Still no deck...

It's definitely not an ideal situation. Our back door is located about three feet from the ground, and without a deck, that is a long trip down for the puppies, who sometimes forget that there's no deck. 

Eric and cousin Matt spent a tremendous amount of time this weekend preparing for the deck. This included doing something with string that took a really long time. I asked Eric what he was doing with the string, and he started to explain to me, but I lost interest. 

Here are Eric and Matt digging post holes. 

And here is our future deck, stacked in the backyard. Funny--it felt like more when we moved it into the yard, piece by piece, on an 85 degree night... 

In other news, we're enjoying a nice day off. I will likely try to get some work done today, particularly if it's raining, but I generally enjoy a day where, even if I do work, I don't HAVE to work. We're going up to the northside in a while to look at a couple antique chairs that we may purchase. That will be fun. 

So far this spring, I've been bitten by no fewer than 15 mosquitos (or multiple bites by the same mosquito). This is perplexing to me, as Eric has no bites and he was outside all weekend. I also have a mystery rash on my left elbow, which is making me crazy. I'm up at 7:00 on my day off. I'm falling apart. 

Remember the fence I keep going on about? Here is visual evidence of its disgustingness. This is just one example. Another would include the far section of fence, which is apparently not held into the ground with anything and is leaning quite significantly. Eric is hesitant to take down the fence without a replacement. I say, I could TOUCH that fence and it would dissolve at my fingertips. This thing is not providing us with any additional security. 

So, we're going to replace it. The retaining wall of our dreams is just not going to happen this year (or next), so we'll put up another fence, and and arbor over the steps up to the house. I think that will look nice. Hell, it will have to look nicer than this.