Hi all and happy autumn! As last year, the fall colors have been incredible and although most of the leaves have peaked and fallen, there are still some beauties out there (and I’m making mental notes of the real gems I would like to see someday in our yard).

Thankfully, we are just about done with our “must do” list before the season changes. After the side bay top portion of the window was completed, Paul moved scaffolding around to the front. Although the front and left side of the bay had been done, the right side still needed attention not only in asthetics, but to secure the house and block the hole in the top where the board had long since fallen away.

Due to the high location of the front bay, once again we needed the bucket truck. The trick was getting it into position in the front yard. I mean we have a nice long driveway but the front lawn has a 3 ft stone wall. The left side of the house has a partial drive up towards the house (which we used for the side work with the bucket truck a few months back) but it stops short of the front and there is a side walk and steps between it and the front lawn with a 1 to 2 foot drop off on one side.

Therefore, after walking around, looking and studying, the ONLY way to get that bucket truck in front would be to drive it up the drive way, to the back behind the garage, then up onto the lawn, across the back lot and up front again on the right side of the house.

It would be a tight fit. You see, on the back side/right of the house (directly behind the porch extension if you are looking at it from the street) there is another side walk with an edge of stone and drop off and opposite that, a line of trees.

But it was the only way so here we go! Paul did the driving slowly and I walked ahead and beside him spotting him as he went. It was easy enough until we go to the small sidewalk and porch space. It was slow going with him driving slowly, me pulling branches out of the way every few steps in front, guiding him to avoid the porch extension, avoid the roof, “no wait! back up, wait! watch the tree, come back this way, no watch the porch roof!” pretty much the whole time. The dog was bounding along beside us enjoying the whole thing like a circus show! To him, this was the COOLEST thing he’d seen in a long time! lol. He is great for comedy relief. lol. Sorry, I was too much in the thick of things to pause and take photos but hopefully you can picture it.

With the truck in front, now we had to get it aligned with the house correctly as well as keep it level right to left. Which means we can’t just park it in front in old way; we have to not only test the bucket extension, seeing where it will take us and get it how we need it, but if it’s not level (by a meter inside), the truck must be re-positioned. Ultimately we found the best position was exactly perpendicular to the house with 2 tires UP on the front sidewalk. Uh yeah…do you know how close that puts it to the house? Add to it the lawn was slippery from rain the previous day so the tires dug and spun. It took us building ramps and laying bricks to secure the soil, then Paul driving the truck to the front of the yard, almost to the street edge, and backing it up by gunning it. He had to get it going fast enough to get up the wet hill, slipping over boards and bricks as he went, up onto the side and STOP just short of hitting the house. Uh…yeah. By the grace, we did it. With about 6 inches to spare. Wow…. But it was what he needed to reach the top right of the bay. Fun right? (actually exhausting, lol)

Needless to say when we had to get the truck out of the lawn, we drove back the same way but with the yard slope, we had to gun it again to get it up the hill to the right side of the house. It tore up the lawn and left tire tread marks all over it but with the way things grow around here, you can barely see the marks at all. The grass took it right back over again. There’s a positive thing from this constantly growing grass. lol.

After the bucket truck was used and sent back, up went the scaffolding and alas, up went Paul, too getting the last pieces. Here are a few pics of the amazing work. As always, Paul’s attention to detail really shines. It’s coming together beautifully though, don’t you think?

Tada! (we still have the windows to do)