.
As reported the other day, husband still had half a pile of pea gravel left over from his filling project.
.
.
Not wanting it to kill his carefully tended lawn, he planned to distribute it around our culverts the next day.
.
.
So of course, it rained.
.
.
Which didn’t deter my husband.
.
.
Back and forth, from one end of our property to the other.
.
.
Soaking wet..
.
.
He could have waited until it stopped.
He could have…
.
.
It seems my husband misjudged how much pea gravel he would need.
.
.
4 yards was ordered and roughly two was used.
.
.
The poor man loaded and dumped and spread for days.
.
.
I honestly don’t know where he gets the energy or how he has the stamina at his age.
.
.
I’m 16 years younger and it wears me out just watching.
.
.
Viola!
Level ground… even though it may not look like it in the photo.
.
.
Of course now there’s the question of what to do with the rest of the fill pile that wasn’t needed.
It’s way over here…
So maybe we’ll worry about that tomorrow.
🥴
.
.
The wheel barrow dumping of fill continues…
.
.
With an extremely unsecured ramp of random wood pieces.
.
.
And as you can see,
.
.
Hedges and rhododendron have been butchered to allow access.
.
.
Sigh.
.
.
The fill is heavy, the boards are narrow.
.
.
And the noise ?
Like fingernails on a chalkboard all day long.
.
.
😳
.
.
My husband had 4 yards of pea gravel delivered. And because he didn’t want to ruin the lawn or the new driveway, it was dropped at the outer reaches of our property.
.
.
Good for the lawn, but bad for his back.
.
.
He built a little ramp.
.
.
And proceeded to haul small loads back and forth…
.
.
All day long.
.
.
Dumping them under the torn off porch…
.
.
To try and level things out.
.
.
It may not look like a long way, but when you’re his age? Trust me, it feels like a mile.
.
.
Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow.
.
.
Dumped and spread.
.
.
It’s hard to tell in the pictures but the difference in land height from right to left is a foot.
.
.
Here, left to right.
And filling in 12 inches of a 30 foot span?
Is more than a one day job.
.
.
Because nothing is ever simple at Casa River.
Tear down of the front porch is complete…
.
.
And this is the composite decking color I chose.
.
.
It’s called Rocky Harbor, clay toned with a little grey. I thought this would be the next step in the replacement process but my husband had other ideas.
See the wall behind the porch with 3 windows and a door?
.
.
Husband will have to remove some of the lower siding and since he can’t find an exact color match he decided he wants to change it….
So he came home with this.
.
.
A catalog for fake stone siding. Easy to install and lightweight…
.
.
It gives the look of stone without the hassle or high price.
.
.
He chose the Santa Fe color, which admittedly looked pretty good… and brought home a sample.
.
.
Which looked anything but good in real life.
Cheap, plastic-y and not convincing anyone it was stone… it looked like the skirting they put under trailers in the 70’s.
And since my motto is if you’re going to do something you might as well do it right….
.
.
I took my husband to the store to look at actual stone. He wasn’t thrilled as it’s a lot more expensive and much harder to work with…. but since it was his idea to replace the old siding (instead of carefully removing it and putting it back on) he couldn’t really argue.
.
.
I brought these two samples home.
There are going to be issues. Three windows and a door to cut around. Depth discrepancies. And the conundrum of how to marry corners- one edge stone and one edge vinyl siding.
No one seems to be able to answer our questions but the lumber store is having a trade show with the stone distributors soon, so we’ll attend and hopefully learn how to install stone properly.
Wish us luck.
I have a feeling we’ll need it.
🥴
.
.
It’s been slow going but the tear down of our old front porch is fully underway.
.
.
All the decking has been removed and even though the posts are not load bearing my husband propped up a temporary support .
.
.
In his typical professional fashion.
Sigh.
.
.
Sure.
That looks stable…
🥴
.
.
Lots of rotted wood had to be removed because there was no j channel under the door, or under any of the porch siding.
.
.
He’s trying to keep as much of the old frame as he can. Even if it is a wee bit crooked. Those cement posts are buried 3 feet down and there’s no way we’re moving them.
.
.
Does my husband know what he’s doing?
Not really. Just enough to be dangerous.
That’s what makes it blog worthy.
🥺
.
.
Never let it be said my husband doesn’t keep life interesting.
The other day was picture perfect. Clear skies, bright sunshine and fabulously moderate temperatures in the low 70’s. The kind of day that lends itself to outdoor adventures.
So when my spouse told me to get dressed because we were taking a ride up the coast, I was thrilled.
But I should have known better.
Oh, we drove up the coast…
But not to a scenic coastal village.
No…
.
.
My husband took me to the dump.
.
.
But not just any dump.. the huge, drive your truck in and throw absolutely anything under the sun away dump… which for him consisted of the old front porch he’d just torn down.
.
.
Lucky me.
The place recently implemented a hard hat rule so I had to stay in the truck and missed being narrowly hit by flying trash.
.
.
As you’re dumping, they’re pushing the refuse back with bulldozers … which can get a little hairy.
And oh…
Did I mention the smell?
Let’s just say it wasn’t the beach rose and crisp ocean air I was expecting.
😳
.
.
Be careful when you open our front door.
.
.
That first step is a killer.
.
.
Tear down continues and as you can see, my husband is thrilled I’m photographing the process.
.
.
There’s so much more rotted wood than he originally thought …
.
.
Which means more work, not to mention money.
.
.
Thankfully I’m the one who wanted to wait for the contractor to do this job, so he can’t blame me.
😉
Did I mention there were rocks?
.
.
So many rocks underfoot, though I have no idea why. If it was to help with drainage they failed miserably as all the soil flows down from the lawn towards the house.
.
Tear down of our old rotted front porch has commenced.
.
.
This is the part I’m more than happy to have my husband do.
.
.
It keeps him busy and there’s no finesse or fine tuning required.
.
.
Of course once he starts… he looks around and thinks about replacing more than just the decking.
.
.
And as with any project at our house…
.
.
Rotted wood we never knew about is discovered.
.
.
He was hoping he wouldn’t have to replace the frame underneath…
.
.
But so much of it is bad he’ll have to.
.
.
Sigh…
.
.
My spouse is getting ready to rip down our front porch and rebuild it. And if his contracting skills… or rather his lack of… aren’t worrying enough?
There’s this.
.
.
My glorious rhododendrons, which due to all the rain we had this spring are bigger and fuller than they’ve ever been.
.
.
Yes, the porch is old and rotted.
.
.
Yes, the support posts aren’t supporting anything.
.
.
.
No, the railings aren’t level.
.
.
But… but…
.
.
My rhodies are huge and just about to burst into full bloom.
They’re also right in the way and I know my husband is going to butcher them so he has room to work.
😱
.
River's world..... 