Cleaning out the old (rotted stuff)

We didn't get to visit my parents for Christmas this year but my dad was able to come up for almost a week after Christmas. My dad is great at all kinds of things and we were especially looking forward to his expertise on some house issues.

We were having some rot issues - it seems that the builders who put in the outside screen porch forgot to use pressure-treated wood. See?

Well the rot in the wood on our screened-in porch necessitated a complete re-do. Here is where my dad's expertise was much appreciated. While he visited, he and the husband took all the rotting wood out and replaced it with pressure-treated wood. They did a great job!

All of the bare wood is new.

Now we just need to add a few face boards, paint, and put up the screen!

While my dad was here, we also did lots of cooking. Remember our menu here?

Our first foray into tamales didn't turn out quite as well as we hoped - it probably would have helped to read the recipe completely!  But they actually were still pretty good and we learned a lot. We also made a corn soup that was quite yummy.

Tamales being steamed.

Tamales and corn soup.

Our next project is a smaller one to try out our furniture making skills. We'll be using a plan from ana-white.com - I'm so excited! And I'll be sure to keep you posted! (If you haven't checked out Ana's site you should - she makes building furniture, etc look easy!)