Porch Renovation 6

**6

Soon after the original porch and patio were built in 1977,  we added cement steps from the north side of the patio down to the small brick patio just outside the family room door.  We used big rocks and many bags of Sakrete  and planted ground covers on each side.

When the “west wing” was added in 1981,  these steps were blocked, so we filled the area between the west wing and the cement patio with dirt and planted a garden and a globe arborvitae in the corner.  As plants tend to do,  everything got too big for the area and we wanted more patio space.  The garden became topped with cement patio blocks.  Very low maintenance and more space for chairs and the gas grill.

Now, however, the sewer line for the new powder room needs the way cleared to go into the basement.  The plumber wants to join the new line into the old cast-iron pipe with a  “y” joint.  To make a long story short, the builder spent two and a half hours on Tuesday afternoon applying a jack-hammer to our cement steps.  They are history.   Our Indian Summer might have ended last night.  We woke up this morning (Friday,  November 11, 2011) with frost over hill and dale, including our yard.

Since this is Veteran’s Day, I sent a  note to our son-in-law, Joe, a former Marine, to tell him how proud we are of him and his accomplishments.  Thank you, too, to all Veterans, including my husband, who served in the Army before we were married.

The weather from last Saturday until today was very nice bonus  days, which has come to an end.  It is cold with precipitation some where between snow and rain, so let’s call it snain.  This is, of course the day the builder has brought back the little caterpillar and is back filling the south wall and around the west and north sides of the new section.  The powder room and spa room sections are now filled with gravel and tamped down.  Our question is:  Shouldn’t the waste line from the powder room be laid down before the gravel?