I’ve decided to start celebrating every 25 days now because it makes me happy and energized. I’m still speaking ten sentences a day on Duolingo, reading a few comics in Spanish, and doing the daily word that Spanish Dictionary sends me. See 850 Days for more details.
About the stairs — yesterday they planned to replace the stairs on the building right across from us, then do ours. But they got a late start and only did the other building:
When they finished with it they moved the crane to in front of our building and parked so it blocked cars from parking there.
Now they plan to start at 8 a.m. to give us our new stairs, and hopefully I will have a picture of them to show tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
October 16, 2025
Oh awesome. Both the stairs and the overnight parking fiasco. Got to love the ” not thinking” on parking up.
.
Awesome on your streak of language learning.
Thanks. 🙂
Wow, they took up a lot of spaces for that crane. Hope they get your done
They took up the space purposely so they would have room to work on installing the stairs.
Good luck today! Those stairs across the way look the same?
Yes, they replaced them but didn’t change them.
I am working on being more consistent with the lessons. I get waylaid easily. I had Spanish is 3rd or 4th grade. Public tv had Dom Miguel on in the afternoon and the teacher rolled the tv in every day. Hola Dom Miguel! I have retained more of the language than I would have thought possible. Not a lot, but some is still there,
It’s encouraging and exciting when we understand some things, isn’t it?
Nice
🙂
I’m so proud of you for steadily learning a new language!! Awesome!! exciting news that they will be working on your side of the stairs today.. hopefully tomorrow you will be able to share pictures.
Thank you. 🙂
…and I’m still battling English.
😀
I hope the weather is good and they are working on it now!!!
Yes, they got it done! 🙂
Nothing ever seems to get done on time with contractors–lol! I hope they finish up and you love the new stairs. 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
Yowsers how big it is. Hope they got your steps today.
Thanks, they did.
You can always fuss at them in Spanish if they don’t hurry up!
😀
Now I’m wondering ….
while the new stairs are being installed, do the folks who live on the second story have another means of getting downstairs?
No. They suggested we leave because we would be trapped if there was an emergency.
Cute how they block your parking. Sheesh, isn’t there a lot out back they could park that thing in?
They purposely extended it so they would have room to work. No cars in the way. I thought it was clever.
love these photos. I would have had a blast watching all this
🙂
I genuinely admire your system of celebrating progress every 25 days. It’s such a smart way to keep motivation high and acknowledge consistency in language learning. Duolingo, comics, and the daily word sounds like a well rounded, manageable routine. That speaks to the real secret of success: small, daily habits compounding over time. It is always frustrating when construction plans shift, but the detail about them strategically parking the crane for an 8 a.m. start for your stairs is thoughtful. It confirms they were trying to minimize disruption while ensuring they had the necessary space immediately available. I have my fingers crossed too and look forward to seeing the picture of your new, safer stairs tomorrow. Do you find the new steps will require you to change how you shovel the snow, since the gaps are smaller now? That will be the real winter test.
We’ll have to see about the snow. I’ll let you know. 🙂