Ah, the joys of home ownership.

The steps leading off of our back deck to the dog yard did a 30 degree list to the right a while back. It took a bit of time for money, truck maintenance, and decent weather to all line up at the same time, but I got to it this weekend.

Here are the supplies:

8 x 8 foot 2×8
20 x 8 foot 2×6
3 x 8 foot 2×10
1 x 6 foot 4×4
1 panel lattice
3 x 8 foot 5/4×6 decking boards (trim)

1 50 pound bag of post hole mix

20 50 pound bags of drainage rock

Anyone who tells you that things aren’t getting more expensive needs to go buy lumber, concrete, and rock. What I thought would be about $300 turned into almost $1000.

About 2 cubic meters of Kentucky clay had to be excavated out from under the steps and landing, then replaced with drainage rock. Not sure which was heavier.

Worked all day Saturday and all day into the twilight Sunday. I owe my neighbors baked goods because I was running a radial saw and a table saw at 8:30 PM last night to finish up.

Everything hurts, I’m pretty sure I pulled something in both my back and the back of my left leg, and I have multiple cuts and splinters in both hands.

On a positive note, it’s now safe to walk down from the deck into the back yard again.

For those keeping score, it took 5 trips to Lowe’s.

Ouch, my wallet, and aching too-old-for-this-crap body.

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For my next trick, I will have the HVAC company out tomorrow to look at our outdoor unit for the furnace / air conditioning. It’s dipping down into the 30’s / 40’s at night again, and it started making loud noises Friday morning.

Since this wasn’t a true emergency, I opted to only pay $98 to get someone to come out on Monday. Irish Woman and the Young Prince left on Friday night for a bass fishing tournament, so I figured I could rough it for a couple of nights.

The dogs, however, disagreed. Ever try to sleep, especially when you’re bone tired and aching from the sole of your feet to the top of your forehead, when 3 medium to large dogs are chilly and want to snuggle? Yeah, me neither. Not that I didn’t try, mind you.

I’m currently looking forward to paying for this repair work, even if just so that all of other mammals can get warm enough to leave me be.

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While trying to fix my aches and pains with Meloxicam, stretching, and hot chocolate this morning, I made the mistake of checking the political news.

Great googly moogly, are we in trouble.

The main theme given out by both parties lately seems to be “You don’t have to fall in love, you just have to fall in line.”

In my lifetime, I have never seen both major candidates being so unpopular in an election year.