Exit strategy

Doug and John began work on the stairs for the doors on the front bump out. Chris helped finish. The layer cake-like stairs are 3 boxes of pressure treated wood.  The visible horizontal and vertical surfaces will be covered in fiberon professional wood composite decking in driftwood gray.  We'll have a 3.5' x 3.5' landing at the top of the stairs and then the remaining two boxes form the steps down to the patio level.  The bottom square is about 5.5'. The design of the stairs allows us to step out the door to the landing and either walk straight down the stairs or turn to walk down the stairs, so you have a range of 90 degrees once you are on the landing.  In addition, the design will provide enough space to place a couple of flower pots or allow seating on the stairs without blocking access.

 

reading Five Dysfunctions of a Team *****  Lencioni, serious stuff presented in an easy reading fable format.

reading Getting your Shift Together *** Bouchard and Pellet; serious change management ideas but focused on the CEO or leader, less practical from my point of view.

The third bluestone tread is in and the treads are rearranged so that the higher tread rests on the back of the tread below it.  Some of remaining rock from the retaining walls will be placed on the sides of the treads partially as decoration and partly to hold the foundation rock in place.

The area between the front of the house and the driveway has been graded and compacted with stone.  More flagstone has been placed in the front of the house.  

The team pushed the previously positioned flagstone closer together so our chairs and table don't fall into the cracks.  Soon I'll have to see what we can plant in the spaces.

Reading Blink **** Gladwell, thin-slicing and instinctual knowing in the blink of an eye before the conscious brain recognizes the knowledge.  Fascinating.

hardscape continues

The retaining wall effort is essentially finished.  The guys took care of the water collecting on either side of the main entry.

Surfaces were leveled for the patio and the first of the flagstones were laid on a sand base.

Reading: On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction ****William K. Zinsser.  He practices what he preaches.  A joy to read even if I weren't interested in writing.