Finished Steps

I finally have pictures of the finished steps to show! All-in-all, I think they turned out very nice. They DO tend to de-accentuate the rock wall in the front yard, but we'll have PLENTY of rock (eight freaking thousand dollars' worth) in the back yard, and these steps were to be, above all, FUNCTIONAL. I want to live in this house until I die. Just bury me in the back yard. So going up and down that driveway with creaky old knees will be next to impossible, thus the steps.

Anyway, it was a very exciting thing for my sons when the cement truck showed up. It's not EVERY day that such a truck drives right up into your front yard... and I MEAN right up into the front yard... and dumps a load of concrete.

Ok, so it was a very exciting thing for me too. I may be getting older, but the little boy is alive and well inside, and I loved watching the concrete being poured. It was funny to watch the driver of the truck too. He sat there in the cab of the truck, driving with his tongue. You know how some people talk with their hands? Well, this guy's hands were busy pushing and pulling levers to make the concrete chute go right where he needed it and to make the right amount of concrete slide out in the right places. All the time, his tongue was darting in and out and back and forth, mimicking the movements of the chute and the truck that he was driving. It was quite comical, actually.

After the concrete was poured, two of the concrete workers stayed for several more hours, finishing the surface. The whole concrete process cost $2800, and I'm sure that the majority was labor. But in the end, it looks good, but more importantly, it's funcitonal!

The color will lighten up more as the concrete continues to cure over the next few months. Yes, literally, over the next few months. Concrete is funny that way.

And.... Picture time!

(To the impatient Mr. B. in D.C.: There. You SATISFIED?)