one post in

I left work early today and Neil was finishing up for the day when I got home. The leaking sewer pipe is now wrapped, with one little place that needs some additional tape. The newly leaking toilet was caused by a bent flange. That is now fixed and the toilet is back in place with a new wax seal. He also looked at the odd fuse box under the house, which he thinks is safe. The only things connected to it are some other weird box with a switch and the non-working outlet in the kitchen. We did discover that the wire on the back of the house that used to lead to the shack is hot, so that can be turned into an outdoor outlet.

The plan for Thursday is to do the drain plumbing and electrical work for the dishwasher. It is being delivered on Thursday. Then he will work on getting the outdoor outlet in and take a look at the light fixture wire in the living room. He did find the wires that were stuck up in the ceiling, but he wants to run some new wire, as that is really old wire.

After Neil left, we set to work on the handrail. I was worried whether or not I'd be able to drill into the concrete. That turned out not to be as much of a problem as the fact that the steps are made of concrete blocks, NOT poured concrete, so I ran into holes when I tried to drill. I had to slightly reposition the top post but after a bit of fiddling around, I was able to get the post attached to the top step. Because my step is not totally level, the post looks like it might be just slightly leaning.

I ran into some problems when I went to drill for the bottom post. First I dug out the dirt so the post would fit, but once I started drilling, I ran into nothing but holes. There simply is not enough solid concrete down a the end to drill into the secure the post, so I am going to have to set it in concrete. I will probably end up working on that this weekend. I am having second thoughts on whether or not I can cut the railings correctly. My mom thinks I can, but I will need to buy a miter box and I want a new hand saw, something that will be very sharp.