2000lbs of concrete

The first thing you need to pour concrete would be a foreman... (enter: mom) A tape measure makes you look like you know what you are doing...

String... also a very important element to the concrete experience (we now know that string lines don't mean shit)

1 borrowed concrete mixer that was used to build the great pyramids.

Rebar... for the largest footing known to man (remember the 95 foot tall tree that we removed and you will understand the need for the footing)

Stand back and look to the left...

Then to the right...

The weather could not have been more perfect. It was nice and cool and overcast all day with no rain. The big question is... "how long do you leave the sonotube on before cutting it off?" If anyone can answer please leave a message.... we would love to know

Paint the house... check!

While we are thinking about the porch design I decided to hurry up and paint the house. I have never painted the outside of a house and it felt like a really big project. We prepped, caulked, repaired and so on... then one day while Steve was at work, I began. Below you see the "cubbies", otherwise knows as eaves. There are exactly 60 of these around my home. Steve and I discussed the best way to paint them and even got a bid from a friend to spray but, in the end, I painted them with a 6" corner roller and it worked out really well. Painting the eaves took one day.

a little last minute caulking...

And... begin...

work your way around...

and around...

and around... then repeat. :)

Here is the house before (several of our neighbors didn't even realize there was a house on this lot)

I think they will notice now. I think the house looks good. Now the big question seems to be "what are you going to do with the fireplace?"

I was thinking just leave it but we are considering putting rock on it or painting it. Suggestions are welcome. There is a new front door in our future and the porch building should start anyday now. :)

so... how many pier blocks does it take anyway?

When you remove things you can never quite be sure what you will find.

Imagine our shock and amazement when we uncovered the 4 pier blocks holding up one side of the steps... yes.. you heard right.. just the one side of the steps.

Hey Waldo... just kidding..
The walkway leading from the back porch to the garage was rotting into the ground.

Looks like a trip to the dump is in our very near future.

Another platform was between the house and the garage. Not sure why it was built but, it's gotta go!

That's better!

Like I said, another trip to the dump. We are practically on a first name basis with those guys. They don't even ask if we are dumping pressure treated anymore. It's a beautiful thing.

Here is a cool trick. If you want to smooth your "dirt" yard, drag a board around in a circle a few hundred times and it will be perfect.

The yard is finally smooth and the water should flow around the house instead of straight at it.

Prepping for paint means ripping the rain gutter off the house. No windows broken and no one got hurt! Please don't call OSHA, we know the ladder is not on level ground.

Pressure washing is the devils work. Quite possibly the yuckiest thing I have had to do yet.

Bliss?... I think not. Soaked to the bone and covered with paint, mold, spider webs, tree junk and dirt.

More to follow. We will be painting this weekend. Sorry for the delay in updating but as you can see we have been busy and are still at it. I long for the lazy days laying in the hammock in our oasis of a yard... someday...

Now that's a Shillelagh!

Step 1: unearth the Shellelagh... (if you don't know what it is, you should google it and you will laugh looking at the size of this one compared to what they should be) I can't imagine anyone wanting to carry that thing around with them much less a small Irish chap.

Smooth out the dirt and this is what we have been working on for 2 weeks. I sure didn't think it would be that sweaty or take that long.

Finally I get the luxury of using my own front door!! YIPPEE!! I was telling Steve that I don't think americans or people in general realize what a convience it is to be able to walk up to your home and enter thru the front door. I am so grateful.

Unfortunately our temporary porch is falling a little short these days but my husband is not only clever but also very funny. "Ride that wave baby!!"

So the temporary porch is extended and now we have a gangplank to walk everyday. Of course this lead us to thinking about filling in the hole with water and having a giant pond out the front door with a lovely bridge leading you into the yard. I am sure we will give it some consideration. Seems as all things do it will evolve naturally.

Enter.... Tractorman!!

In previous post you see Steve and I tilling and picking dirt... we felt there was a better way...

Step 1: remove mail box... (this was surprisingly easy)

and relocate to the other side of the drive.

There is no time to build a proper stand so we "installed" it Magalia style. (one bungee is really all you need to secure the mailbox to a tree)

Enter... Tractorman!!! whoo hoo!!

We moved a ton of dirt to the front planter bed.

Curb Appeal...

We are still working on the retaining walls for the porch..

Prepping the yard... change is blowin' in the wind...along with a crapload of dirt...

It's been a few weeks since an update.. we have been busy as usual and making progress. Below is a picture of Steve and I killing ourselves trying to dig out the dirt so the water will drain away from the house when we build the porch. Needless to say, we are renting the tractor tomorrow because rototilling and picking until you reach physical exhaustion just "isn't the way". (I think we are smarter than that!) Of course, after all that digging we needed to put the temporary porch back which now is more like a temporary ramp.

We tilled and dug a trench around this stand of trees in the yard to make a "flower bed" of sorts.. I think it's practically "parklike"...

And here is the "clean slate", after removing the trees and getting the stumps ground and then cleaning up the mess.. this is what you have. (I do regret not getting pics of the yard after the stump grinding. Just try to picture the yard with giant mounds of dirt and wood chips. It looked like we had a mole the size of my car living in the ground)

Part of the wood clean up was making someplace to store the wood for the fires we will have in the yard (after we rebuild the firepit).

Steve built the one above and I built the one below. (I did have a little help) :)

We did finish doing the demo on the back porch and resupported the roof and it turned out nice. The breeze actually blows thru and it became a nice addition to the back yard. With a little pressure washing and a change in the direction of the steps and a new roof.... you get the idea...I am sure this weekend will be an adventure. We have never operated a tractor for excavation but, like I said before, "we are smarter than that" ... right???