March 16, 2002 Here begins the scary process to uncover the Queen Anne cottage hidden under all this aluminum siding and wrough iron. Work is scheduled to start May 16 and end June 30. But before the demolition can start, there are just a few things to take care of. . .

Everything in this picture will have changed by the end of June.

This is where the "wraparound" part of the porch is going, and where the big truck needs to get to take down "the tree."

Everything must go...the belgian blocks, the hasta, the daffodils, the clematis, the violets, the phlox, ...

- and Hank

Trying to save as many of the "historic" cinnamon ferns as possible. This old cart is proving it still has a lot of hauling left in it!

All these wonderful old slates were all but buried in the side yard; they were once part of the "garden path" and will be used again!

Any and all plants had to be removed from the front garden. For the most part, they ended up replanted in the back, but some are in limbo...

Trying to decide on house colors...found this house in Riverton. Could these colors work?

Before transplants, before azaleas bloom,...

Now that my favorite backyard neighbors have moved, it's time to "green up" the back property line with some of the transplanted azaleas. This is a jumbo one from out front. Honey is helping.

Things are starting to grow, and you can see where the transplanted shrubberies have created a nice screen to the back neighbors.

Almost can't imagine what the side yard will be like without this horrible "beast" looming overhead.

April 7 - Dad "climbed" the killer tree to remove the motion light and all wiring before the real tree guys come to take this monster down. This is the tree that has crashed down to break the fence, dent the house, and break my wonderful gnome planter. It must go!

You can see from this shot where other sections of this evil tree have already been cut down or fell down on the house and side yard.

April 20 - One last peek at the view of the side yard. Soon the flowering tree in the foreground will be gone (don't worry, there's a bigger, more beautiful one right behind it) and where you see dirt will be the wraparound part of the porch!

This is the lovely flowering tree I'm keeping. Can't wait until it has a nice backdrop for the neighbors to look at!

They made quick work of cutting this little tree down; they had to get this out before they could drive the big truck in for the "real" job.

I think I'm glad I didn't actually see them maneuver into this "spot."

I bet he had a great view, though.

An amazing process, starting from the very top.

But there was a full team working together on every cut.

This was not an easy space to work in!

Actually, this is a little experiment on how tough these hasta really are. There were just too, too many to move out of harm's way.

As "luck" would have it, a neighbor claimed almost all of it for firewood within a day of this project. Lots of splitting, lots of hauling...but LOTS of great firewood.

He witnessed the work, why not pose with the spoils?

Dad was there to supervise the entire job (and took most of these wonderful pictures since I was at work), but if you only saw this picture you'd think he just had a hard day's work!

Would you look at the size of those "logs"!! (We kept a bunch as souvenir "seats" for the garden.)

We'll be serving drinks on this new "table" on the patio.

Murphy had nothing to do with the tree work, but he came to check out the new yard.

Hank practically fell asleep on the lawn, but kept his eye on the yardwork!

Everything looked so pretty (and pink), I just had to show it off. Thanks, mom and Karen! :-)

This is the only old picture I have of the house. It "proves" there was a great porch on there once (and it was even screened in), and it was the basis for the plans for the new porch. Notice, however, that the house was already sided (and the turret squared off) back then?!

Here's the sketch of what is planned for the new house. Plans changed since this was drawn up (the porch will be ALL WOOD and will have square posts), but you get the idea.

Click here to continue to Chapter 2: The Demolition.