Speed-weeding and power-cleaning continued throughout the last weekend and all week, as we try to get all the flower beds, vegetable garden, grapes and berries to look their best – all at one time, for this one weekend when all our relatives and friends are visiting. 
When Tina finally decided to clean the dark hole at the back of the house – also known as the screened in back porch (something everyone has been avoiding for quite some time), it was hopeless. Jeff had been saying for months that the only way to make that space livable was to get air in there and get rid of the boards and screens. So on a spur of the moment – around 5:30 in the evening, we decided to just tear the entire enclosure off.
Luckily Zach was visiting that week, which meant one more strong (and determined) person, willing to run a reciprocating saw and swing a sledge hammer. We had that porch torn off and carted away to a burning pile in less than two hours, with enough daylight left to hoist a huge flat rock with chains and the tractor, and move it to the now open back porch as a entrance step.
The floodlights and overhead light in the back yard worked well enough so that Tina could powerwash all the walls, the chimney, and the brick floor – plus mulch the flowerbed around the porch. It looked like a dream when it was all done!
