Working on a new deck

So the deck that I fell through earlier this year?  Mark & I are not rebuilding it ourselves. When we redid the floor in the "add-on" room, we worked with a great contractor, Coastline Construction, Inc., and we've asked them to come back and do a deck redeaux.  Mark & Ralph went under the deck to find out just how much work needs to be done and we found out that not only was the surface rotten, but many of the posts and girders were as well.  Yikes. The chuff from the surrounding trees was getting stuck between the planks and basically acting as a sponge holding water to help destroy the underlying support.  The redwood tree is not only girdled (oops ~ sorry tree!), but the base has pushed some of the posts out of plumb.  

So earlier this week and early this morning, I managed to pull all my plants and patio furniture off the deck.  It looks so much larger without all my stuff on it.  Ralph & Sean will be taking the deck down to the concrete footings and rebuilding it from the ground up.  We're widening the deck in front of the dining room and putting a second stairway in from that end. They are also going to square up the corner between the redwood and apple trees.  I have dreams of exterior planter boxes, seating and some large planters with a drip watering system.  Maybe even a trellis near the living room.  And I already have my new grill picked out.  I don't think everything will be coming back on the deck - I rather like the clean look it could have.

The view at noon today