Skylights for the Dogs

The dogs grew weary of the constant barrage of rain that would pour down the coal chutes into their room in the cellar, so we've finally decided to do something about it (sorry front porch, masonry work, and servants' wash house/garage, you will all have to wait until next year).

Dylan (otherwise known as the "man with the handrail master plan") said new coal hatches were something he could tackle, so we gladly worked him until he herniated every disc in his spine (okay, not every disc, and I don't think we were to fault, at least that's what I tell myself so I can sleep at nights).  We decided to use the front stained glass window as a reference point to try to create something that would fit with the exterior of the house.

After Dylan put together some sketches, we liked them enough to pay the man for his work, and we filed our completely unnecessary "Certificate of Appropriateness" with the New Albany Historic Preservation Commission (unnecessary due to the fact they are ground level in the backyard, and not visible from a public right of way, but I decided to play it safe, though, I did make the check out wrong, so everything balanced in the end).

Just yesterday, the man himself dropped them off, awaiting a not yet scheduled installation date hopefully in the near foreseeable future, which means once I get around to calling my Uncle Chris and seeing how much he would charge us for the concrete work (Hi Angie, I'm tagging you in this, so maybe you can mention it to Chris and I can avoid having to make a phone call :)

Personally, the old ones with the completely rusted through hinges, 20 odd applications of caulk, and fancy blue paint are starting to grow on me, so I may just toss them straight from the garage into the alley, but since there are two of them, and I can only dispose of 1 large item per week, that takes a bit more planning, so I think we'll hang on to them, even though we lost the "eye" design along the way :)