A deck!

Scott has been on Toxicology rotation this month - meaning that it is one of his "easier" months of residency where he acts as a consultant when patients come into the ER who have put a few too many toxins in their body.  He was needed if patients overdose on crazy drugs, or combine dangerous new ones that the doctors don't have much experience with, or get into poisons - including venomous snake or spider bites.  He's seen some very interesting things this month, and although he was on call nearly every day, it was from home, and he didn't have to go in very often.  SO, he has had plenty of time to get a lot of house projects done that we have been talking about doing since we had our rush move-in in November before his big surgery.

He finished some wiring and we put in several light fixtures that we've wanted to put up, but haven't made time for yet because they weren't necessary.  As you saw in a previous post, we spent two days insulating the attic, and he's been working on various other projects here and there.  The biggest project we've been wanting to do is our back deck.  The old one was ugly, and rickety, pretty much becoming a hazard, as you can see in this picture....

So, after looking into hiring someone to build a deck (which was looking to be about an $11,000 project for the size we were talking-OUCH!), we decided this was definitely something we could take on by ourselves.  Scott ordered a book online, and hired a man to help him.  Well, he hired two, but one decided it wasn't really his thing after a day and a half of work.

On Monday Scott ordered all of the supplies and they ripped down the old deck and broke it apart and trashed it all.

On Tuesday morning supplies got delivered, everything was measured out, holes got dug for the pilings and all the cement for those was poured.

View out the back door:

On Wednesday the frame went up, along with half of the deck boards on top.

On Thursday the rest of the deck boards went on and the stairs were cut and built.

And we finished on Friday!!!!  All the railings went on and the last screws, and finishing details were added.

We love our new deck and are very excited to get lots of good outdoor time on it.