Morning view from the Deck

I really, really like being on the deck in the mornings and I'm happy to say that the view is improving nicely.  I've got a couple of other things I want to work on but things done last summer are maturing well I think. 

The hydrangea has become acclimated to its new home and seems to be growing quite well.  Blossoms have started to come out and I will be happy to see them at full bloom, and color.

In the lower section some of the flowers planted last summer made it, some didn't.  A couple of months ago I dug up and split some hostas and replanted pieces here.  There are doing well.  I also split the daisies and they too seem to be holding their own... yippee!

The hostas along the back of the house, many of which I split, are doing what hostas do... grow no matter what.  Wouldn't it be nice if that stinkin' grass did the same?!?!?

One most interesting thing noticed is the salmon yarrow plants.  When purchased, they had salmon-colored flowers on them.  Last year not a single flower came in although the leafy stuff grew like mad.  This year for no particular reason I haven't really been watering them and flower stems and buds are coming up all over the place.  I'm thinking I over watered them last summer although I really don't have the slightest idea.  Anyway, I think I learned a gardening lesson and I'm happy about it.  The flowers will grow to about the size of a daisy.  Clicking on this photo you can see the little ones coming in a bit better.

Unplanned Project

Today is Tuesday and Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at Goodwill and going to Goodwill is therefore my normal Tuesday project.  But, I'm out on the deck this morning having my morning coffee and I was just looking at the areas on the top rail deck boards that need to be redone.  It's not new... been that way for a while.  Try as I might I just could not get a nice, shiny urethane finish to hold up, even using marine urethane.  The sun just beat it up and it looked like crap in a few places.  I knew I had to get to it sometime, but not today.  However, I decided that before I went off to Goodwill I'd hit the good spots with the belt sander to see how tough it was going to be to sand off the finish.  Well, that was that.  It didn't come flying off but it wasn't that hard either so I just kept at it and 3 hours later I'd gotten the wood sanded down and ready to coat with the deck stuff.

Done with the belt sander, not that you can really tell or even see anything in this picture, other than the sawdust on the deck.  Is it 'sanddust' when it comes from sanding?  Now to go over it a couple of times with the finishing sander.

 

 

First coat of finish done and putting the second coat on tomorrow will take no time.  This finish has held up really nicely on the deck itself so I'm thinking that's it for deck finishing for a while.  I finished up at about 3 PM and could have made it over to Goodwill but decided on a swim instead.  Now I just have to fill the next 7 days before Goodwill day again :)

 

Eat More Bread

It's a beautiful, sunny, and rather hot day today and I've been working around the yard most of the morning and it's lunch time.  I figure I'd whip up some tuna salad for a nice cool lunch, and that's what I did.  I don't eat bread very often, hardly at all, actually, but I knew I had gotten some so I go to the drawer to get it and realized I've got to eat more bread.

It is wheat bread, not that unhealthy white stuff, and I'm thinking those slices about a third of the way back from the left end had a chance.

Not to be.  When I opened the package the green stuff started falling off onto the counter and I figured scraping it off would be more trouble than it was worth.  As said, I guess I have to eat more bread, or at least check the drawer with some regularity.