Saturday, August 29, 2015

Look Ma, no deck!!

Last weekend I called in my Guthrie Crew and Josh and Michael (honorary members of the Guthrie crew) to tear down our old deck.  We have been planning to replace this deck for seven years.  And finally we are ready!  We’ve been working on the plans for the past few months, redesigning the layout and new stairs.  So now that we have all our ducks in a row, it’s time for some demo!

Josh arrived at 8am with his Sawzall and proceeded to cut the thing apart.  He originally wanted to use a chainsaw (haha!) but my brother John wanted the scrap wood to reuse so it was important that we leave it mostly intact. :)

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This picture shows my Mama kicking the balusters (AKA spindles or pickets) off the deck edge.  When she was finished, she wanted to know if I got a picture of that.  Of course! :)

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Josh sawed off the fasteners and then pushed the stairs over.

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While Josh and Michael were deconstructing, Mama was carrying the pieces away and pulling the treads off the stairs.  Papa was pulling nails and stacking all the wood up for haul away.  Hannah and I were documenting the process and hanging out with the children. :)

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It came down rather quickly. :) 

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They even found a job for me, removing lags from the header board.  I also sledgehammered off some of the stair treads, but no pictures, alas. :)

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All done.

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After we were finished removing the deck, Mama and I set to removing part of the patio.  Since the long string of stairs is not going back on this side, we won’t be needing the weird second level walkway on the patio anymore.  We’re redesigning it, too.  So we moved some the pavers out of the way, shoveled up the gravel into buckets (and a big pile on the driveway) and removed the timber wall holding the upper level.  After the “fun” we had installing the patio the first time, I am less than excited about putting it back together.  But it will be worth it in the end when it’s finished and all one level!  Hooray!

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For now, I’m just enjoying listening to Josh’s crew put the deck back together! :)  Be back soon with details!

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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Lazy Summer Musings…

Well, hello blog friends!  Did you miss me?  Sorry for going away for so long!  I’m back with a bit of a summer update. 

Since I last saw you, we have celebrated the 4th of July with some local fireworks.

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We celebrated the 6th Birthday of my little blog! That one kind of passed by without too much fanfare, but it’s nice to remember that I’ve been chronicling our life here at the Horvath House for 6 years now!  Check out our archives and categories at the right for over 300 past posts. 

We took a trip to Ohio to visit our good friends in Columbus.  While we were there we visited the #1 zoo in the country, Columbus Zoo!  There was a tiger that I’m pretty sure wanted me to pet his belly, and I tried to find a way to smuggle out a red panda…

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While we were on vacation, the housework fairy visited and cleaned my gutters and the garden fairy came and planted some annuals around and also weedwacked the creekbank (again).  Those fairies are awesome! 

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The rest of the month has passed in a blur of knitting projects…

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And hanging out with my little buddies…

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I’ve checked off a few house projects like trim painting and garden weeding. We put in a second row of green beans since the first ones weren’t doing well.  These are growing fine!  Our second crop of corn is also getting ready to make ears.

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In between sewing and gardening projects, I’ve also been collaborating with my sister on a little art project for my nephew’s upcoming birthday… I’m illustrating a book for him!  (or I’m attempting to.)

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Meanwhile the garden keeps growing and the flowers keep blooming, which keeps me smiling and snapping away with my camera!

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Summer is winding down… let’s enjoy these last weeks of warm weather and flowers and bountiful crops! :)  We’re off to the beach tomorrow to soak up some sun for our last summer hurrah!  Have a great weekend!