OK, here we go again! The front of our “Cabin” that we built in our “Toy Barn” here in the Black Hills of South Dakota just didn’t look complete. Plus, the main problem was that the front door caught a lot of weather. It faces directly North and the rain, snow and wind did a number on it. Even when the wind was from the South it whirled around and really caught this front door. If you remember, last winter the wind ripped the door from it's frame and threw it about 30’ feet away. We had to get someone to come out and rehang it for us. It just needs something to protect it. We thought and thought. How about a wall on one side? But which side and that would block the wonderful view of the Hills that we cherish so much… decision's, decisions!
As we were driving out to Stockade for our walk one morning, I spotted this Porch… Hey, that looks kinda neat I told Ms. Pat. She agreed...so we stopped and took a picture of it. Something like this would not hamper our view too bad and still give the front door some protection along with giving us a place to sit out under and enjoy the great elements surrounding us.
So we headed to our local lumber yard/hardware store to check with our friend Jeff, the Manager. We asked “Who could we get to build us something like this”? He knew of just the guy that specializes in this type construction. So we got in touch of “Danny” and began getting ideas, estimates, etc. Soon we had made an agreement to have our front porch built. What, more construction…….? Oh No!! When will it stop? I’m getting tired of all this. Will we ever be done so we can just set back and say “THERE”?
As with all construction, comes a MESS! It's MESS time again!! First, we had to expand the front patio and pour a floor for this new porch.
OH NO!! They had to rip out our present sidewalk to make the new porch all one section. I understand that was easier than trying to keep it all level. They could “pin” it and attempt to make it stay level, but they decided this would be the best…. They did have to drill and pin the entire section that joined the driveway. I just hope that works because I don’t want one section higher or lower than the other.
They got it all tore out, framed and filled in and smoothed out. But they sure made a mess just out our front door!
Well the forms are all in and now we wait for the concrete truck. Ms. Pat stands back and gives it the once over. She laughs when I ask her “was this really necessary”?
The next morning the truck showed up and they were pouring concrete!
Here you can see the “pins” they put in the existing concrete. Hopefully it will keep the new section level with the old section. No guarantees but it usually works and is the best they can do.
They are getting there. Soon we will have a new front patio. You know if I had ever had any thoughts about us building this “cabin” in the Toy Barn, I could have built it this way in the first place but I had no idea. I planned on it being just that, a Toy Barn. I planned on having a separate house but plans change as you get older and you just never know…….. I love it this way!
Ms. Pat continues to keep a watchful eye on them as they splash concrete all over her front door… They tell us “Don’t worry, it will come right off as soon as it dries”.
Yuck, what a mess!! But they were right, the next day Ms. Pat and I washed it right off.
So there it is. We now have the floor ready for the new porch. We have the forms removed and waiting for the carpenters. They just called last night and said there would be a slight delay as there was a problem with the person that builds the brackets for the logs. Hmmm, always a hang up…….none of these deals go by without a HANGUP! NEVER!! This is it, NO MORE construction!!! Famous last words. So we play the WAITING game!
This is a picture from our back yard of the raging fire that has been burning all week just south of us. From here it looked as though Broken Arrow Campground was on fire. It started about a week ago and they are just now getting it mostly contained. Last night they opened US 385, one of our major highways through Wind Cave. They have the cost of this fire at over 3.5 million dollars. The historical Williams Ranch was totally destroyed but no lives were lost. Praise the Lord and bless these Firemen!! There are hundreds of them camped out and sleeping in tents at our high school in Custer.
It is a GREAT WEEK!!!! We are so thankful for the rains we have had the last three nights. It is truly a blessing from GOD!!
Thanks for stopping by. We will keep you posted on the progress of our “Porch”!
Travel safe ya’ll…
Mike
This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..
9 comments:
Goodness! That was a great looking porch you showed, and I suspect yours will look just as nice. Speaking of rain, our monsoon is in full swing down here. Yesterday we had a gully-washer to test our erosion control project. Remains to be seen, but there were some unexpected results. Unexpected by us, at least; I'm sure the engineers will say that it's perfectly normal for huge rocks to float so far downstream!
Can hardly wait to see the end result. I bet it's going to be beautiful. Every summer I am so grateful for those firemen who do such a great job of saving lives and property.
I understand that construction work by its very nature brings with it frustration. Just keep imagining what it will look like when it is finished and you'll get through it okay. I can't wait to see the finished product! Hugs to you both.
Awwww Mike, nothing like a good big old dirty darn mess to keep a feller on his toes. That sitting around watching the flowers grow is for old Geezer's anyway. And, you guys aren't there yet...:))
Can't wait to see the new porch...it should really finish off the front of your cabin!
That front porch is going to be a winner! Eager to see it. Just think, if you were not doing that, you'd be sitting around doing nothing...hehehe
Your place already looks different just with the pad poured. This is going to make a huge difference in the outside look of you "Toy Barn."
So sad to hear about the Williams Ranch. Such a tragedy. All will be in my prayers this evening.
Your porch is going to look great, I betcha. You don't ever want to run out of projects, even though they cost money. When there's no more projects to do, we tend to fade away. Just kidding. So sorry about the huge fire. We have good friends in their Casita at Broken Arrow this evening.
So sad about the Williams Ranch being destroyed. I hope that those brave firemen will soon get all of it under control and out soon!! Hate to think about anything in the Black Hills of SD being destroyed!!
And love the idea for your new porch!! We are not going to recognize your place the next time we are in Custer!!
Bless you both - keep having that fun!!
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