After the hard slog getting our house poles concreted in, we were so exhausted that for hours afterward we couldn't comprehend any more physical labour. We eventually made our way outside again to consider our next task, attaching what had been the front stairs on the house to the back door. We almost got there, and then had to rest on the nearest available flat surface... for Tom, this was the bucket of our loaned digger.
Once we had got our heads around the task, Tom began attempts to remove the old (and bent) stair rail from the staircase with a ratchet.
That proved to be difficult, so he moved to a more appropriate tool.
Which was very effective.
And then he fired up the digger to drag the staircase to where we needed it to be.
He eventually managed to hook the very front of the bucket around the steel bracing under the top step, which made it much easier to drag around.
Then came the difficult task of manouvering the awkward thing around all of the obstacles we've created for ourselves in the backyard. This included about a seven point turn into the garage.
Allie of course had to immediately investigate the space where the stairs had been sitting.
Here is Tom encountering his first obstacle - a pile of pavers and the original concrete stumps from the house.
He had to move the pavers, but he got through, and made his way towards the house.
He had to be extra careful not to let the digger fall into one of our freshly concreted post holes.
And then the stairs were raised majestically into the air!
Still raising...
Requiring a little human intervention...
Nearly there...
And then, less majestically, we jammed a hunk of wood under the top step to nicely sandwich it above the steel beam (the black thing in the pictures). And strapped it in.
It's certainly no masterpiece, and it's not going to win any safety awards, but it's safe enough for us at the moment, and it's definitely nicer than having to climb a ladder to get in and out of the house!
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