Photographic proof of dumpster week

I normally loathe putting pictures of myself on the web, but y'all just need to see this. THIS is how dirty it was doing demo work in our house:



We actually had friends drive by, and when I walked out onto the front porch to wave, they didn't recognize me. The insides of our walls are so dirty. I just don't get it. Did the original owners heat the house with coal and not vent the fireplace at all? Ugh.

So let's go on a tour of the demolition area. This picture shows the former location of one of the two walls that separated our house into two apartments.



It used to be the wall that held the door shown on the left of this picture:



(How 'bout that weatherproofing, eh?)

Now that hallway looks like this:



Our stairwell looks like this:



When we were done with the walls, and the crappy tile that covered the original wood floors in the front bedroom and downstairs hallway, there was still room left in the dumpster. Well, we are not people who will send a dumpster away half empty. So Mike sledgehammered our cracked concrete front walkway.

Here's a nice view of his handiwork, and the caution tape we posted until we get a new brick walkway put in. To the right, you'll see the pile of bricks that will be the walkway. Front center, you'll see that we moved our awesome mailbox closer to the road so that our mailman escapes major injury (make sure you click on the picture for the full-size view):



(Digression about the brick pile: as of today, three different people who are total strangers to us have driven by and asked if we are planning to use the brick. I am embarrassed by this as, yes, the brick pile has been out front for a year. But we were busy! We got married! And we work full time jobs! So for all of you locals...yes, we plan to use the brick pile. Soon. Thanks for asking.)

We hadn't had enough fun yet, so we then pulled down the shrub monster. My dad came over with his chainsaw, we cut them down, and then we used Bessie to pull out the roots. Mike was in his glory - using Bessie to rip things out of the ground.



Finally, last Monday, we sent the dumpster away. This pic was taken before we loaded the shrub monster's remains on top.



Best thing about the shrub monster's demise? I get to put my garden in its place: