Almost there ...

WOW ... yesterday was very productive. We got quite a bit done. The kids are sick, Madeline is on her way to getting better and Eli seemed to be starting with the symptoms last night.

So we are staying home today. We decided to not got to church this morning, as much as Manda and I wanted to go, we thought to keep our kids germs and such to ourselves.

Agenda for today ... stairs and start the handrail. Oh and keep warm ... low of 27 degrees today. Brrrrr

As of last night around 7.30pm ... back of house


Side of house ...

For those that like a visual ...

This first pic of the side of the house ... we decided to use the stoop for support due to inability to dig post holes in that area. While attempting to dig holes on either side of the stoop we uncovered an unknown amount of scrap/junk filler concrete that was put in that area for filler. Plus those were the last to holes we attempted to dig ... and our arms fealt like they were gonna fall off.



Another pic of the side ... there will be stairs coming off the deck inline with the door ... should be like one step then driveway. Shouldnt stick out to far.



And the back ... middle of the three windows I think needs to be replaced by a nice door of somekind. That window is in our dining room off of the kitchen. I think it makes sense ... :)
Opinions welcomed on that ... oh and another set of steps will come off of the back somewhere.

And another pic of the back ... I just like the rays of sunshine in this pic. Only reason its posted. :)

Deck ... sometimes seems like a naughty four letter word

So another installment of the epic story that is the word DECK. Sometimes I wonder if it was even worth it ... specially yesterday morning. I had taken the day off yesterday to make some "real progress". Let me back up to Thursday evening. Anyone who lives in the DesMoines area and was outside that evening would understand how miserable it was ... cold ... rainy ... just BLAH, especially if you were looking forward to an early start the next day working outside. Ya that was me, so I went to bed praying and blessing God that he would bless me with an eventful and prosperous day. Waking up the following morning to what was even more miserable than the night before. It was that soupy heavy misty rain and cold ... almost like being in the shower, but definately not as enjoyable. Did I say it was COLD? Hop back inside after taking the dog out to look at the radar/forecast for the day and it really doesnt look hopefull. So now I am really feeling bad, getting uber-crabby, but trying to be joyful and thankfull for the day that was given.

Im going to back up a week now and just mention another concern that was uncovered in our home. Two years ago or so my brother-inlaw and myself gutted our bathroom to the studs and remodeled. Now it wasnt that grand of a remodel but it was humbly nice, clean, and new. Moving forward two years to just a week ago ... our son Eli decided to pull back a portion of our shower surround while taking a bath. At first I was extremely upset, but after some investigation of what happened was extremely thankful because to our shock there was black mold feeding on drywall mud behind the surround. Evidently the caulk job wasnt enough and allowed moisture to get back behind the surround. So my mind is going to the Nth degree and thinking "OH FLIPPIN GREAT!! I am going to have to tear out the surround, replace drywall and a surround enclosure for the shower. This(assuming around $500) was definately not worked in to the budget along with the termites(roughly $1500).

So here is were it gets cool ... my dad(general contractor for 30 yrs) has been helping me with the deck project comes over to our house around 10.30am thinking that the rain would be done by that time. I get back from Menards and breakfast at BK with Eli(of which was a really cool time). It was a blast walking through Menards with Eli ... he kept commenting on how cool all of the man stuff in the man store was. :) So we get back and dad is starting to get things organized in his work van preparing for the day. Ya well the rain isnt letting up .. so we decide to go inside and wait it out .. hoping that it would be over in a few hours. So we sit down on the couch and the bathroom comes up in conversation and immediately out of dads mouth comes "lets take a look". After about 5 minutes of investigation dads wisdom of 30 yrs comes out in casual conversation of "well all this needs is a little cleanup, water sealant were the mold was, and re-caulked. So in a matter of a breath $500 in materials is reduced to <$10.

GOD IS GOOD!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

So I start scraping and cleaning out the area behind the surround that was moldy, slap a coat of Pro-Block water sealant on it. Let it dry ... still raining outside ... dad works his magic caulking abilities and rain stops. Im just going to stop again and say how awesome God is ... GOD IS GOOD!!! WOOT!

We poke our heads back outside and no rain. So on to the deck for the rest of the afternoon. Ya it was a pain working outside with all of the mud, but we got almost all of the framing and support joists done, just a few left for tomorrow and then we start laying deck boards, stairs, and hand-rail.

So all in all ... God has it under control ... ALWAYS. When it seems like junk is getting in the way its because the enemy is trying to get you focused on the junk and off of what should be the most important.

Which is ... Jesus

God is good ...

Peace ...

So its Friday night ... siting on the couch with the kids watching Chicken Run and listening to Corey Asbury. I came across him on Youtube while searching for videos on IHOP. Now your first thought that prolly comes to mind is ... why in the earth are you listening to someone that works at a pancake house. :) International House Of Prayer

Anyways ... so Im searching the countless numbers of people trying to stake a claim for themselves on that video wasteland ... but in the wasteland there are quite a few gems ... if you can keep from straying away from your original search. Anyways ... so you dont get lost Ill just post a link here so you can listen to this amazing artist.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=383010570

My favorite so far is 'So Good to Me' ... check him out ... very good stuff.

AArrgh ... there go the poochy bells ... time to take the hound outside.

New Deck+TERMITES!!!=sucking force like a black hole on your savings account

So my dad has been so gracious to help me build a deck onto our house. We started two Saturdays ago on this beast. Well its not really a beast in regards to size, but oh let me stop right now and throw out a bit of advice ... if you are thinking of constructing something that requires putting posts in the ground either

A)pay to have them dug or B)rent a post hole digger thats automated in some fashion.

We used a two-man that we had to work down into the ground and back out. It was an extreme workout, but I guess since Im a desk jockey this type of manual labor affects me more than it should. The deck when complete will be really nice, it will wrap around from the back to the side door for easy access, and I have this vision of a hamock somewhere :)

OK so on the side of our house next to our driveway, the previous owners made the worst decision in landscaping/edging history and decided to use railroad ties. So ya you know where this is going, the wife and I have been wanting to tear out the ties for a few years anyways, so I rip the first couple out and nothing wierd a few millipedes that gave me the heeby jeebies but nothing crazy. Work my way further around to the front and rip two more up and much to my shock were these nasty little white things roaming about. A quick trip online to google images and yeap ... termites. So Im thinking flipping great how bad is this gonna get. Called the Orkin guy and after a free inspection it would appear that visually(from what you can see) the inside of the house is ok at this point. However the initial quote we recieved was just under $1500. I just about poo'ed myself.

I just hope these little devastators of wood can hold off from starting to eat at our house now that I ripped out their food supply. Hmmm .. maybe I should have left a few in o.O

Oh snap ...

So like the countless others on the intarweb I decided to start the madness. Not sure what the facination of all this is, but hopefully I will serve to interest some, humor others, and maybe have what is wet and fire at the same time work through me and touch the rest. If thats just one person then giddy-up.