When spindly is a good thing

Our front porch has been railing-free for almost a year now, first just a slab and then just a slab covered in deck planks, but it has a surprise waiting on the back deck.

Arnold has begun making sections to be primed and then set into place -- plus a top rail, of course -- and they're looking good.

Like the fence, they're indicators that we're on the home stretch.

I almost stumbled into them Friday morning; I was focusing upward, because Darren was finishing up the ceiling in the kitchen and living room. Hank was finishing up the tile in the upstairs bath, and was getting ready to grout. Roy was up on a scaffold in the den, staining the planks and then the collar ties.

Now just the staircase ceiling and the big half of the gable vault are left. "I'll finish them sometime next year," Roy said with a big smile.