What we did over the holiday.

Vacation pics will have to wait.  We've been BUSY!

Doing what, Pam?

I'm glad you asked!

Ever since we purchased this house I've hated the way they put aluminum siding on the porch posts.  Hubby has been unhappy with the porch railing.  So last weekend we did some demolition...

...taking all that ugly siding off the porch posts....

(side note:  if Hubs only knew what was under the siding he was straddling, he wouldn't do that b/c it turned out there was a big ole yellow jacket nest between the inside and outside panels)

Anyway, what was I saying?

...oh yeah.  We were THRILLED beyond belief to find that the posts were in excellent condition.

So then we moved onto the railing--tearing each section down and building it back up. 

This is what the left side of the porch looked like with the solid railing.

As I said before, Hubby didn't like the solid panel railing.  Personally, I thought it was ugly, too, but I liked the privacy it provided. 
But alas, that is no more...

...because we tore it off.

Then we made it all pretty again.

The view from the porch side.  See the stacks of aluminum there to the right that we pulled off the porch? The box is full and the bigger panels are stacked up in front of it.   It was taken to the recycling center the next day.  I was soooo glad to get rid of it.

The view from the front again.  We had bought new patio furniture earlier this year and now people can see it.  Personally, I'd rather people minded their own business and didn't eyeball my porch, but that's just me.  Hubs is happy.  I'm happy that he's happy, so it's all good.

We sat on that furniture and there was a nice breeze that flowed through the porch.  We purchased an outdoor ceiling fan and it will go on this side of the porch above said furniture--just as soon as Hubs runs the electrical wire to it.  That's another project for another weekend.

We used treated lumber, so we have to wait until it dries out to paint it.  Everything will be white when it's all done.  Unless I change my mind.  Which has been known to happen.

While tearing the railing out we got a glimpse of what our house looks like under that aluminum siding.  This, we were not so thrilled to see.

It's that old shingle-type house covering and it's made to look like brick. 

I was really hoping for some wood siding.

Anywho, that's what we did last weekend.  My hubby is a genious.  He did all this without prior experience and without blueprints.  He had a design in his head and he made it happen.  I'm so proud of him.  Did I mention that the temps were in the 90's both Saturday and Monday (the two days we worked on the porch)?  Yup, it was hot and HUMID!  My kids were great, though...every one of them worked without grumbling through this whole process.  Wish I could say the same for Hubs and I--we get grouchy when it's that hot.

Hope you had a happy Independence Day and were able to enjoy the fireworks.  Saturday evening we cleaned up, popped 5 batches of popcorn on the stovetop and met up with some friends to watch the fireworks in town.  It's a tradition that we take either popcorn or in-shell-peanuts for everyone to snack on while we wait for the fireworks to begin...since we arrive *early* at our favorite viewing spot.  To be very honest with you, I can't tell you if the fireworks display was good this year or not...I was so tired I didn't care.  That and I was sitting with my closest friend and was enjoying her company.