Beers on the porch.

In my little world, there's nothing better than sitting on the porch while having a few beers.

I now have a porch. To have beers on.

 I sat there for an hour or so yesterday when David was finished with the grass.

It was nice.  We waved to passersby and talked about our plans for the landscaping in the future.

We also found and agreed on a porch design.  While it will be a little different from the original, it will fit the house nicely.

With Spring arriving in the Upper Peninsula, it brought with it, not only paying jobs taking my boys away from the old house most days, but also normal everyday chores like mowing and such.

Some days it seems progress on the old house is pretty slow.

But the other day I arrived home from work to find a newly stoned chimney.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of it for quite awhile.

It made me smile, indeed.

While popular opinion was to leave the chimney as is, when we discussed it with a friend of ours who is a mason who repaired the chimney in the past, it was his opinion that it needed something. 

A soft chimney would be better repaired before installation of a steel roof.

He told the boys they regret it if they didn't do it now rather than later.

So they agreed.  And I got the chimney I wanted.

They got the back deck started as well.  I was hoping to make it bigger. But for now, this is it.

In the future, we agreed to wrap it around the back of the house to create a "patio" for summer time outdoor entertainment.  I can't have the world right up front, I suppose.

The main roof is ready for steel.  Our rolls of steel coil have arrived, and they have already began making trim.  The siding will be put on above the porch roof before the steel will be installed there.

I can already see it.  I'm excited for next week.

For good measure

What better way to spend a Saturday.

The Davids measured the porch.

 History repeats itself as the son helps the father.

Petrie tradition.

When I showed him this picture.

He laughed and said he looks like he is in over his head.

PS:  The steel for the roof is ORDERED!

Concrete Countertops

It feels like not much progress has been made over at the new old house lately.

The boys have been working on actual work, so my little project is less a priority.

Since being paid is actually kind of nice sometimes.

They also moved into their new workshop over at the new old house.

Now they have plenty of breathing space to make me new beautiful creations.

The running of the plumbing while important,

doesn't leave much to show in terms of visible progress.

We do have a usable toilet now in the new downstairs powder room.

No more running over to the old new house for potty breaks for me.

A tiny bit of tape and mud was started.

The boys newest test run was the newly popular concrete counter tops.

I suggested they start small with a test run on the powder room sink top.

They used charcoal dye, we are toying with the idea of purchasing

some of the acid washes available to give it a different look.

They never cease to amaze me in their abilities.

Why are there so many types of toilets?

Yesterday we spent the day in the big city of Marquette, Michigan.

We bought more dry wall. 

I bought more kitchen idea books, cause I'm addicted to over planning my kitchen.

We bought plumbing supplies. 
We bought a bathroom sink.
We bought a toilet for the downstairs bathroom.

It's the first time I ever purchased a new toilet. 

Until yesterday, whatever toilet was available in whatever other houses I have occupied in my life was good enough.

Who knew there would be such a choice.  I figured 'standard toilet' was pretty standard.

Boy, was I in for a huge surprise.  There are too many types to chose from.

I mean really, why are there so many types of toilets?