Progre$$

Slowly, but surely - and rather expensively - we're reclaiming our 114-year-old house after a decade of neglect and abuse by renters.

We bought a new gas grill a couple of weeks ago and I finally got around to assembling it early last week. It took me about three hours, but I seem to have gotten it right and I cooked steaks on it later in the week. The deck needs to be pressure washed and rehabilitated with a few new boards, but we now have a place to grill and dine on evenings when the weather is nice.

I picked up a Craftsman tool chest for $40 at a yard sale last weekend and emptied my various tool boxes into it. Now, I have a general idea where specific tools are, at least until they get used and misplaced.

A crew from Lowe's is coming this week to build a chain link fence enclosing about half of the back yard, which should give Jack and Dora much more freedom and let us sleep a little better.