The patio really looks like a patio. The parapet walls are essentially done. When we had them laid out, they looked too tall, so instead of scalloping them, we elected to make them about 6 inches shorter than code and we'll finish them off with a 2 1/2 inch diameter pipe railing. We can continue this railing down the new steps and along the front walk, (replacing the decrepit one currently there,) and it will all tie in nicely. 
We have made some decisions on the work that needs to be done on the back of the house. Bob Sr. says he can save the frame around the dining room windows, (pending no ugly discoveries during removal of the adjacent posts,) but the news on the windows above wasn't as good. The bank of five windows in the Girls' room has to come out as the sill beneath is rotted through. He'll get to that in the next couple of days and the windows will go to Dayton Art Glass for restoration. Again, the good news here is that we will definitely find the yellow jacket nest in the process, and block the ingress to the house for all sorts of creepy crawlies when the window frame gets tightened up.
When Bob took out the living room doors last week, he found (no surprise here,) termite damage under the threshold and had to replace the joist, subfloor and floor. Thankfully, he was able to make the new threshold just wide enough to cover the parts he had to cut out so we don't have any floor patching to do. Picture is of another shredded board. Those termites were very well fed. Bob has also taken out the dining room doors, and Dayton Art Glass picked them up today to start restoration and size adjustment to fit the new oak frames Bob made.We have the roof estimate. Sort of. I need to go through it with a fine-toothed comb, but I should be able to do that in the next day or so. Our new strategy is to 'fix' the stuff that needs to be fixed sooner or later, even if it's not leaking right now. This means pulling off and replacing all broken, damaged or poorly installed slates, (with salvaged material that matches,) replacing all the worn out copper, (essentially all valleys, window pans and dormers,) and replacing the johngeneered metal ridges with clay tile as they originally were. Did I mention that Sean, (the slate installer,) found squirrel nests up under the incorrectly installed ridge? (That would explain the squirrel poop in the attic.) It will cost a small fortune, but aside from routine yearly maintenance, (inspection and replacement of worn/broken slates,) we shouldn't have to do anything else for 30 years or so. We needn't replace the whole roof, nor use new slate. The pitch is sufficient enough that we should get another lifetime out of the current roof as long as it is PROPERLY maintained.
