Deck Hand and Baking Buddy

Our decks wrap around three sides of the house... over 500 sq ft of deck, and three stairways.   And they ALL needed a new coat of stain.   Steveio hates painting or staining....  so it's been MY task to whittle away at them a bit at a time.   The railings and spindles take the longest, because I need to stain over the railing first on the back side with a roller on a long pole... then the inside surfaces that face each other.. then the final surface that faces inward.   That is just ONE spindle... ack!   of course there are cross supports and the top railings next, and the big posts... and finally the actual deck flooring.  That part is easy with a wide roller and handle.   And the most satisfying to do, because then it feels like I accomplished something!

We use a solid color oil stain, which soaks in nicely and does not flake or chip or peel like paint would.  But it gives the appearance of solid paint.  Better looking than the greenish grey of treated wood, don't yo agree?

(part of the large back deck)                (side entrance deck by garage)

 (east side deck over by fireplace and other door) 

Once I had all the decks done above, then I had to walk around the whole perimeter with a roller on a long handle and get all the outside edges and boards... and the big posts holding the whole thing up.  Steve hides his boat down on the lower patio, blocking the view out of one of the patio doors leading to my Loom Room...arggghhh

This is the last side by the entry into the kitchen... I just LOVE the rich golden sunlight of autumn afternoons... a job well done and almost three empty cans of stain.  Whew! 

Now for my RV friends, as I was walking around the house I snapped a shot of our tire covers. We used to have those soft vinyl covers but they deteriorate after a year or two from the sun.  So we had some extra plywood in the garage we cut out these wooden half circle pieces.  They stow away above Steve's tool box  in a small horizontal space.  Gotta protect those tires on the sunny side of the rig! 

Our neighbor to the west has had a change in his working schedule and has asked me to let out his silly doggers twice a day while he is on 12 hour shifts. (with almost an hour drive each way on top of it)   So this is Cooper and Cricket... they are visulas (hunting dogs)   they are also my frisbee buddies!   Mike sets out a lawnchair for me to go over and let them out and repeatedly throw their frisbees over and over till my arm is tired.   HAHA   I bring over my two green frisbees and they love them more than their purple and blue ones.  Sometimes Cricket tries to get BOTH of the green frisbees in her mouth, just so Cooper can't get them.   It's a delightful break twice in my day, and my dogs are very jealous so I have to come back to my yard and play frisbee with mine too.  Cricket has social issues and competitiveness with other dogs than Cooper, so my dogs can't come over to play at the same time. 

Tuesday afternoon I stole a little beedle bug girl from her daycare and put her to work for the evening.  She did tray after tray of slice-n-bake halloween cookie dough.  And for some reason, sometimes a piece would end up in her mouth.  Hmmmm wonder why?  Here she is examining a holiday potholder that I got from my mom a long time ago.

She baked up all the cookies so we will have them as treats when ALL the kids and grandkids come to our house on Sunday!   Why???  Because it's MY birthday and that is the ONLY thing I asked for, having all my kids and grandkids together for the day.  How great will that be?   After she baked her heart out, she took a long relaxing spa bath, and then cuddled up in her jammies on Granmuddah's lap till she konked out.  Ahhhhhh my plan worked, we wore her out!

I have a sewing machine question that a fellow RVer asked me to put on my blog:

Now I do have another favor to ask of you. Since you have so many followers on your blog could you ask a question for me. We are wondering if I can run my Featherweight 221 off the inverter. Or my Janome 8077? We can't  seem to get a straight answer from anyone. We have asked at many of the quilt shops I stop at that sell machines. I went online ask a guy that specializes in Featherweight re-builds and repair and no one seems to know. Perhaps if someone that sews or quilts that boondocks may read your blog and has run their machine off an inverter can answer my question. 

Hugs

Paula

If anyone has an answer for Paula, you can email her at stuplich@gmail.com


It's Thursday night as I type this, and we have the rig ready and loaded and water filled for a quick getaway on Friday.  Will be home early enough on Sunday for the kids to come over, but for Friday and Saturday the sun will be shining, there won't be any snow on the ground, so we are going camping!!!