Our latest project: a continuation of the East Side deck:

A week with extra hands yields great results!

Michael broke ground on the deck on May 31st.

The new post hole diggers work well...as does Michael!

My brother Daniel and his wife Jeni arrived on June 4th. Not all the post holes were in, which was fine as Daniel had some great ideas to modify our initial plan, making life easier.

Posts set; Dan and Jeni attaching joist supports.

We ran out of 2x4s before “we” got all the flooring laid yesterday. The deck was mostly built by Michael, Dan and Jeni. My role was to keep everyone fed:

Duck legs (and wings) braised in red wine with wild rice pilaf and sautéed wild nettles.

Seared duck breast with salad and Michael’s whole wheat cheese biscuits.

Grilled teriyaki fish and zucchini planks with salad and mung bean noodles.

We did eat some other lovely things, including our home made sausages, but we had all been working so much we didn’t pause to take photos:

Was this the sausages or the roast pork?!? The pay is lousy around here, but the food is good.

We will finish the deck over the rest of this summer, as we also work on finishing the wallboard and flooring in the addition. The deck will help with next year’s project of replacing windows. Dan and Jeni return to their home today, Wednesday. Michael is due to go and help our daughter and son in law move into their new home starting on Sunday.

The Grand Girl settling into her new space.

Then we get to see that GG and her folks for her birthday on the 21st. I hope to have adequately cared for garden and house so everyone has a place to land.