What was supposed to be a totally low energy weekend got a wee bit complicated yesterday. At most I was only going to slap some paint on the porch supports, but instead we ended up rebuilding part of the front steps.
Sat I levered them up a bit and discovered part of the reason they were collapsing was the wood was rotting away. So we had just planned on stuffing a square cinderblock undeneath that spot, instead Sunday we ended up pulling the steps and rebuilding part of them. We replaced the 2 rotten pieces, the boards on the bottom step, a whole bunch of nails that had rusted and broken, put down the cinderblock so the front corner of the one side is no longer on dirt (the other edge of the steps is on the sidewalk).
The steps are definately more solid, we will be rebuilding them completely next year. Whoever built them in the first place didn't know what they were doing and there really isn't proper support, just a whole bunch of end pieces nailed together. I've surprised they lasted as long as they did.
For a change, a small quick project wasn't QUITE as bad as usual (spending 4 hours trying to remove a faucett that should have come out in minutes). We had the wood we needed, the tools we needed and the weather we needed (okay, the cordless drill ran out of juice early on, but we had backups). I did set the corded drill on fire some how, it is about 40 years old and hubby says the grease inside just caught fire because it got rather warm.
Garden wise, I finally did something with the pea pods I've been harvesting this last week. With those and a small bag of some I got from a friend, I stiirfried them with beef for dinner on Sat. YUM!!! I want more peas!!!!! Next year I am definately planting more. I've got cucumbers finally coming on, also long beans and my cherry tomatos are popping little green tomatos all over. I can't wait for them to ripen. I think I just may get some eggplant before the frost, they've liked this hot weather and are really growing. Same with the bell peppers. So fingers crossed.
I'm actually writing out my plans for next years garden, may even start drawing out diagrams so I know where I want things next year.
Sat I levered them up a bit and discovered part of the reason they were collapsing was the wood was rotting away. So we had just planned on stuffing a square cinderblock undeneath that spot, instead Sunday we ended up pulling the steps and rebuilding part of them. We replaced the 2 rotten pieces, the boards on the bottom step, a whole bunch of nails that had rusted and broken, put down the cinderblock so the front corner of the one side is no longer on dirt (the other edge of the steps is on the sidewalk).
The steps are definately more solid, we will be rebuilding them completely next year. Whoever built them in the first place didn't know what they were doing and there really isn't proper support, just a whole bunch of end pieces nailed together. I've surprised they lasted as long as they did.
For a change, a small quick project wasn't QUITE as bad as usual (spending 4 hours trying to remove a faucett that should have come out in minutes). We had the wood we needed, the tools we needed and the weather we needed (okay, the cordless drill ran out of juice early on, but we had backups). I did set the corded drill on fire some how, it is about 40 years old and hubby says the grease inside just caught fire because it got rather warm.
Garden wise, I finally did something with the pea pods I've been harvesting this last week. With those and a small bag of some I got from a friend, I stiirfried them with beef for dinner on Sat. YUM!!! I want more peas!!!!! Next year I am definately planting more. I've got cucumbers finally coming on, also long beans and my cherry tomatos are popping little green tomatos all over. I can't wait for them to ripen. I think I just may get some eggplant before the frost, they've liked this hot weather and are really growing. Same with the bell peppers. So fingers crossed.
I'm actually writing out my plans for next years garden, may even start drawing out diagrams so I know where I want things next year.
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