My in-laws live on the side of a mountain so their property slants at about 45 degrees.

They are getting old and decided they need steps in the backyard so my father-in-law and I did a little bonding this weekend. He mixed concrete and carried it, two buckets at a time, up two flights of stairs to where I attempted to piece cobblestones into stairs. He also carried buckets of sand when I needed them.

They turned out okay. Not great, but okay. I don’t know where they got the idea that I could do that kind of work.

I just did them the way I do everything else in my life – just sort of figure it out as I go along. Although they came out level left to right, they slant down a little too much from back to front (that would be dangerous if they get icy in winter), so I’ll have to take a mallet and knock them into position later (they’re mostly set in sand except for the front row on each step).

I also worked out Sunday morning, so I’m sore in a good way.