Major Milestone

A milestone of sorts was reached yesterday when the very last board was installed on the deck railing. There is a total of 170 l.f. of railing, and it has been a massive job, occupying my time for several weeks. It is also one of the defining features of the house, and is a perfect blend of rustic and refined that pulls the whole exterior look together. Thanks go out to my carpenter Scott Jones, who gave me a tip way back last summer when I started on the rail that made the whole thing both better looking and better built.  The whole exterior is quickly being completed, so much so that finding items to do outside is getting harder. My next exterior project is to complete the french drain, which should'nt take more than a half day, but it was too wet yesterday becouse of the storm that blew through on tuesday night. Wow, this storm was lightning fast and was come and gone in less than 45 minutes. But man what an intense storm, packed with hail, very high winds, and torrential rainfall. The damage to our road was like it had rained for days, mostly becouse Mr. Warren had graded the road just prior to the storm. You know, I just don't get grading gravel roads too much, it just displaces all of the packed gravel and shoves it to the side making big piles that screw up your ditches. I'm sure it's neccesary on long gravel roads, but all it does is destroy our good road. I have tried to tell him to just leave well enough alone and only grade once a year, but he has a grader and he's 84 years old,  so what you gonna do? The fast moving cloudburst also raised the level of the creek several inches, ensuring us of many more weeks of the soothing sound of the creek running. The amount of water that stays in the creek up here always amazes people, and I know how lucky we are to have this special spot. Well it's time to make something happen today, so I'm out the door. I hope all enjoy this great weather. Later, the Hollohead