Masking The Pain

Today was a disaster. I'm trying to shore up our rotten deck from underneath. It's way more rotten than I thought. I'm seriously depressed and the pictures are too ugly to post.

So I'm going with the ultimate comfort food tonight - chicken fajitas, done by me, just how I like them. I don't know if tomorrow will be any better, but right now, I could care less.

How It's Really Going

Not The Day I Had Hoped For

The concrete pile is gone. A concrete outfit was doing some work next door and we hired them to haul off our pile of rubble. Good deal. Money well spent. Even if their skanky bobcat did leak oil all over our driveway.



The garage we built last fall needs finished. Kinda the first thing that has to happen is we need to run electricity out there. Unfortunately, the power has to run under the deck and the deck is a rotting pile of krap. Today, was supposed to be the day I rebuilt the underside of the deck.

The job got a little too big for one day . . . especially when it started raining. Trying to rebuild rotted stuff is the worst. It's best to stay calm.



I got the temporary bracing in and the old rotten stuff demo'd. And that's about it. Depressing. So I'm having sloppy joes tonight. Best comfort food ever.





I'll keep at it.

Finally!

Last time we talked, this was going down:



Well, after tearing the shit out of everything last fall, those friggin' crazyass neighbors totally shut it down all winter. Which was fine, until the snow melted and revealed the dump they had created. That was a while ago. Nobody wants neighbors like these. You have normal neighbors. You have no idea how lucky you are.

At long last, there was some activity tonight. I think maybe they are getting ready to do something with those piles of concrete. One can only hope.

Early-To-Mid-Winter Status Report

Everything has pretty much come to a screeching halt. I busted tail to get the trench dug, I had Greg on board to run the power, and then I had to leave town. And in the meantime, winter hit. And oh yeah, the garage door guy wouldn't return my calls. What-HEVVER! Time for a new garage door guy.

That monster snow pile sits right above where the power has to go. Guess power's not happening anytime soon.



Apparently, Matt and I sunk enough nails to keep things from collapsing under the weight of the snow.





But I'm not that confident, so I cleared both roofs!

Even though we have no garage door, we're thoroughly enjoying not having to scrape our windows or brush snow off the roof.



We had looked forward to calling the container company to come pick up their steel box. Looks like it could be a while.

A Good Butt Kickin'

Tonight I'm feeling all of my 46 years, plus about 15 of somebody else's. The plan this weekend was to dig a simple trench from the garage to the house to bury the electrical feed. No big deal, right?

Well . . ummmm, BEE-EYE-GEE DEE-YALL, as it turns out. I hit lotsa rock and my suspicion that our 1929 house sits so high out of the ground because nobody wanted to dig any deeper into the rocky soil is hereby confirmed. I understand the concept of "breaking rocks" so much better tonight. Because in many cases it is literally easier to break them, than to dig them out. And believe me when I tell you that it takes some force to break them. Flat, nasty bastards that are all interlocked and seem to have the will to stay put and discourage any attempts otherwise. I have a little will of my own, though. And a bunch of rock trash talk, apparently.

And even though I can no longer lift my lead arms past about shoulder height and the trench is not complete and my back will be locked up in the morning, I feel a sense of satisfaction about swinging a pick all weekend. Serious hard work, man. We've become so mechanized, but hard-core labor is what built our country and all the great infrastructure we enjoy (think railroads, for e.g.), and there are so many people that still bust ass on that level every day.

The progress is what it is and it will all work out.

Here's this weekend's pictures, then.

All progress ground to a serious halt over the holiday week. Something had to happen tonight.

There was some extra concrete left over after pouring the garage skirt and so the contactor offered to replace some decaying sections of the dilapidated driveway. I dislocated my shoulder as I raised my arms in celebration. Tonight it was time to haul off the old, broken chunks of concrete and put the driveway back in order.

There. All better. (Are these some great night-time pictures, or what?)

I'm feeling gloriously white trash. I have no 'concrete' plans for this pile. Get it? Seriously funny stuff. I crack myself up sometimes.