Have I mentioned here that we’re getting our deck replaced? It’s time — past time, really; the whole structure kind of wobbles and shakes and it’s a whole new dance form, getting down the stairs. It’s a Pure Miracle that it didn’t fall down last winter, though I’m grateful that it stood its duty.
Because the people who built our house had this Negative Feng Shui thing going, the house is sited so that (1) the summer sun shines directly into the kitchen window for long New England hours every day in season and (2) the snow, when it blows, curls over the roof of the house and falls with a thump and a bump directly in front of the door. There were at least two occasions last winter when I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to get the door open, and, just by the way, using the kitchen door for a snowplow hasn’t done it much good, either. So, what I wanted (being as I’ll be doing the best — for values of best — part of the shoveling) was: (1) a deck that wouldn’t fall down with the first snow load, (2) new stairs with a banister on both sides, (3) a peak over the door, to break the snow-fall from the roof.
Yesterday, the guy who’s going to do the work came over with a pad and paper and drew sketches and marched us all over the existing deck, and took measurements and did on-the-fly arithmetic, and worked the thing out three ways from Maybe, looking for the best outcome for the least bucks.
I don’t often get to watch somebody else in the throes of a creative fugue, so that was a treat all by itself. I said to Steve later, If this is what we look like when we’re riffing the story in public, no wonder people sorta back away, smile and nod.
Anyhow, at the end of it all, we have a design for a slightly shorter deck with a longer stairway up from the ground, so it’ll be less like climbing a ship’s ladder. The main part of the deck will be roofed, and covered in nice tin, so the snow-fall from the roof will slide down into the yard beyond the deck. The only thing that’ll need shoveling will be the stairs. And! as a Special Bonus? The roof will block the summer sun.
In other news, Mozart and I are still working with the print-out of Necessity’s Child, and in odd minutes I’m trying to figure out Google+ and why on earth I should be involved in Yet! Another! networking site.
Oh, and? It’s raining.