As promised, here is a photo of Mom's front porch:

Rather than one big step, the boys built two 4 1/2" steps. The hand rails are made from treated lumber. We debated about using galvanized pipe but it's too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. We also thought about building fancier hand rails (well, I thought about it) but this simpler design was faster and looks better with the house.

The concrete pavers off to the right were there before. As mom says it's one less place to need to plant something.

Steve used the same style of hand rail for the front steps. 

The previous owner painted all the concrete in front orange. Mom does not love it. The one gray step you see here is the one Jeff fixed last August. It doesn't match. I am waiting for the day when Mom would like us to either paint it orange or sandblast the rest of the concrete. Until then, I'm going to ignore it.

You're wondering about the bird, aren't you? On my way to Mom's to take this photo I was surprised to spot an adult road runner in our front yard:

I tried to get a better photo but the darned thing kept running farther away. It stood almost a foot tall. Who knew we had road runners!