Monday, October 4, 2010

A Fine Mess At Our Front Door!

This afternoon there was a huge pile of rubble on our front lawn. And I don't envy the guy who put it there. It was dirty, heavy work.

I don't even want to think how many pounds (tons?) of rubble had to be demolished, loaded up to a trailer, hauled across town, and dumped. Huge investment of time and muscle!

The small concrete stoop and brick-faced steps at our front door had been in poor condition last fall. The winter added a final bit of deterioration to the brick facing the edges of the steps.

I suppose we could have repaired them but that would have been more than we wanted to do ourselves...and the resultant repair probably wouldn't last anyway. (Or so we told ourselves.) We decided to replace them with a small deck...one just large enough to hold a couple chairs and perhaps a small table...a place where we can sit of an evening...a place that will function as a front porch.

Our friend John has a reputation for being skilled at his carpentry craft and for the past nine years his work took him to distant states. Sadly, the economic downturn caused his employer to crash and burn, so to speak. When we heard that John is now in business for himself we asked if he'd be willing to tackle our proposed project.

So early this morning John came over to begin the demolition process. The dirtiest part of the work is done and I'm thinking John went home tired.

Tomorrow he will set posts into the ground, digging down below the frost line to insure they sit steady and stable. And he'll begin building. Oh, that's the fun part...the building! That's where the creative aspect of the work produces satisfaction!

I know John will enjoy every bit of that part of the work...and I'll enjoy watching the progress. I promise not to hover but I do enjoy watching a project come together...seeing how this fits there...and how that is done here...I just enjoy seeing how things work.

We're looking forward to sitting on our front deck.

I can hardly wait!

6 comments:

Kathy C. said...

How exciting! It's always fun to see how a home project turns out. :)

Kelly said...

Not incorporating a front porch was a mistake when I designed our home.

Enjoy your new porch!! (both watching the construction AND the finished product)

Glenda said...

Many happy hours await you on that new porch!

Debby said...

I think that it's very nice that you were able to provide a job for someone that needed it.

PS Most people porch watch after the porch is done. :^D

Linda Lee said...

I am sure you will enjoy your deck! With the beautiful fall weather you may be able to enjoy it yet this fall!

Nancy's Point said...

Now you can enjoy watching your new deck get built. Just like a lot of times in life, there has to be a mess before we get to the good part. Thanks for visiting my blog www.nancyspoint.com. I hope you'll be back soon.