Oh, well. But it certainly was nice while it lasted

So, the railing paint dried, and the kablan went ahead and put down the steps.

Here's a view from below:

And here's a view from above:

And here's a close-up to get a feel for the color:

Now, before the accolades and the compliments begin flying in, I should report that the kablan is currently undoing the entire thing - the steps, the railing, the support, and all! What was the problem with the way it was? See if you can tell from the following picture:

Yup, that's right. By the 7th or 8th step, a grown-up has to crouch way down in order to continue upstairs. We all knew that it wasn't going to be perfect, but this is much, much worse than anyone - including the kablan himself - suspected. Anyway, to make a long story short, he's redoing the stairs. The more comfortable solution would be to make the hole bigger, but that's not really an option due to structural concerns. So, the only thing to do is to make the stairs that much steeper and, therefore, more ladder-like. Obviously, this is far from ideal, but ein mah la'asot. (To his credit, the kablan feels very bad about all this and told us that he is incurring any and all costs of the fix.)

Rest assured that our dedicated staff is closely watching this story and will continue to bring you updates as they develop.