A bit of awesomeness...

Firewood Man went to tie in the lower handrail post into the stairs and the original stair tread split.  I laughed.  He sighed.  New steps, too.

He really should have planned for them, because, going up and down them carrying the wood the past there years, Tim always grips about walking on a trampoline since the steps jiggled so much.

Today was a truncated day and he will not be able to return until Monday.  "Surely by next Wednesday we will be done," Tim said.  I kept my mouth shut.

Mostly, because the sidewalk beside the porch and in front of the steps is cracked and broken and has missing pieces.  He's been wanting to replace it for a couple of years.  Only, to me, the thought of wet concrete is about as appealing as the phrase "jack up your roof a bit."  Besides, there are actually five other sections elsewhere that are also broken between all my sidewalks and if he's pouring concrete in one place, he's going to want to pour it in others.  If he stuck to just the four sections around the porch, how long can that possibly take??

Tim put in a temporary staircase before he left.  [Amos does not know how to use it.]  You can see that the new staircase does not go all the way to the sidewalk, but if you actually peer closely at the corner of the sidewalk, you will see that the first straight section off the corner is not original and is too narrow.  We filled in the gap with some of the bazillion old bricks that I have found around the yard, including even more beneath the porch.

Wait.
I just counted.
That's five sections he would be fixing.

You can see that almost all the construction debris has been hauled away, with only a small stack of the best of the old boards (in case he can use them on the inside lattice framing for the bottom of the porch) resting beneath the porch.  That is to say, in case Firewood Man can save me money.

After he left, I tried out Firewood Man's other suggestion.

[Amos is still afraid of the steps.]

Firewood Man said that if I moved the grill and recycling bin to the other side of the porch [GASP], then the wood pile would be better protected (now that the lattice walls are gone), and I would have a lot of open space for a rocking chair or lounge chair or small table set.  Something.  Even with the firewood there, but more so in the warm months when the firewood rack would be in the garage.

[Is is odd that Firewood Man thinks about these things when he is not here and then shows up with new ideas??]

I admit that I am the consummate creature of habit. I have been eating the same meal at Mexican restaurants since I was knee high to a grasshopper (queso and chips and chicken fajitas, no rice or pico de gallo, but extra beans, cheese, and sour cream).  I am having a hard time with the grill on the door side of the porch because it has never been on the door side of the porch.  And the wood pile has  never been on the far side of the porch because it has always been on the door side of the porch.

What do you think of his idea?  Of the switch??

Tim left me his sawhorses and a neighbor I do not know but who saw me setting them up in the garage loaned me his set.  That means, before Monday, I will prime and paint at least one coat of the house "red" paint on the framing wood for the lattice section.  That way, I will only have to paint a second coat once it is installed.  Actually, I will paint two coats on one side and the edges and then one coat on the side that will need touching up anyway.  It was misting today, when Tim unloaded the  wood, so I set it up on the saw horses, but will not start painting until tomorrow.

Then, as I was typing this, I thought to look for free porch furniture.  As in, someone's trash is my treasure.  I got me a very solid and comfortable, but in dire need of paint (or stripping, which is too much work for me) rocking chair!!!

I jumped in the car (forgetting that I am wearing a hoodie and men's lounge pants) and raced over to be the first one to pick it up.  Then I nearly had two accidents on the way home, not because I was drag racing another person who wanted the chair, but because I was so giddy with excitement and anticipation of just how wonderful it will be to take my rest in this chair whilst Amos is dilly-dallying about the back yard under the guise of attempting his major business.

Guess who still has some heavy duty GREEN paint left in her can???  I'm going to run a sanding block over this, paint it with bonding primer because I can see at least 4 colors of paint on the chair (one is gold!!!), and then put on two coats of that most loveliest of colors.

Oh, my!  How ever will I calm down??

Today, I edited marketing copy for a real estate broker in California.  [I sure to savor the opportunity to practice the craftsmanship of writing.]  I handed Tim but one screw, because it was so cold outside he merely kept them in his pocket.  I remembered to get my blood work completed.  And I managed to find (but not yet fill out) the paperwork I need to complete before seeing the neurologist on Friday.  That's about it, though.  Not much of an accomplishment ... save for snagging a bit of awesomeness for my back porch.

Oh, yes, I did get picked for most honest Amazon review, so the manufacturer is sending me a bluetooth keyboard to use with the iPad mini I got last year.  Funny, I ultimately explained why one would not want to purchase the cover.  I will, of course, wait to receive the keyboard before actually believing I won something.

I'm off to read the introduction to Michael Card's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.  It is long and dense, at first glance.  So, I may need to read it several times ... or keep reading it as the "beginning" each time I start a new chapter by reading through the previous chapter.  And then watch "The Good Wife" and "The Blacklist"  Finally ... maybe ... I can figure out a way to teach Amos that the new temporary back porch stairs are nothing to fear.

Hah!
Me teaching Amos about conquering fear.
The blind leading the blind for true!