Through all this mess, the biggest pain in the butt (literally) was in removing the deck steps so I could get to the area I needed to work on.  After removing all the nails from the steps with it still in place on Saturday morning, we had to take Hailey to her birthday party.  When we got back, I totally forgot the fact that there is nothing holding the steps on the side of the deck and proceed to walk down them to get down to the patio.  My first step on the now mobile steps causes them to slide out sideways on the patio and I fall down landing solidly on my butt from the 4 foot drop ... my backside was sore for several days!