July 2014

It's been a very long time since we've posted anything on here! But we thought we'd add a few tidbits since we're doing more on the house now.
We are now informed by our insurance company that there are still a few things they'd like to see done to keep our insurance coverage. We think that's pretty important, so we've been working.....

Last summer we tackled the basement windows. They had been boarded shut and were deteriorating pretty badly. Dan, with the help of a friend (that always seems to be the case, doesn't it? - we're just extremely thankful for good friends!!!) tore them out. He then poured new sills and installed glass block. Does it ever look nice!

This weekend, since it's a holiday, and we seem to only be able to work holidays, we are tackling the front porch. The insurance company thought it would fall off the house. Well, after much slamming with the sledgehammer, Dan is quite sure the thing would never have just fallen off!

Here is part of the process:


Front Porch before

Side of the porch - before any sledgehammer touched it!

Dan reigning....

Some of the fun stuff we did at the same time!

Voila! Completed front porch

Resuming the Work - Patio and Side Yard

I was looking at the last posting on this blog and it was three years ago!

So we've had three years to rest up for the next phase of this journey. We have decided to put in a patio where the old deck used to be, put in a privacy fence, and make the side yard an extension of the patio.

Dan has a cement mixer and has decided he will mix and pour all of the concrete for the patio and extension.

We just finished putting up the privacy fence, and he is doing a breathing treatment. Not sure how good our odds are, but.................here are a few pics of the fence going up and completed, along with our little helper.

From the street view

The plan is to stain all the fencing around the yard the same color. Our neighbors all have fences between our yard and theirs (should we be concerned?). Since each are a bit different, we thought staining them all the same color would help bring it all together. We have the ok from one neighbor...

Also over the weekend I went to the races to watch Dave (our son in law) race for his first time. He just got the car and this was his first time on the track other than practice laps. Here are a few pictures of that evening.

Me, Adelia, and Solen

Number 37!

                                                         Aunt Laina and Aunt Gina

                                             The cousins: Gideon, Solen and Levi