A new porch

When we started our addition a new porch was not in the plan.  It didn't take long for people to start to tell us that our current one might detract from the newness of everything else.  Now was the time - we thought of hiring it done but we had a secret weapon that made us want to do it ourself.  

You might be thinking that the secret weapon is Andy - think again.  As amazing as he is and it wouldn't have been done without him he wasn't the key.  He was working against time trying to get the porch framed up.  It never goes anywhere as close to as good as you hope.  
We move on to Mike -- once again the project couldn't be done without him and special help from his machinery but he still wasn't our secret weapon.
As for super heroes - Kyler is totally amazing.  He is learning to play in dirt and to swing a hammer.  He has potential to one day become our secret weapon but he wasn't the key today.

Let me introduce you to our secret weapon -- Karen Siirola; yes her and her whole 90 pounds.  Karen used to be one of our neighbors.  We had a wonderful relationship -- I would grow tomatoes, she would bake cookies and then we would exchange.  If anyone is ever in need of a good cookie - this is where I would start my search -- sugar cookies are her specialty.  Besides being a marvelous cook, Karen is also an attorney.  She always seems to be using these skills to help others.  I bet you are wondering to yourself "How is this relevant to concrete?"  Well, one of Karen's hidden talents - she also stamps concrete.  When I called Karen to see if she would help she was so willing.  She is the kind of friend everyone needs.
When I got home from work it had started raining.  Andy and Karen quickly got it covered but it made it so I didn't get to see the finished result.  I did get to see Karen and I learned how messy it is to stamp concrete.  She explained to me that it is a fine powder (like ink toner) and it just gets everywhere so, believe it or not but this is NOT a five o'clock shadow.