The wind last night nearly took my tarp cover off of the frame over the patio, so I must take myself over to Lowe's and purchase another package of bungee cords and replace a few that wore out over the last year. Two tarps overlap, one has screws holding it in place, the other is the cords. My goal for this spring will be to screw down parts of the longer top tarp at the grommets so it is more stable.

I've decided to have only one tree cut down in the back, not two. I can do the second one myself and it should keep the price a bit lower. It wouldn't have taken my friend long to do it and it won't take me that long either, but it's for another day. That way I can go forward on the main job sooner. This week I'll take down the nearby clothes line so the cross member doesn't get hit and broken during the dropping of branches.

Last year on HGTV I started watching a program in its sixth season so have plenty of episodes to catch up on. It's called Home Town and in addition to talented builders/designers, it has the town of Laurel, Mississippi, going for it. Lots of historic houses on various types of lots to work with. A couple of weeks ago an episode addressed my question "what if something really big happens when they start the work?" A house with an awful concrete basement that needed chiselling out and re-pouring. They confided then that they require each applicant to the show to have a contingency fund that is pretty big. It gives everyone a buffer that lets them go forward. One day I may redo my kitchen, but having a plan and the cash plus the contingency - that's the thing that keeps me puttering around the edges and working on fences and trees, not interior redesign.