Well, a little progress, a little regress.
Got the porch done- finished, inside and out other than the siding (and any last strips of roofing, etc. that will go in with the siding, J-channel, etc.). The guys did a great job and they will be back mid- May to begin siding the entire house. They had some other work to do first but again, I am happy with them and their work so more than willing to wait the six weeks they needed.
New design on the entranceway; got rid of that ridiculous looking pointy- spire roof and went with an assymetrical design to knock the angle way down, as well as extending the other side (left side looking at it) further out as was originally intended. I was wary of it because it IS assymetrical but now that it is done, we are thrilled with the way it came out, how it looks and what the carpenters did. On their own, they included a thinner, partial return on the bottom of the triangle and I think that really adds to the overall look too:
Now, the entire interior, soffits and facias are done so other than siding, and painting the T-111 inside the porch sub- walls, and adding the doors on the west side,which I will do at a later time, it is finished. The header over the inside of the west side of the porch is where the doors will go.
From the west side:
From the southwest, showing some of the inside ceiling / soffits and fascia:
From the south, or the street view:
Now remember that little bit of regression I mentioned..... well, it seems I was walking down the new stairs when a 'sudden gust of gravity' came along. OK, I was walking backwards down the stairs, video recording the new hatches at the top of the stairs and gravity remained pretty constant if I am honest. But let me tell you folks, when you reach back with your next foot to put down on the landing but you are still one step up the stairs, it sometimes does not end well...... Fortunately, I did not break the video device (whew!) and the stone floor, steel door, and wooden end- table were there to break my fall. With a stiff constitution and clean living, I was able to shrug it all off..... almost.... except the left wrist. The pain was a little bit much and it was not very mobile the next day so I went off to a "Doc in a box" and had them take a look. Lucky for me, it was not broken, it was broken in four places! Also lucky for me, instead of wearing a silly cast for months, all I needed was a little screwing, which I thought was OK but it turned out to be nothing like I was envisioning (Easy Boys!). So last Tues., off to the hospital for a genuine titanium alloy screw put in my schaphoid bone to bind the three pieces together. Also required a small bone graft. I am supposed to be getting a "bone simulator", which I thought might be like Woody Allen's orgasmatron but alas, it is something I strap onto my wrist and it stimulates the bones to knit..... <sigh>
But the staff was great and we actually had a pretty good time although the anethsthetist was resistant to my humor (took four jokes to get him to chuckle; he rather liked the 'old man' jokes involving bodily fluid) and so I am back home, knitting. Not stimulating yet but knitting. Though this is one of the very slowest knitting bones in the whole body so maybe not knitting very fast.
I complimented the surgeron on an outstanding job of centering the screw, aligning the bones, and burying the entire screw head sub- flush. We cut a deal where he will give me the identical screw (Boys!) but in my palm rather than installed- I want a souvineer of this little debacle:
My son and D-I-L were kind enough to send me a little something for this event. For normal people, it would be a 'Get well soon' card or some such nonsense but I raised my kids right and they found the humor in this situation and so send along the perfect gift I think.....
So, in summation: porch done, ready for siding. Me not done, I need several more visits and perhaps a very disappointing version of a 'bone simulator'. The good news is that this whole medical episode, along with a couple of other diagnostic tests and evaluations, will kick me well over the max. limit for 'out of pocket expense' for the calendar year. Yea me! $18,000 for health insurance, a $2,250 deductible and the rest is free, all FREE I tells ya'! Please understand, I am not complaining, I had simply outstanding care through all of this and I am grateful such services are available, I am merely whining a tad, most likely due to the disappointment in the reality vs. the image of the 'bone simulator'......
Brian (glad to be living in a first- world country where truly superb medical care is available even to us peons.....)
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