Frenzy

We are entering the last few weeks of construction before we move back, and the only word that can describe the project now is frenzy.   Different crews are working in different areas inside and outside the house at a frenetic pace.  It's a wonder they don't trip all over each other.

So, let's start with the outside shall we?  As you may or may not know, we have two adorable wiener dogs that need a nice fence around the yard to keep their little butts from getting out.

What?  As if we'd ever try to escape.

Sadly, there is this thing called lot coverage.  You are only allowed a certain percentage of your lot to be covered by any kind of structure.  This includes fences, decks, buildings, and concrete pads.  You see, the previous owners of this property were artists, and they wanted to build a studio in the back yard.  They even went so far as to have a concrete slab poured out back.  For whatever reason, the studio never got built, but the slab worked great as a basketball court for their two young boys.  When the hubby and I moved in, we kept the slab out back with the hopes of using it one day as a patio, or maybe painting it as a chessboard and buying those huge yard chess pieces.

  Oh the geekiness that could have ensued.

We never did get around to doing the chessboard idea, and I guess it's a good thing we didn't waste our time on it because the city is making us bust it all up.  If we want a wiener dog containment fence, it will put us over our lot coverage, so we have to bust up and get rid of the concrete slab.  This has been quite a burr in my butt because that concrete slab wasn't hurting anybody.  It just sat innocently out in our yard waiting to be used.  But you can't fight authority and I do need a fenced yard.  What follows is a photographic essay I'd like to call "Death Of A Concrete Slab":

And so it begins.  If you're a neighbor of mine and are reading this, I'm really sorry you had to listen to jackhammering Thanksgiving week.  I assure you, we really didn't want to do this. 

We couldn't get heavy equipment to the back of the house any more, so the guys had to carry all the rubble out to a dump truck by hand.  Sorry guys!

Goodbye old friend.  I'll miss you, particularly when I'm cleaning mud off wiener dog paws all winter because they've been playing in the mud slick where you once stood.

But all was not sadness and loss in the back yard.  While one crew was busy killing our concrete slab, another was building our new deck.

You can see the bare bones being laid down here.  To the left is what will be our screened in porch.

Concrete was poured for a base at the stairs and to hold the deck pilings.  We don't do anything half-assed around here.

We thought about doing something decorative or fancy with the deck railing, but honestly, we're sort of tired of coming up with the creative stuff like that.  At the end of the day, we decided to just go with a classic deck rail.  I still think it looks pretty neat.

 These workers are thinking, "Gee, this is a really cool deck!"

 Almost all done.  All it needs is a railing to hold on to for the stairs and we'll be in business.

 And look!  Our fence is pretty much done too.

Well that's it for this update folks.  Tune in next time when I show you all the craziness that's been going on inside the house.  I'll leave you with this photo of our contractor having coffee with his friend R2D2.