November 21, 2010

As I mentioned in a previous post, the retaining wall is finished. This is a look at it as I stood down close to the pond. You might notice a bunch of brush to the left of the tree (in the middle of this shot). This is from the tree we had to take out. Alan continues to work on it, and if anyone wants to join us cutting, splitting, stacking, and hauling wood, please feel free. You can take what you want! We plan to be there again Friday 11/26 and likely Saturday 11/27. We haven't been working on Sundays, but Alan was there again this morning working on the tree issue. (more below)

Alan, both of our girls, Sgt. Feick and Sgt. Young met at dad's at 8:30 am on Saturday morning. The Sgt's worked on the deck (picture below) while Alan, the girls & I worked to clear out the tree. It is amazing to me how much wood is still in the way. Directly below this paragraph is a picture of Sgt. Feick's back. He has his hand on the pier -- the 5x5 post we thought would enable them to jack the deck back up to the house. It didn't work like we thought it would, so they are looking at a Plan B. Sgt. Feick is the person who has really taken ahold of this project to make it happen. He has also gotten his family involved. I was humbled and grateful when I learned Saturday that several members of his family in towns around the US have given money for this renovation. They don't even know dad, and yet they are willing to help. Amazing. Humbling. I am so grateful.

The decking has been taken off the deck in order for them to work on the frame of the deck. Anyone interested in replacing the decking, we will be working on that this weekend as well.

It amazes me how MUCH wood is STILL on the ground. Alan took off work last Wednesday and Thursday and cut and split as much as he could. The picture below was taken after the girls and I had moved and stacked 2 truck-loads to the wood pile (another pict. down). Dad's place is looking different, but it's still in the woods... it's still peaceful; the pond is still there, but it will be handicapped accessible for him. He keeps asking me for a date (to go home); I don't have that yet. We still have much work to do, and I'm trying to be patient. As I've mentioned before, I'm not very good at patient.