Another week gone by in the new house, and I haven't made the time for a post. It's been really busy with projects, but Pat has been home and Mona came down to visit for a couple of days.


Mona has breakfast with us on the patio next to the kitchen.

Mona brought a bunch of nice things with her - some plant starts for the garden, some household things, food goodies (including a cherry pie made with cherries from her freezer we picked last summer in Wheatland), and some reading. Since Mona helped us choose this place it was nice to have her over as the first overnight guest.

One of the imminent projects is the construction of a small deck in front of the house. When we first saw the place, the front was so devoid of character we might have not even bothered to have a look.


The original MLS photo of the front.

When we decided to buy the place, we knew we'd do something about the front. Some landscaping would help, but it really needed a more inviting entry, and the deck combined with landscape improvements seemed like the obvious choice. I found a construction guy who seemed OK to work with, and we came up with a preliminary design - a 12X12 deck with a corner integrated bench and a ramp for acessibility.


The front as it appears today.


The front as it will appear with the deck added - a first draft.

Construction of the deck should take place the last week of this month. After that, I'll be doing some landscape work around it, and possibly adding a new flagstone walk across the front yard to the sidewalk from the mid-point of the front edge of the deck. We plan to reduce the amount of grass in the front in favor of some native plants with low water requirements on either side of the new walk.

Between now and then, there is a tile repair guy, a skylight installation, and a major electrical upgrade to be dealt with...

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