I love it when I can kill two birds with one stone. (Metaphorically speaking, of course. I wouldn't really kill a bird. Not with a stone or anything else.)
Charlie's planning to tear up my back patio and replace it in the next couple of weeks. This makes me very happy. Finally I will have a nice-looking patio, and as a bonus the walkway will at last line up with the back door. (This really bugs me.) Charlie was thinking out loud yesterday about how much this will cost and mentioned that we'll need to buy 2x4s for--well, I don't really know why, but we need them. After the Big Baluster Score, I have salvage and recycling on my mind. An idea occurred to me: Would it be possible to re-use the 2x4s from the screen panels on the front porch? I want to remove those panels anyway and open up the porch. The panels aren't load-bearing, and I think it would work. I ran the idea past Charlie, and he said that it would indeed work.
I get an open front porch earlier than expected, and Charlie gets the 2x4s he needs to pour the patio. Two birds, one stone. Awesome.