Bobby just loves working out in his shop and making projects from wood. For the last year, he has been adding on to the front of the house, and creating a front porch. What started out as a wheelchair ramp for me to get up and down easier than the steep steps, has become an awesome front deck where we can sit and enjoy our morning coffee, or afternoon iced tea together. When my friend Ina came to visit, she got me three nice blackberry plants. The place where we want to plant them has tree roots and some old gravel; so it is totally impossible to dig right there along the fence. Bobby made me a blackberry planter that has sides and no bottom. That way, when the blackberries get a lot of roots, they can work their way down through the ground, even though we can't dig there. since it is along the fence between the driveway and the back yard, we can pick berries on both sides, plus, it will discourage any prowlers who might want to climb over the fence right there.
Nice planter, it is so good to have a handy man in the house. I wish I had some one handy to help me out in the yard making planters and other things I would like. I plan to take a class at the local Home Depot to learn how to do simple things I would like to make.
Dunno! Let's see. I built a small porch with a ramp and hand milled railings. Then, on top of the small porch I built a much bigger porch with a hardwood floor and many more handbuilt railings. I built the gingerbreading for the entire porch (trying to make it look like something out of the late 1800's) and even put a roof on it with 2 skylights. After which I built a sidewalk to the porch by making 12"x12"x11/2" forms and pouring concrete into them. 16 bags of concrete in all. Thus far, the project has taken about 8 months and the 5'x3'x2' semicircular stucco'd fountain in front of the porch is still not finished. I have yet to carve out the leaves made out of hickory, that will act as water diversions for the overhead drip for the carved tree in the center of the fountain. Nor have I set up the lower bubbler nor the mood lighting. All of that being said, I made a planter which took me about 30 minutes out of some scrap wood that I had left over from the porch, and she posts pictures of the planter. I should have started with the planter. The moral of this story, fellow husbands, is,(drum roll) "To get a kiss keep it a KISS project or......keep it simple saint."
Whew ! I think I might be in trouble here, Guys. Obviously, I have been remiss in my picture posting of Bobby's front porch project. I don't have one with the latest parts that he has added onto the deck; but I am going to post one of how the house looked before he started building the ramp for me (which was all I asked him for ----honest) , and then another picture of when he had most of the deck put together. Hopefully, that will get me back out of hot water, and I will still get a good-night kiss or two. (thumbnails will enlarge )
And now you see gentlemen, how to get a lot more out of a marriage! Build a little, rest a little, build a little, complain a little and the hugs keep coming. Yes babydoll, you do get hugs and kisses tonight. It goes with the last scenario. Hug a little, rest a little, kiss a little and the beat goes on...........Not bad for old folks!
Last spring, I started this thread when Bobby built me a bottomless planter frame to start the blackberries in. The blackberries are now growing so well, and starting to spread; so they no longer needed the little planter frame around them to hold the dirt in. Since we were needing to take out the planter before we could put in the bamboo screening anyway; we decided to "re-purpose" the planter. Bobby moved it down to the front of the driveway and put it around the mailbox for me. We filled it up with dirt and mulched leaves, and I planted a few asparagus starts and some snapdragons in the planter. Once the flowers get going, it should look really pretty around the mailbox, and I will also put in a vine, maybe a Morning Glory vine. We both love those ! Here is how the planter looks in its new home by the mailbox.
Thank you @Von Jones and @Babs Hunt ! I actually started this thread about a year ago, so the pictures of the front deck were before Bobby had the roof on the deck, and other things he was still finishing up. I think that somewhere in one of the threads is a picture that shows how the deck looked after it was finished last fall; but I am going to post it again because it now looks much nicer with the roof on it. Bobby is still working on some parts , but it is definintely finished enough that we can enjoy sitting out on the porch in nice weather. I have planted mint around the house, which is supposed to repel mosquitoes, which seems to be the worst issues we have with using the deck.
What a wonderful "haven" you and Bobby have made for yourselves. I'm sure y'all spend as much time out there as y'all are able to. I love it. @Yvonne Smith