As reported last year, we also started on a small addition to the utility room to add a "mud" bathroom, better basement access, and a whole house fan.

<<Here we go!>>

A little bit underway.»

<<A lot more underway. 

 Almost finished on the outside.  We also added a mud sink to keep non-organic crap out of the septic tank. >>

<<The temporary stairs (around here temporary can mean 5 or 6 years) have served us well but it's time for them to go.

Well underway on the new stairs.>>

<<Finished with the stairs.

 A lot of our rowdy friends are slowing down.  Railings seemed like a good thought .>>

Trish got a great deal on a nice old staircase (for our basement) at an estate sale.  Trouble was, it wasn't quite tall enough or steep enough

<< This was our "temporary" (vide supra) solution.>>

<<I finally decided the only solution was to put in a new door so I could put in a couple more steps.  The new door is wider, and we no longer need to twist, turn, scrunch, and step down all at the same time.>>

I got tired of (thanks to merciless weather gods) constantly stringing multiple hoses together to water the north garden, so I put in a water line.

<<Of course our clay soil, after baking in a  summer of zero rain and kiln-like temperatures, was hard as a rock.  It was like picking through brick.>>