Renovation and Remodeling have somewhat taken over our lives for this period of time. First of all, we got rid of the fort we have had for eight years in our backyard! Then, Dad called and made arrangements for a worker named Martin come to our house with his assistant, Louis. At first Sam, John, Mom and I were somewhat doubtful of these two. After we started bringing them lunch and water, they started conversing with us, and we got to be good friends. The first project they started on was a shed. It turned out to be pretty impressive. The only thing I thought took a turn for the worse was when we somehow decided to paint the shed grayish and lighter green. For all I know I could be the only one who didn’t like how it turned out! Martin and Louis also rebuilt another fence on top of our other one to block some of the road noise. The next day Dad, Mom, John, Sam and I painted the shed and stained the fence. John and Sam have done a lot to contribute to the building of everything has gone on.
The second project our workers started for us was the screened-in porch. The project seemed to get off to a slow start, but then it really took off the second week. Sam and I contributed to the project by painting the 20 boards we used for the ceiling and the walls. It took us a while at first; then we learned how to get faster as we went along. I am not kidding. Those boards were really heavy. (Even Sam agreed with me!) Dad, John and Sam creatively came up with the tile pattern (alternating between a little white square and a large grayish square – and a hint of dark red)! Then John, Sam and I hauled approximately 3,000 bricks from the truck into our backyard for the outside of the porch. Mom and Dad found an awesome door with a Texas Star on it for the door. The porch screens were the last thing to be added, seeing that they didn’t come in until we had been done with the porch for two days.
Louis left, and Martin then worked by himself to build his next project – a deck. He completed the deck really quickly, with a lot of help from John and Sam. Martin put in a bench so we could sit out on the deck and enjoy the nice weather, especially with all of the cool fronts coming through! Mom, Sam and Martin put up some pipes so after it rains the water would run off the new roof.
We as a family were up in Fredericksburg one evening eating at a restaurant when Dad noticed the lovely path made out of brick. He took a couple of pictures of the walkway and brought it back to Martin, and Martin built a wonderful replica of the path! Everyone who came over for Speech and Debate really liked it, and even some people in the Milk Co-op that Sam and I run, asked Martin for his number.
Mom, Sam and I left for Dallas the next week for debate, and when we came back Martin had made the most breath-taking and beautiful pathway with flag stone on the side of our house, from the backyard to the front!
Mr. Spradling came a couple of months after all of the renovations had ended and started on the landscaping. We went from having mud to having a beautiful and green backyard and front yard in two weeks. It was an amazing transformation. We had a lot of plants planted, so I am looking forward to watching the few flowers we did plant bloom! When Mom had Samuel and me, the lawn sort of got forgotten and the sprinkler system broke. So, we had Angel come and fix them. They are now working great, thanks to him!
~s. jane
Haven't Heard From Us In Awhile?
10 years ago
