, but darn near close.  Tomorrow the heating contractor is coming out to check the heat pumps and see what is making the bills so high.  Then on Monday the flooring contractor will be coming and putting in the laminate flooring in the utility room and small 1/2 bath and finish up the master shower.  Plumbers and electricians will be in after that to install the water heater, cook top, oven, sinks and tubs and a bunch of other stuff.

How am I going to spend my New Years Day?  I will be staining stairs.  Now that aught to be a sight.  Lets hope I remember some of the stuff I learned watching This Old House, Norm Abrams, and various other DIY shows.  Plus if I reach way back to the late 70’s when I worked in a cabinet shop, I might remember a thing or two from then.

Now for some pictures.

Looking from the pantry toward the kitchen. Waiting on the dishwasher & trash compactor

Looking toward the breakfast nook. New counter tops and my cast iron sink

Looking toward the soon to be oven and microwave

This is our little sandwich board

Now for the baths.  Oh, and the faucets and chrome lines were just delivered by the UPS guy today.  Wahoo!!!!

The long tub in the main bath upstairs

The shorter tub in the guest suite

This last picture is just for Jodi, my sweet co-worker that will be viewing this tomorrow.  My Christmas cactus still lives 🙂

This is for Jodi. My Christmas Cactus finally bloomed after a year. Lucky it thrives on neglect.

More blog to come as this project gets closer and closer to completion.  I will have a hard time sleeping tonight.

Annie, the excited stair stainer 🙂

 

I Made a Gate!!

The weekend started out slow as I really didn’t want to work on the porch yesterday after grocery shopping and going to Home Depot for 2×4’s, and to two different pharmacies for pills for Lynn.  But I managed to move the big ladder and put up a post and one railing which actually took me all afternoon.  So I planned to get up early Sunday and try to make a gate, now that I knew the size of the opening.  I had Lynn give me detailed instructions last night on how to figure the angles.  He is still under the weather, but hopefully Wednesday he will be better.

Sunday – Today – I got up, ate a little breakfast, put on some warm clothes and ventured out to the porch.  I worked this all out in my head last night.  You know I don’t use skill saws and Lynn is not able to help, so I decided that I could use the chop saw to get what I needed done.  I’m not afraid of a chop saw or radial arm saw, just the skill saw.  Also, I will needed to use the band saw on some of the long angles.

First I laid out the rails and stiles to make a square, and I needed to check it for “square.”  Norm Abrams taught me that.  I watch the Yankee Workshop!!  So the first picture is of me making it square 🙂

Checking for Square. 59″ on each angle. Not too bad.

In doing this, Lynn wanted me to use some wood screws with the slotted heads.  That’s not what I wanted to use, but I deferred to his decision, at least for some of the project.  It took trying to drill pilot holes first and I tried 3 different sizes of bits before I found the right one.  I still don’t think I got it big enough because I had to really work the driver and put my weight behind it.  Hehe.

This is the thing, the chop saw was in the house that we are building and I had to make several (lots really) trips to get the boards the right size.  Measure once and cut a bazillion times.  It is about 200 ft.  so I got lots of exercise.

Drills and drills are not created equal.  I bought Lynn this 90 degree drill or Christmas one year and I love the way it feels in my hands as it “fits” my delicate palms.  But it is not a variable speed and does not like the bigger drill bits.  So I had to bring out the heavy duty variable speed drill/driver.  That baby worked, but it meant changing out the bits all the time from drill to driver.  Nothing is ever easy.  Ugh!

Drill not strong enough, have to get the heavy one with more torque, and variable speed. Ugh.

Still hating these heavy slotted wood screws, but making do for now.  But I will be changing to the deck screws which are easier to handle and I won’t need to drill a pilot whole.  More better 🙂

Now for the angles.  I picked out the pattern from some gates that Lynn made for the horse paddocks but I needed to adapt it for a porch gate.  Put the diamond pattern in next, and that is where the angles came in.  That is where the chop saw came in.  The angle that worked for me was 35 degrees.  Love the chop saw, but I need a new sharper blade, but that isn’t my job. At the moment anyway.  So here is the Skil chop saw, I think I bought that one Christmas, for Lynn, but can’t remember when.  I know he has another saw that is still in the box.  That man and his toys.

Chop saw.

Again I made a multitude of trips to the house to cut and re-cut the boards and get the angles just right.

Then, was the time to fill in the holes with yet another angled board, had to use a handy dandy little angle thingy to figure it out.  Forgot to take a picture of that.  By this time Lynn made it out to the back porch to see what was going on and lend some of his wisdom to the project and show me how to use that angle thingy.  Don’t ask me what angle, because I haven’t a clue, it just fits.  Now this is where the band saw came in.  I had never used a band saw before, but no time like the present to learn.  I just had to find the on and off switch and put the wood through really slowly as I am not real good at following a straight line.  But I did it.  Made 1 board to fit and then cut 3 more just like it.  I can rock that band saw!!

Sears Band Saw, Lynn bought in the 60’s. Still going strong.

Now for the reveal.  Of course, I couldn’t wait to hang it.  I really should have primed it and painted it first, but I have been wanting this done for 5 or 6 months.  I hated that big board up there keeping Kinzie from guarding her fiefdom.  Now she can see every cat that saunters by.

Gate from the inside

This is from the porch side.  This is the birds-eye-view Kinzie will be guarding.

Gate from the outside.

This is the one from the outside.  I know, I should have waited until after it was painted, but a little blue tape will mask it off and all is good.  How do you like the heavy hinges and latch?  I put those on too.  Now I just have to caulk all the mistakes and prime and paint it.  2 more side balustrades and that part of the porch is done.

Lynn will handle putting in the light by the door, the ceiling fan and the flood light for the driveway.  Just a couple of weekends more and I will be closing this project down for the year.  When I get some painting done, I will post the before and after pictures.

Thanks for following my blog.

Annie, master of the band saw 🙂

Working Our Way Up the Porch

The railings are starting to go up.  One at least.

Lynn went to Spokane this past week for his consultation on getting a pacemaker.  He is a candidate for the modified pacemaker, but to satisfy the insurance company they have to monitor him for the next 3 months and then get another heart echo, before he is eligible.  Irregardless of the fact, that they have been trying to control his arrhythmia with medications for the last 5 years.  The doctor also changed his heart medication and that has really caused him to be extremely tired and lethargic.  Hopefully, after the pacemaker is in, and functioning well, he can get off of some of the medications he is on.   He feels he is over-medicated, but which one do you get rid of?  Alright this is a blog about DIY Building projects, just thought I would let you know that my significant other has not been able to get into this project, too good.  I am amazed at what he can do, as he will be turning 74 in a couple months.

We didn’t get the scaffolding moved like we wanted this weekend, so I had to settle for working on the railing.  I really wanted to work on the porch by the stairs leading from the side yard, but we have some other things that need to be done first and that involves the scaffolding.  Next week we will tackle that.

Our do-it-yourself center that is closest to us, is Home Depot, so that is where we buy all our paint and most other building products.  I have found that their paint is good if you use a good foundation primer.  I prefer the Kilz Premium Primer as it works the best.  It is worth the extra money if you want the finish to match.  I had primed the balustrades and the 2×4’s before putting them up, then quickly put on 1 coat of the Behr Semi-Gloss White.  It will need one more coat.  Hopefully, I can paint the whole porch before bad weather sets in.

I guess I will be in the roofing business one for time before I hang up my hammer.  We have decided to put up asphalt shingles to match the rest of the house, if we can match the color.  If not, we will get as close as we can.  I would have like to put up metal roofing, but that should be done professionally, and that isn’t in the budget.

This particular blog will be short as I am pooped.  Gotta fix supper, do sock fairy duties, take a shower and get ready for another week at the salt-minds.

Take care,

Annie, the porch wizard.

Storm rolling in from the south on 9-5

First railing goes up

Kinzie the building inspector, fell asleep on the job.

Labor Day Progress on the Porch

Looked forward to making some progress on this 3 day weekend.   I am happy to say that we did make some noticeable progress.  Still a little bit more before we can start sheeting the roof and put the shingles on.  Sprinkling when we stopped working.  Looks like it might rain on Wednesday, but we will not get to the roofing part until a week or two.  Need to set up the scaffolding to be able to have easier access to the roof.  Neither of us bounce anymore and doing it from a ladder, isn’t going to do it.

Saturday I did a little bit of painting to areas I knew I wouldn’t be able to reach when the roof starts going up.

Sunday, Lynn put up the roof rafters and I began putting on the clips.  There were two rafters that had a twist in them so they are not battened down just yet, but when the scaffolding is put up we can tackle that job.  It was hard on Lynn, but he managed to do them with a lot of resting in between.  I am so proud of him.  I know he doesn’t feel good, but he will not let me hire it done.  He doesn’t want to hire anyone to do what he feels he can do.

Today, I spent the morning putting up the ceiling joists while Lynn used the nail gun on them.  We stopped around1:30 as we were both tuckered out.  This is all that will get done this weekend.

Tomorrow, Lynn has a consultation with the doctor that will be placing his pace maker.  I hope all goes well at that meeting as they have been unable to regulate his heartbeat with medication.    His heartbeat is always racing 110 to 140+ beats per minute, and that is the resting heart rate.  No wonder he feels exhausted all the time.  This has been happening over an extended period of time, so he hasn’t felt well in a long long time.

Things left to do are, sheeting and roofing, building the balusters, and making gates or doors.  Then a little more painting.  After that I need to finish taking off and replacing the crown molding and fascia on the side of the house, that needs to be done before winter.  Then I will be moving inside for the winter.  I can work outside in the heat, but I hate the cold.

Now for the pictures.

Annie, palm-nailing queen.

Ready to put the scaffolding up

A little detail of the roof rafters and ceiling joists

Kinzie waiting on the roof to her dog house, eh, I mean our porch

Side view. Not to bad for a novice carpenter.

The Weekend Warrior is Back on the Porch, Ye-haw

After a few weeks doing other stuff, I am finally back on the porch.  Time is running out before we start getting the fall rain, so we have to get it done.  Lynn hates working on it, so it is like pulling hen’s teeth to get him to work on it.  He says I am working him to death.  I have resorted to bribery.  He would do most anything for waffles.  Not to be mislead, he has some real health issues, and if all things work out he will be having a pace-maker inserted in in early October.  I hope that makes him feel much better.

Yesterday, we did our grocery shopping.  Creatures of habit, plus the dog and cats needed food.  When we got back home, I did some painting and repairing and putting up tin to repair some of the fascia and made it critter proof.  Didn’t work on it too hard.

Sunday, I got up with a plan.  I was going to get some of the crown molding up and calked and more painting.  Wow, did it turn out good, even if I do have to say so myself.  It’s wonderful when you are able to see the vision in your head actually coming out the way you envisioned it.  Also, lets talk about caulking.  It’s a painter’s best friend and can cover up a multitude of mistakes.  The crown molding went up just how I planned.  Whew, I’m glad it did because I didn’t have a backup plan.

We were able to get 3 roof rafters up (that’s where the bribery came in).  We are putting them up with blocking instead of joist hangers.  Then we will have to do blocking along the end of the rafters too.  The boards are twisting.  We got kiln dried, but they still twisted.  Very frustrating.  It will take clamping and muscles to get them where we want them.

I need Lynn’s help with the nailing because, the darn nail gun weighs a ton.  I wish Bostitch or Porter Cable or Makita would make a nail gun with the power of the big ones, but that a woman could handle.  It is all I can do to take it off and on the porch.  It’s awkward and heavy.  Oh, did I mention, I am the tool packer, I pack to the porch and then pack it back into the house when we are done for the day.  I see that as my contribution and my aerobic workout.  Tonight I added moving about 30 2x6x8’s and 2x6x10’s from the side yard to the back yard.  On my feet for 8 hours straight and I am tuckered out.

Doing this porch has been a challenge from the beginning, but so rewarding to see the fruits of my labors.  I have to keep reminding myself why I am doing this project… and that is the porch was going to fall in on our heads.  Maybe it will last for another 100 years.

Now for the pictures.

Annie, the weekend warrior back at it.

The crown molding’s looking good

A problem corner, had to do some creative patch work.

Crown molding from the distance

The building inspector, aka Kinzie.

Tools of the trade

First Porch rafters.

1 – 2 – 3 roof rafters. More next week

Porch Project Moving at a Snails Pace

Well, I have the next 7 days off and I’m hoping to get some progress on the porch.  Though the temperatures will be in the upper 90’s, it is at least a dry heat and we can somewhat work in the shade.  Went to Home Depot yesterday and picked up more lumber and paint, plus ordered the crown molding that goes on the fascia.

Today I was excited about cleaning the house exterior which will actually be covered up.  Then preparing the eaves by washing, scrapping and painting.  Didn’t get too far in it when I was moving the ladder with the hammer still on the top.  You guessed it!!  The klutz that I am, the hammer fell on my head.  Couldn’t believe I did that.  I said some pretty awful swear words and got a gash of about 1 inch with lots of blood.  Maybe the elderly shouldn’t be allowed to have sharp heavy implements.  Or should be monitored closely.  Remember a couple of weeks ago when Lynn accidentally hit  me in the head with the 4 foot pipe clamp?  Well, I had just gotten over that.  Now this.  Ugh, I think I will be getting a head ache from this one.  I’m just glad it was my little hammer verses Lynn’s framing hammer.

You know when you are working on a 100+ year old house, you are going to find some remuddling.  Well we didn’t escape that.  Where the fascia boards and crown molding will go, the carpentry was cobbled up.  it appears that maybe they couldn’t do it right from being on the roof so there is about a 2 inch difference in the opening from one end of the porch to the other.  It is something we will have to just do some adapting because to do it the way it should be done would require reworking the whole roof on the house.  That isn’t happening.  The part that will needs to be modified is not structural.  Somewhere along the line, someone put a pony wall in and laid the roof rafters on that which is well done.  It was cobbling the extension of about 6 inches to accommodate the crown molding that is  done incorrectly.  The underneath fascia is straight and level, so that will stay.  When you find something level on an old house you want to leave it alone.  So I did get more old rotten trim boards off and a couple more will be coming down.  So I washed then primed the fascia board with Kilz Premium Primer, (the best primer) and put one coat of paint which is a sage green/grey.  I Like earth tones.  I hope it will all come together in the end.

While I was doing the cleaning, scraping and painting on the eaves, Lynn was replacing the floor in our horse trailer.  That needs to be repaired before we go on our trip in August to pick-up on 4 month old colt.  We are naming him Cheyenne.  I will post a picture of him when he was just a few weeks old.  What a beauty he is.  It has sparked some new life in Lynn.  Something to look forward to.

Speaking of Lynn, we will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary on Tuesday.  With all our projects and working on building our dream home and all the other projects in between, I am surprised we haven’t throttled each other.  Those 25 years went really fast as I look back on it.  We lost both our mothers, survived a major flood in 1996, back surgery in 2004, heart surgery for a stint in 2008 and numerous other life events.  But the fact that it appears to have gone by quickly says that it was a happy 25 years.

More in a couple of days.

Annie, the klutzy carpenter.

1975 horse trailer

Lynn’s photo-op

Fascia problems

The other end of the fascia

Prep Work Behind the Scenes

This weekend saw a little progress.  You know unless I am seeing a lot of physical progress, I refer to it as “a little.”  Yesterday after grocery shopping and having lunch, I went outside and screwed down the remaining decking.  Of course it took a couple of hours.  Slow but sure.  As I get older, it takes longer to get things done.

Today, I painted the 7 posts that I have for the porch.  They are 4X6 posts that will be used for the upright posts and the headers that the ceiling joists will be sitting on.  I know, confusing right?  At least it is for me, so I have to think about it and roll it around in my mind.  I see it kinda like a puzzle and all the pieces have to be put together in the proper order and, you just can’t rush it.  I am learning patients, everyday.

On another front when I was cooling off after lunch, I was cruising the internet in search of fascia moldings.  We have to replace the 5 inch molding along the roof line.  It has held up for 100 years and is finally looking tattered and torn.  In other words awful really really awful!!  We need to replace about 60 to 70 feet of it.  Of course I am not finding the exact pattern.   I think we will probably have to substitute something similar.  We cannot afford to have someone duplicate it exactly.  Even the ones that they have in the DIY centers are expensive.  It’s on the weather side of the house, so I would rather have pvc or urethane as it would hold up in the weather.  On the weather sides, we have a hard time keeping paint on wood.  I am open to any suggestions or if you are aware of a company that is affordable, I am all ears.

I am attaching photos of which I am truly embarrassed to be showing, that we have let it get this bad.  But the inside of this home had been the focus, then the front porch, now the back porch.  In between times we are working on the dream house.  I hope I at least get most of those projects finished by the time I retire.  That gives me about 4 years.

Back to painting.  I began painting some of the slats that will be on the railings on the back porch.  I finished 27 of them.  As with all my painting now, I begin with Kilz Premium Primer.  It is the best I have ever used.  It is exceptional in adhering to the raw wood and makes a great foundation for paint.  It also has to wear off my hands.  I tried many primers over the years and finally saw this primer in Fine Home Building Magazine.  If you ever need really good information, that is the magazine to buy.  We have found lots of good information in there.

I follow the primer with Behr Paint Semi Gloss from Home Depot .  We have so much dust here that the Semi Gloss sheds the dust easiest.  It has shown to be a good paint and holds up well.  I don’t get the paint with the primer in it as that is unnecessary when using the Kilz Premium Primer.  We shop at Home Depot as it is the only DIY center close to us.

Next weekend begins my vacation.  I am going to take a week off to work on the porch and celebrate our 25^th Anniversary.  25 years of DIY, I am surprised we have made it this long, working together on these project we tend to have some short tempers.  My husband is dreading it, because he said I am trying to work him to death.  He dreads the weekends and says he feels guilty if he isn’t out there working alongside of me.  That bothers me because I don’t want him to feel that way.  I know that he does as much as he can, I just wish we could afford to pay someone to get this done, but until I win the lottery, I guess this is as good as it get.  I think you have to play the lottery to win, hmmm, I guess we won’t be winning the lottery any time soon.  Hopefully, we will include a few fun things, like going to breakfast at the Maple Counter and lunch or dinner at a good restaurant.  Can’t be all work and not play.

Well it is back to work tomorrow (the paying job) for another week, then some much needed vacation time.

Until next weekend, stay out of the heat, and I’ll see you later.

Annie, the happy porch lady 🙂

Final coats on the posts

Slats being primed

Posts are done

Slats are done

Sad looking trim

Missing trim

Above the porch.