Consider the Lilies ....

Sometimes I think that lilies are really my favorite flower... before tulips?  no.  not really.  But they probably are my favorite summer flower, especially with so many blooming right now. 

The most spectacular one, tho, is a "tree lily" that i planted five (or more) years ago.  It was a huge bulb - like 6-7 inches tall and 3-4 inches "wide".  Since i didn't want to have to dig a hole to China, i put it in the raised bed at the corner of the garden ... and promptly forgot it.  [The truth is that i thought it was a gimmick.]

For the first couple of years, it was nothing special - a pretty clear yellow, with a gorgeous fragrance, but there are several more in the garden that are similar.

But two years ago it took off and got taller and taller.  This year it is about 6 feet tall and had six separate stalks - each topped with 15 - 25 buds.   A heavy rain on Tuesday night knocked two stalks down, so i cut them and brought them into the house. 

This is 20 blooms and more than 40 more buds.  I know they won't all open, but perhaps half will.  The entire house smells wonderful!

The DIY from Hell - part 1

Does anyone remember why it was that i decided to do the Deck Over* last week?

It seemed like such an easy project.  Quick, even.  I watched the You Tube videos, read the brochure, looked the pictures on the web site.  Did my research.  Four easy days:

Day 1 - strip and clean the deck

Day 2 - let it dry thoroughly

Day 3 - paint the first coat

Day 4 - paint the second coat

Done. Easy, peasy.

Well, it didn't work out quite that way. 

 The real reason that I jumped into this was that when i looked at the deck i realized that the remaining finish was in much worse shape than i had thought - peeling, bare spots  - a real mess.  

But i am impatient.  In the beginning, i was not waiting long enough for it to work properly.

My actual progress was more like this:

Day 1 - strip

Day 2 - strip

Day 3 - strip

Day 4 - strip

Day 5 - wash

Day 6 - let it dry

Day 7 - pre-spot the cracks and nail holes

Day 8 - first coat on half the deck

Day 9 - second coat on half the deck, and first coat on 25% more

Day 10 - second coat on 25%, and first coat on last 25%

Day 11 - second coat on final 25%

Let me be clear ... none of this was Behr's fault.  The products worked exactly as advertised, but Operator Error ran rampant!

And, then there was the weather.  It should be averaging 85 here right now.  But for the last 10 days, it has been averaging 93 degrees!  And, the humidity has been around 50% every day.  It meant that it was too hot to work after 9 or 9:30 a.m. and i had to be vigilant that the stripper did not dry out, so it took me way longer than i had planned. 

I was lucky with rain, tho.  I needed it to stay dry thru the entire 11 days, and the dry weather held for 9 days.  It did rain hard late in the afternoon, but by morning had dried out, and only that last 25% of the wood was "naked".  A hot and dry day took care of that by noon, so that i could finish up. 

And, we are thrilled with the final product.  The color matches the side porch beautifully.  It feels good underfoot, and seems to have covered very well.  Only time will tell how well it wears, but we are very hopeful. 

Part 2 will be done in the fall.  I plan to paint the railings white to match the other two porches, but it's too hot to even start on that now.

This retirement stuff is fun!

*Behr didn't pay me for any endorsement, altho i would happily do so.  I really like their products and they worked well.

Too Many Irons in the Fire!

Any dreams i might have had of sitting around in retirement eating bonbons and reading the latest hot new beach novel have been dashed, as my "To Do" list gets longer and longer.  The days of "Wednesday Workdays" have been replaced with "Everyday Workdays" as i try to catch up on all the things that need to be done. 

So, an update is in order.  The replacement floor was installed last week and, honestly, the three strong young men did all that work, so i can only lay claim to helping to box up all the books from many shelves of bookcases and then un-boxing them afterwards.  We did cull out some volumes and of course put everything back clean and dusted, but i think that is called "housekeeping" in most places ... no extra credit there.

But there are currently three on-going projects keeping me busy. 

Office Conversion to Music Room

Am waiting to give you the whole project when it is done - sometime later this week or early next.  The best you get today is a peek inside our guest room, which has been pressed into service as the staging area.  Slowly, very slowly, all the boxes are being unpacked and places found for the stuff. 

Storage central for the past three weeks.

 One more delivery and a bit of arranging and i'll be ready to show it all. 

Rehabbing the Deck

This was so not on my list for this summer!

If you have a deck, you know that it needs to be re-sealed at least in alternate years - annually would be better, but we have never found time to do that!  As i was thinking that it was time to do it this summer, i realized that this job will either get more difficult each year as i get older, or will become more expensive as i need to hire someone to do it.

Having all the furniture increases the choices of where to sit ... i think.

The alternatives are either to replace the wooden decking with composite material, or to put a more permanent finish on the existing wooden deck, so that it does not have to be done semi-annually.  I chose the latter, and so am now in the middle of stripping off the old finish so that i can apply the Behr Deck Over* product in a few days. 

Like all best laid plans this has taken significantly longer and more elbow grease than planned, but it is coming along.  We have guests coming next week, so i hope to have it done in time for a dinner (or at least drinks) on the deck the middle of next week. 

The good news is that the nice men in the paint department were able to match the DeckOver to the color of the composite that we just put in for our side porch, and when I get to it they can also do white for the railings so that all three porches and decks will now match. 

Finishing the Cutting Garden

I've never spent the time that i need to on the cutting garden.  It bloomed beautifully in year one, but i ignored it last year and this year have only planted a dozen dahlias - which are doing very well.  I've started digging out a clean border, and used a lot of the round rocks from the former fish pond for edging, but there is still a significant amount of grass left and i need to work in more organic material if i really want it to do well ... next year and in the future. 

The two piles of "dirt" are the last of the latest batch of "webb dirt" from the compost pile.  I need to work them in, along with a bag or two of commercial compost.  Then i'll be ready for fall planting for next spring. 

So, that's what's happening in my little corner of the planet.  Perhaps bonbons next week.  

Will keep you posted. 

* No money was provided by Behr ... i just like their products.

Wednesday Workday .... Cancelled!

Cancelled on account of much needed rain.

So, thoughts and some updates instead.

Retirement 101

This was my first official week of retirement.  It was nice to get up every morning, to to Jazzercise and then "retire" to the garden to work.  That was good for Monday and Tuesday and then the monsoons came.  We are not talking Texas-style rain, thank you very much, but the kind that gardeners love ... slow and steady and for two and a half days and counting.  It is supposed to move out mid-day tomorrow.  So far, we have 2.5 inches - enough to replenish the ground level water - at least for a few weeks. 

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The first hydrangeas of the season.  More than I had all last year.

There were several things on my "to do" list for the week, but they will wait until next week.

Replacing the Floors

Three days of hanging out at Starbucks and Panera while three strong young men labored at the house, and the floors are done ... again.  We like the results and actually like this wood better than the "old", so it's all good.  An added benefit was that we cleaned out a few things as we packed up all the bookcases.  

Now we just have to unpack and replace everything wherever it belongs.  The insurance company has been great to work with ... we were really lucky with that, I think. 

This is Why we Blog

In the mailbox today was a lovely box of apricots!  Home grown apricots from Arizona, thanks to the very wonderful Annika at Living a Dream!  I have drooled in her comments box for several years as her yield has grown annually, and she sent me a whole box - all my own!!  They are delicious.

Sweet and perfectly ripe.  Delicious!

But more importantly, they are a thoughtful gesture of friendship from someone i know only thru our blogs.
There's a great community out here supporting each other and caring about each others' lives.  You can't beat that.  It's reason enough to keep posting - even if one doesn't have anything to say everyday. 

Thanks so much, Annika!