Construction!

We're in the final push to finish our house!  Why? Because we've purchased another one and we'll be moving in a couple of months.  Not very far away, mind you -- the other side of town (technically, the next town over). It's the four-acre place where our horses have been boarding for the last four summers. The house came available this summer and we put in an outrageous offer, which was accepted.  We're calling it a God-thing because there is no way we should have been able to get the house. 

That said, we've got work to do here and so my hubby is hard at it with a crew of friends and relatives.

First off, we took down the old deck on the front of the house.

Before:

(And what you can't see here, because we cleverly covered it up, is the spot where you could sink your foot through the boards if you weren't careful!)

After the demolition:

 There were quite a few rotten boards under the old deck.  We've got brand new lumber now, and the deck will wrap around this side of the house when it is completed:

However, we've had to interrupt the deck work in order to re-roof the house during a spell of dry and sunny weather.

Here's the start of the operation -- taking down about a bajillion cedar shingles on a very steeply pitched roof

That's right -- no one wanted a safety harness.  At times, I just couldn't look.

This is my favorite pic of the roofing party:

The little helpers.

One discarded shingle at a time, they helped to fill the trailer.  Anthony, in yellow, is 6 years old. Casey, in blue, is 4 years old.  Casey (who is my grandson) eventually asked me if he could have a pair of "glubs" for his hands. I smothered a smile and turned to fetch a pair from the front yard. Casey trotted after me, yelling over his shoulder, "One second, I go get glubs!"  He was very proud of himself that evening.

More to come!

- Catherine