deck progress

As you see below, the deck's coming along.



There's still plenty to do. We've got to complete the railing, finish fashioning and screwing down the planks, and straighten out one of the steps (one of the boards is slightly warped and needs to be re-fastened to the stairs). We've also got to attach the white paneling that'll cover the exposed wood of the deck and make the whole thing look less like playground equipment and more like something you'd stroll on, martini in hand.

Contrary to Mr. Jeong's cheerful prediction, deck assembly hasn't been easy or quick. It requires a good bit of patience and care; measurements can't be made in haste, and you learn quickly that, when you make a mistake while cutting planks down to size, it's usually better for them to be too long than too short.

But we're nearing the end, now. One other deck-related piece of business is that we have to return and exchange our post sleeve caps, which have turned out to be the wrong size (no size is listed on the box). The caps are supposed to slide into place atop the deck's fence posts, protecting the posts from the weather. The caps are brown, pyramidal, and made of a heavy plastic reminiscent of Tonka toys.

Once the deck is done, we'll be able to concentrate on getting the interior finished. We still need kitchen counters as well as plumbing for the sink and new fridge; we need to replace some of the shelves in Mom's new kitchen cabinets; we need a proper sink and counter for the upstairs bathroom; we need to switch out some old 2-prong sockets with 3-prongers; we need to buy new and better blinds for the upstairs windows; we also have to purchase some sort of cabinet or armoire to replace the now-defunct hall closet (which used to be the omnibus repository for towels, hair products, medicine, shoe polish, toiletries, etc.).

Once all that's done, we can start moving ourselves back into the house. I'm beginning to wonder whether this will all be done by Christmas. We'll see.


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