S.S.U.'s

It's getting serious now. We are a week away from our Annual Solstice Party. I'm not sure "Annual" is appropriate since we didn't have the party last year.

In any event, we are having it this year, even though it's a week late. It just wasn't going to happen otherwise.

So the pressure is on to get this house and the accompanying grounds up to a state of party readiness. This gauge is measured in Susan Stress Units. So far, we are in pretty good shape with the S.S.U.'s at about 6. Anything above 8 S.S.U.'s is bad for me. That's when I am at my most stupid.

Saturday was a lost day for Susan because she had to work her catering job in the afternoon. She puttered around, did a little more varnishing on the armour, and some cleaning.

As for me, I'm not sure what I did. I think I puttered mostly. I did a little cleaning as well. Oh...I just remembered. I did a massive cleaning of the upstairs balcony. I went so far as to be on my knees with a scrub brush cleaning the tile.

Today was where the cleaning got serious. Susan broke out the vacuum and went to town. I worked in the yard. I edged the whole yard. I cleaned up all the excess edging and then I mowed.

After that, I got to work on the hot tub. I had drained it a while back and it was time for a good cleaning. I wish I would have had the pressure washer from last week. That would have been handy.

So now the tub is clean, the yard looks great and I am beat.

We went to dinner at Webster's, a nearby bar that has $5.00 Happy Hour meals all day Sunday. Susan and I each had a beer and a sandwich and we paid $13.00 plus tip.

Now the day is over and I'm going to bed.

Obligatory Sunday Post

If it's Sunday, it must mean it is time for a post.

It's a cloudy, semi rainy day and we are doing a few odds and ends things. 

A couple weeks ago, Susan got on the project of staining the Armour we bought about nine years ago. It has been a slow process but we are winding it up today. We cleaned out all the stuff in it, and stained the innards. I am working on the shelves.

I brought the power washer home from work on Friday and used it on the deck yesterday.

Look at the difference. I don't think this pictures does it justice. I will have to remember that this needs to be done every year. There was quite a build up of weeds and roof material and general crap in the gaps between the boards. Not to mention how dirty the boards themselves were. You just don't realize it when they are all uniformly dirty.

I drained the hot tub, which was loooong over due. The water was kind of green. Now that the weather has warmed up, we don't use the hot tub as much which means I forget to keep the chemicals current. So, I'll be getting to cleaning that up and out later this coming week when the weather gets better.

Project Day

I had a long list of lots of things that needed to be accomplished yesterday. I kind of got through one of them.

It was essentially a wasted day due to my left knee. 

The saga of my left knee has been thoroughly covered in an alternate blog that details the many interesting facets of my health. If one was to care, and there is no reason one should, one could access www.porkymccorpulent.blogspot.com and check out the entry for November 22nd, 2011. That has the basic info about my knee.

It locked up on me yesterday at about 5AM. It woke me up. This was the longest stretch it has gone before returning to normal. It lasted 26 hours. It was stuck when I went to bed. I got out of bed this morning and felt the stuck knee. By the time I walked down the hall, it was back to normal and I could straighten it, walk on it, hell...dance it with no pain. Now I have a crap load of things to do today and it's already noon.

SHIT!

Project Number One: Remove the crap gutter from above the front door. The gutter I put up last year is a cheapo piece of crap. I have a guy coming tomorrow to professionally put up a full gutter across the front of the house with down spouts.

Project Number Two: Last coat of paint on the backdoor porch.

Project Number Three: Mow!

Project Number Four: Clean the Deck.

Susan had her own projects going which started with making a casserole for our sick neighbor.

Then she got out to the front yard and finished planting the flower beds. She got through the west side one yesterday and finished up today with the eastern one. There is still more to plant but that was a solid days work.

Among the plants she put in, the is a Hasta that we placed some of my sisters ashes under. So that is now the Sherry Memorial Hasta.

Vegetation Report

I'm just going to take a quick moment and comment about my vineyard and hopsyard.

From left to right, you see a Gewurztraminer Grape, a Sterling Hops, a Cabernet Franc Grape, a Hallertau Hops, and a Concord Grape.

I think everything looks really great right now. The hops are growing like crazy and the three grape vines are doing well and already showing signs of grapes to come.

What I really like is the Hallertau and how lush it is. That thing has giant leaves on it and completely covers the post upon which it clings.

Tasks for June One

It's the first day of June so that means it's June First and that means a new month has come forth here on the first day of the Sixth month and I have completely wasted the first paragraph of this post.

Susan is determined to put a strike across the "To Do" list for the Living Room. She is seeking to put some sort of a sealer over the painted stencils to protect them from scratches.

I am working on placing a strike through the back door porch item on the "To Do" list. We've been trying to figure out what type of flooring to put there and we have settled on a thick kind rubberized coating for decks.

Let's see how we do.

11:09 PM: The day is done. Gone the sun, from the lake from the sea from the sky...blah blah blah

Let's start with Susan's project. We purchased a clear varathane sealer in a spray can to try and secure the stenciling for posterity. Susan tried it on the sample tile and was not happy with the result. We both concluded...separately and at about the same time...that the stencils were fine as they are. It's not like we have wild uncontrolled dingo's running through the house.

So, it's official! The Living Room is done!

Here is how the back door looked once Phil completed his work.

I really like the way the rail came out. It now matches the railing on the front porch and the deck.

Before I got to work on the floor, Susan reminded me that it might be wise to get some primer on the railing. I reluctantly agreed that was a good idea. I really wanted to get the floor painted to see how it would look.

The floor is a large piece of half inch plywood with an ever so not so slight angle to it. We thought it should have a slight slope to encourage water to roll away from the porch. Phil made it mostly level with a sudden slope. You kind of feel like you're drunk when you're walking off it.

I've been looking around for some sort of flooring to put down. Short of replacing the tongue and groove planks that were there, there really was no good option I found.

So, we settled for this deck coating paint that goes down really thick and gives you a little grip. Above are the picture of the can and the formula for future reference.

With the railing primed with an initial coat, I finally got to work on the floor. I've only got one coat down so far and I'm not sure I'm going to like this stuff.

I was hoping this would do a better job of concealing the fact that this floor is a piece of plywood. We shall see how it looks after the next couple of coats.

Since Susan finished her stenciling project, she got to work on the flower beds out front.

The day concluded with a Graduation Party for my nephew, Peyton. He graduated a year early from High School and is not sure about what happens next. His brother, Burke, also graduated from College this year and has some plans for the summer that include working as a Counselor at Camp Nor'Wester over on the coast.

Here are some pictures.

 There are the three graduates, Peyton, Burke and Peyton friend, Connor.

This is a tree the kids planted and placed the ashes of their mom (my sister, Sherry) beneath it.

All in all, a good weekend!