The porch ceiling is up and almost completely painted. The vinyl siding and cedar shingles removed revealing original brown wood. George and the two Johnny's--carpenter/painter and grader/landscaper have been working for days, digging out dirt with the back hoe, removing layers of rotting soaked wood from the side of house, moving towards the goal of house which keeps water from seeping in. A few missing bats have emerged from under the siding and in the eaves. This is a good sign--it was chilling to think that after years of thousands of bats, there were none. Maybe they didn't all die, but just decided to clear out to make room for me, leaving a few behind to keep an eye on things in case the house is abandoned once again.
Although the house is looking fairly battered, all these removals are an improvement, and it's becoming possible, even for me, scarcely a visionary in this department, to see that we are actually making progress.
All that digging and removing means we have to build a new retaining wall on the side of the house. There is a stone supplier minutes from the house. I drive over and wander about asking dopey questions, staring at rocks and learning about different kinds of stone walls. Turns out the walls I most like--are just piles of rock--you buy palettes of stone and then just pile them up neatly (not that easily, George reminds me, but I think it is something I could do with help). My choice at the moment is called Weathered Rattled Blue Stone. We should be ready to build the wall next week.
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