I want y'all to know that I wouldn't show just anyone these first two photos. My backyard is my secret shame. And here it is, in all its junky glory.... First up, the carport roof. Note the big holes in it, which really don't look as bad in this photo as they do in real life. Note the cinder block on the corner of the roof. I'm not sure what it's purpose is, but it was like that when I bought the house and so it's staying there. For now, anyway. If my money situation and the weather hold, this carport will have a new roof before winter. Just to the left of my carport is my neighbor Martha's garage. I heart her garage.
And here's a photo of my teeny back yard, as Jan requested. Carport in the alley, shed roof in the lower right corner. Dresser with raccoon doody on it next to the sidewalk. (Photo taken from the roof of the house, by the way, and aren't I brave?) My son and his wife decided they didn't want the shed, so for the past two days I've been wondering what the heck I was gonna do with it. That's no longer a problem. As I was posting these photos, a guy showed up on my front porch to ask if he could have the stuff stacked up in the alley. (Window screens, tomato cages, some ancient and rusted tools, a trunk made of plywood and a wall cabinet covered in orange contact paper, all of which came out of the shed. See it there behind my car, next to the far right carport post?) "Take all of it," I said, "And hey, you wouldn't want a metal shed, would ya?" He would. He'll be back this afternoon to tear it down. Yay!
And on a brighter note, the side porch. Now completely painted. Well, except for the floor and the temporary steps. I think I mentioned that the porch floor has some wood rot. It's mostly along the outer edge of the porch and I think it was caused from years of the porch gutter being full and rain overflowing onto the edge of the porch. The outdoor carpeting that was glued to the porch helped trap in some of that moisture, too. I cleaned out the gutter and the downspout so the rain now flows out into the yard and got rid of that carpet. I still need to shore up the edges of the floor with wood filler and put some primer on it. (The rest of the porch floor still has a pretty good coat of paint on it.) At one time this porch had a little railing along it and some decent steps. It also had lattice behind the steps instead of plywood. Apparently the previous owner had possums living in the basement and was convinced they made access underneath the side porch, so she had the bottom of the porch encased in plywood. My neighbors can't remember if they just nailed the plywood over the lattice or threw it away. I'm planning to find out next spring/summer when I finish fixing up the side porch. If I win the lottery between now and then, I'll put back the two doors and transoms that were originally at each short end of the porch. See those two green trim pieces side by side on the short end of the porch? The one on the right was originally the door jamb and still has marks from the screen door hinges on it, and if you look real close you can see the threshold, too.)
When I look real close at that side porch photo, I see that the gutter and downspout need to be painted, and so does that window on the left. I think I'll go get started on that...