As it’s been since mid-August that I last posted pics of the deck construction here (though I have a few more from late August after I got the railings on stashed away on Flickr), here’s the word: work stoppage.

One of things I knew I would have to deal with eventually was the fact that the power and phones lines run to the corner of the house right by the new deck and would drape dangerously low over the main steps leading to the deck from the driveway. The only answer to get this addressed properly would be to bury these lines.

IPL proved to be great to work with in this regard. I dealt with responsive and friendly folks that first tried to get FEMA preventative maintenance money for me — apparently, there are were some Federal dollars out there recently to bury lines in certain areas so as to lessen the damage that can be done by ice and wind. When that didn’t pan out, they outlined their standard deal: a line burial for $750, with allowances for zero interest payment plans that can be extended as long as 5 years and tacked on to my monthly utility bill. (Balance payable if we move before then, of course.)

Um…duh. I’ll take door #1, Monty.

The guys that came out to trench the 116′ run from the service pole to the house were super careful around the deck. They even bored under a sidewalk for about 5 feet at no extra charge. And just when I was wondering when the electricians would come by to do the dirty work of connecting everything, I came home today to find all the work complete.

But let’s not forget about that phone line. While we ditched our land line back in October of last year, I figure that maintaining a connected line to the house is kind of one of those expected selling points. But given that I’m now on day 4 of trying to reach a living and breathing human at AT&T to get the current service changed from an aerial drop (hung) to a buried drop (um…buried), I’m ready to take a hatchet to the damn thing and call it done. Better judgement (read: the missus) is keeping that from happening.

So the next time you’ll hear from me will be after it’s finished, with pretty pictures of everything and close-ups of charred animal flesh cooking up on the new grill. I’m shooting for two weeks to call this one done.