Exterior updates

They've begun to install the Ipe' on the deck. It'll be powerwashed and a coat of oil applied before we can say it's done. If you recall, I agonized the most over what to do about the deck, finally sucking it up and deciding on this Brazilian hardwood. It's my hope that I'll forget its cost at some point, and never have to think about replacing it.

It's been a week since I've been able to visit, so I didn't know what had been done or when. The garage floor is poured! I used this as an entry to the house late this afternoon because the rest of the access points are really muddy. The electrician was still inside, finishing up his rough in. He mentioned they poured the garage this morning. My heart hit my shoes, as I desperately tried to remember whether I had seen a trace of footprints in the concrete when I glanced behind me as I was entering the mudroom. Fortunately, the bottom of my shoes were clean, so it had hardened enough. I will confess that my mind was churning for a while for a way to sell the value of indelible boot treads in the garage floor to Ellen. "Really honey, if we have a power outage, it'll be easier for you to find the mudroom door in the dark. Just slide your feet along the floor and feel the prints to mark your way."

Definitely need to talk about the final grade and all this mud with the builder. The rest of the countryside is pretty dry. Our front yard is mud, not damp earth, but mud. The last house I owned had a low point where four lots joined. I couldn't do anything about it without affecting the drainage of the neighbors, but we could never agree on everyone paying a portion of the cost to fix it. So I had a totally different ecosystem in that corner. Plants grew there that grew nowhere else in the subdivision. It always had either standing water or slippery mud and stank of corruption. It was a 10' x 6' swamp. Not big enough for a gator, but I was no doubt personally responsible for mosquito bites for miles around. They bred in abundance in that little area. I do NOT want to repeat that here on a larger scale.