All the fallen branches are gone, though we have a lot of small sticks that we’re paying The Boy by the trashcan to pick up to put out for yard waste pickup every week. It’ll take a while, but he’ll get it and, hopefully, learn something about the satisfaction of working hard and getting paid for that work.

Our back porch cover was smashed by a large branch that fell from our sycamore, and it’s been taken down and hauled away. We’re now left with just a concrete slab porch that’s not all that enjoyable or useful. But, luckily, a good friend is an architecture student, and he and a classmate are going to design and build us a new deck. They’re going to start after the semester’s over in a few weeks, so we should have a great new deck by the end of May! The best part is, since they want a real-world project that’s actually been built in their portfolios, they’re going to do the labor themselves for free! All I have to do is pay for the materials, though I plan to help them build it, as well. Look for updates as soon as we get started.

UPDATE: looks like we’re possibly looking for a new house with more room, so we’ve decided to not build the deck for now.