My dilemma

Several years ago I started to work on the stairs to the side porch. I had replaced most of the bricks that had fallen out or were loose, but as for the stairs themselves, well I was not sure what to do. The stairs had fallen into a sloped position due to settling. I pondered as to what the best approach would be, remove and relay all the bricks (labor intensive since the bricks were placed in cement-not just mortar), pour some sort of leveling cement on the top (probably would look tacky) or just leave them and justify it by saying "it's the character of the home" or use "the bricks aren't sloped it's just all in your mind" approach (not sure how successful I would be at that). Anyway much to my better judgement I decided that the best approach would be to remove the bricks and relay them. I completed the bottom step before we left for Russia. Now that we are back I have been able to redo the second level. And yes, it is quite labor intensive,but it has given me an excuse to buy some more tools-you need tools to do the work you know. (They may not appear to be level in the picture but trust me they are.) Now only four more steps to go and winter is around the corner.

A treasure or just one more piece to the puzzle

While working on the foyer we needed to find a way to open the transom to allow heat and plaster dust to exit and bugs not to enter. I remembered seeing what appeared to be a screen in the basement but I had no idea where it went. Chris brought it up from the basement and lo and behold it was the screen made for the front door transom. I like it when we discover where things belong. It is sort of like a jigsaw puzzle.

Progress is slow and sometimes not so steady

It has taken us four and one half years (this is not including the 18 months when we were living in Russia) to finish sealing the holes in the ceiling on the second floor. Now all we need to do is sand and paint. By the way, the hole in the ceiling over the staircase was quite a challenge with a ladder.

Potatoes

We haven't had much luck in grow vegetables since we have lived here, but this year we tried to grow potatoes in a large flower pot and yes we were somewhat successful. It was exciting to finally be able to grow something.

We are back!

After living in Russia for 18 months we are back in the swing of working on the house. I will need to restore the pictures that were lost from previous posts and start to post new pictures.