D-layed

Our front deck has been much neglected since we moved in.
Living downstairs, with the awesome patio--we rarely ever used the front door.
Now that we live upstairs and the summer weather leaves the back patio in full sun, we take respite on the front deck quite often.
During the inspection waaay back in March 2010, the inspector stuck his knife in to the corner of the deck and explained how lame that was. So we put it on THE LIST and promptly forgot about it.

Eventually we want to expand this deck--to encompass much of our lonely forgotten front yard (picture tumbleweeds) which is actually at the back of our house--and stays in shade most of the day
It will be a few years til we get to that project.
Til then-just to make it safe--we choose to spend the least money possible and repair the rotten wood and make it match the house.
For a total of $200 the boys had quite a lot of fun doing manly things while I looked on and took pictures.
Overall I think we spent $130 on wood, $20 on screws and $50 on paint.
They are so eager to get started I didn't get any real before pictures, but I got a few in before it was destroyed.

We knew it was bad--but this is worse!

No wonder it was bouncy in this corner of the deck!

So it is time to improvise the plan--and reinforce the supporting boards!
I couldn't resist this lovely picture.

Travis approves this break

Our dirt sifter in the background doubles as a light weight work bench for this project!

The upright "toothpicks" that go around the deck used to be 7" apart, which was not to the current code--as children's heads are smaller than 7"--go figure.
Travis re-spaced the new boards to 4" apart!

I would totally prefer a natural look--but these boys are picky and wanted to match paint colors.

I fail at after pictures too! I waited til dark but you get the idea. We ran out of the green paint-so the stairs got painted beige--which I actually prefer!

Anyone who didn't visit during the week this was under construction would never know it was rebuilt!

Not pictured are all the photos I took of the men butts while they were bending over--you didn't want to see that did you?
(I have enough to make a whole blog on the subject!)


Now it is time to celebrate! Good job men!
Now we have a safe deck and can move on to the next project :)

Tweedle D and  Tweedle Dork--who is who?

This blog has been long DELAYED due to the follow DOGS.
Actually--it was delayed because I couldn't find the picture of 1 dog-
Sadie--she lives next door has has us trained to give her treats or she will bark at us once every 10 seconds til we do. It started as soon as we moved in--and we keep stock in dog treats for this reason.


This is Lucy--Travis found her running down a busy road last summer and brought her home because the number on her tag was disconnected. Turns out you have to dial a 1 from a cell phone to get the other 425 area code. I found her owner the following day thru craigslist!!
Lucy got up to do her business many times in the 1 night we had her--some she woke us up for  and others we found the next morning. But she bought us dinner for our troubles (Go Reward!)

This is Pooper aka Blackberry--She was the first to leave a "house warming" present. While touring a few friends thru the yard--here runs a little doggie---oh how cute--wait? what? No--what is she doing!! HEY!!! Get outta here!
Hence why we called her Pooper--no matter how many times her owners still corrected us.
She moved away recently--which is sad as we had come to enjoy her company. And we had just trainer her with treats to poop in other yards!

This is our beloved Zuzu-
I don't have many pictures of her since my hands were always busy scratching her belly.
She was an old girl--blind and partially deaf-- who loved to come over for attention and belly rubs.
She would get all the loving she needed and then lay down on the stones and just hang out with the pack while we worked in the garden.
Up until the end of her days--her whole family--5 girls(!!!) along with Mom & Dad always knew where to find her when it was time to come in.
She could find her way across the street and smell a treat through a closed door!

Some nights we had to walk her back home several times before she stayed put!
She will forever be in our hearts--Rest in treats Zuzu.

Wait--This was not supposed to be a DEPRESSING entry--just a show of our lovely DOGS who have graced our lives here.

Someday we will have a dog of our own--but until then we will adore the dogs of our neighborhood--even when they leave US treats! 
We have discussed a hypothetical dog (along with our hypothetical children!) named George. He/She is a red golden retriever from a rescue. I wonder if we are the only ones with a hypothetical dog?

Next up is E (for EMPTY!)
I haven't come up with a topic for this one yet--but I can get to it now that I've gotten this one off my to do list.