Erica? I found another rock...

Today Mark Zimmerman came down to make a guest appearance at the HoL. He only had about two hours to spare, but he spent that time cleaning the wooden staircase that goes to the attic. He encountered what I consider to be the most disgusting thing yet: under a small rug was a half inch of dust-dirt. It was orangey-brown and really gross. When Mark ShopVac'd it up, it caused a huge dust cloud to rise up, too. However, he got it under control and it's marvelously better in that staircase now. Besides that rug he also took up the rubber mats that were on each step (for traction). Underneath those, as can probably be expected by now, the wood is a completely different color... in fact, Amy and I think that maybe they stained the wood AROUND the pads, without taking them up at all. The stairs are reddish, but the wood underneath is a light brown.

I mopped the attic room that we cleaned last time, and I mopped the stairs, too. Mark left but Amy came over so the two of us just kept working. We moved on to the other attic room and lifted the whole-room rug that was there. Amy started sweeping but it was getting to be too much for me, so I decided to go outside.

I figured that as long as I was out there I might as well sweep off the front porch. After a fe wminutes Amy came down, too, and we started sweeping. Of course, knowing the two of us, it didn't end there. I found another patch of concrete and Amy found a few stones that seemed to be intentionally placed there. We endeavored out to the little barn thing in back and found rusty hoes, rakes, shovels, et cetera, so we brought them out and started on our projects (completely neglecting the attic for about an hour). By the time we slowed down I'd uncovered a partial walkway and so had she. Mine was concrete and I think it's going to lead back to the side door (that goes to the basement). Amy had to dig deep but found most of a stone walkway that might go to the driveway. Thank god it started raining or we'd still be out there, tearing up the front yard.