It is a beautiful day again here in Kansas. I have been out enjoying it and getting some work done, too. So far I've cleaned out the gutters and done the crack maintenance on the front deck. For those of you not in the know about crack maintenance, I should explain further. This is not about personal hygiene.
We have several large maple trees. These trees do obnoxious things several times every year, and some obnoxious things regularly. Like limbs will fall off. Anyway, they put out seeds that are in the form of "helicopters" that go, as nature intended them to, all over the place. They alight in the gutters, and when they start sprouting, I know that it's time to clean the gutters out. They also get in between the boards on the decking, and they will either sprout there or just lay there and hold moisture, which will make the boards rot. Either way, the deck will be damaged if they are not removed. So once or twice a year I get out the high-pressure washer and remove them. It is a tedious job, the front deck takes about two hours, the back one about four.
Anyway, I'm done with the front deck, at least the crack maintenance part. I also need to wash the deck completely so that I can put on the stain and then a preservative. This washing job will take another two hours of running the washer. Then I need to find about four hours (or better, eight) where it is not going to rain to put on the stain. And then another eight rainless hours for the preservative.
But... before I do that, I'm going to do some more redwood work: I'm finally going to build my alcove for the swing. I will put some pix on-line when I get it all done. And I think that I will get started on that this afternoon too, I can probably get it done by dark.
More later....
Well, I took a nap instead, then got up and started on the back deck crack maintenance. It's probably more important on the back deck, since the decking is redwood and not CCA. I got about two-thirds
It is a beautiful still evening, you can hear the birds twittering away. There is an uncharacteristic silence in the neighborhood. I do believe that everyone has taken their kids and stereos out to the lake! I just wish that would happen every night...
Karen and I are finally going to watch Pulp Ficton. This will be about the third time that we've planned to watch it. Then we are going to bed. It's been a long and relatively productive day.
done and stopped for supper. Karen fixed a salad and baked potato, and I fired up the grill for some steaks. Kim had brought over some deviled eggs earlier, so we had a nice meal sitting outside.
There is an uncharacteristic silence in the neighborhood. I like it!