Friday, April 11, 2008

Preparing for Summer

So much to do and so little time. The weather has been sublime for the past four days and we have taken full advantage of it.

H and I restained the deck preparatory to bringing the deck furniture out of the garage for the summer. Oh, the joy!

I was in charge of painting the outsides and cutting in and I didn't even complain about my knees and back hurting since the sun felt so nice and warm on my back.

H had the job of rolling on the stain. This year was so much easier as he had sanded the old opaque stain off last year (a huge, dirty job). It took him several days on his hands and knees to get the job done, so this year, it was a breeze just to mop on the Austrailian Tree Oil.


While waiting for the stain to dry, I cleaned all the perennial beds of the winter's detritus. This wheelbarrow full was one of dozens I took to the compost pile. Needless to say, the next day my shoulders were quite sore from all that raking.

Oh, but look what was lurking under all those leaves......

There's nothing quite so rewarding as those first, beautiful crocus blooms in the spring.

After all the hard work was finished, we took a few minutes to sit in the garden and enjoy the warm sunshine on our faces. Even Spike enjoyed his first spring outing. Sluggo, however, was not amused with the harness or being outside.

I think we've created a monster though. Now every time I walk towards the front door, Spike is right behind me in hopes that I'll take him out.

I did find a few minutes for a couple of baking projects. Hamburger buns for the freezer and a batch of cinnamon rolls for the ladies at the Clinic.

I was in a hurry to get out the door and neglected to take a shot of the finished rolls, but you may rest assured they were quite delicious! That, and the house smelled great for the rest of the day.

I also found time for my Wednesday morning meeting of the Downeast Knitiodts. What a grand time we all have, sharing our projects and stories while sitting amongst the colorful wool. This is a picture of our instructor, Barbara and classmate, Nancy, who was knitting the tiniest little ballerina slippers.
Judy and Linda were discussing yarn colors for the cute little "Pueblo Vases" that Judy knits.

All in all, a very satisfying week!

Life is Good,

Hugs, Giddy

6 comments:

Jillsknit said...

HI!
Glad you found my blog. I can't wait to have the time to catch up on the adventures of your "kids".
The main question is - you wanna come to Minnesota and finish my deck!!!

Unknown said...

Whew! I don't know which one to get more excited over, the yummy looking cinnamon rolls or the beautiful finished deck! It looks like a wonderful view. -Jen :)

Anonymous said...

Oh what a nice surprize those crocus are!

We don't let our kittie outside without being on a leash and harness either. Protection!
She loves to go outside and doesn't mind the leash at all.

Anonymous said...

Yes, life is good, Giddy! I spent several days out this week, cleaning up the garden. I take my camera out with me, put it on top of the gardening stand, and if anything interesting shows up, I try to get a shot of it.
Of course, that means lots of starting and stopping of the chores, but who cares?

Diana LaMarre said...

I am so envious that you have already finished your deck staining! We still have that to look forward to. This year is particulary bad because we have to do all the white lattice and railings. We do the floor every year, but that's not nearly as much work as the white opaque stain.

And you have already cleaned up your gardens, too!

I am so far behind everyone!

Kerri said...

You two did a good stroke of work! We need to stain our deck too, but there's so much other spring work to do on the farm, so I'll have to wait until hubby has time to help.
The crocuses seem grateful to get the bits and pieces removed so that they can look their best, don't they?
Glad you fitted in some socializing with the knitting group too.
Have you officially retired yet?