Friday, December 31, 2021

new deck, new year


I haven't done much this week besides be around to put in my two cents, answer and ask questions while the deck was being built. 

And here is the finished deck, two sets of stairs, one in front and one on the right behind the yew tree.



They finished up a little after noon Wednesday. Rocky had some lattice in his trailer that the previous owner was getting rid of so he used that to dress it up around the bottom. The lattice is a little beat up and dirty but basically in good condition otherwise. I'll hose it down and paint it the rose color to match the house. The deck still needs to have sealer put on it and I'm contemplating whether or not I want to paint the railing, white if I do. One thing for sure, I'm going to have to pay more attention to the flower beds in the front now.

The luna moth is out of the kiln and I've cleaned off all the plaster. It came out with a major flaw at one end of the caterpillar where for some reason it looks like a bubble came up and left a clear spot about the size of a dime in the solid white background. We're mystified. This is a real problem since it's going in a stand. I have an idea how to disguise it or at least mitigate it using enamel paint so we'll just see how that works out.



It looks like our warm weather is coming to an end and we're going to have our first light freeze. It's supposed to dip down to the high 30˚s Saturday night and Monday night and if that was as cold as it was going to get I would have left everything outside but the prediction is 29˚ Sunday night so Tuesday I cleaned up and reorganized the garage to accommodate the plants and Wednesday set up two of the plant etageres inside and all the plant stands and brought in all the small pots, moved all the bigger pots (plumerias, bird of paradise) over by the garage to be moved in. I still have three plumerias to dig up, somehow move the big night blooming cereus into the garage, and decide what to do about the pink and yellow angel trumpets in pots today or tomorrow. I pruned back the pink so it will be relatively easy to move but the yellow is huge and covered in buds. I'll have to prune back the porter weed which is still blooming and cover it if I want it to survive. I'm not going to bother trying to cover anything else. Sink or swim baby, sink or swim.



We got some unexpected bad news, sad news for Marc, yesterday. One of his first cousins died yesterday morning. Covid. We don't know if he was vaccinated or not, didn't even know he was in the hospital, haven't been close to that branch of the family for a while, but he also had some serious health issues. He was 65, younger than us.

Omicron has made it to Wharton and the Elders, the two young Mormon men who volunteer at SHARE, have been exposed and so they weren't there Thursday. Jan decided to limit people to food only (usually they can select clothing and housewares as well, masks required) and we closed an hour early yesterday. None of us volunteers want to be exposed.

It's New Year's Eve. Twenty twenty one has been choppy but far better than the previous four years. Let's hope for continued improvement and some sorely needed indictments against the principals who supported, planned, financed, orchestrated, and participated in the attempt to overthrow a legal election and our democracy.



13 comments:

  1. Love the deck!! I am still in a holding pattern waiting for the appraisal results, but packing, always packing!

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  2. Nice deck! It's like you just added a whole other room to the house, isn't it?
    As always, our weather is following yours. For the first time in my life I just put the AC on in December. It's so muggy. So I'm looking forward to the dip in temps but that won't happen for a few days.
    Happy New Year, Ellen! I hope all good things for you and yours!

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  3. That's a lovely deck. It's a whole extra living space. Looks as if the dog has plans to spend time out there, too.

    Sorry about the art setback dang it. That's a lot of work to get to that point. I hope you can solve it.

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  4. The new deck is beautiful. They really did a lovely job.
    So sorry to hear about the luna moth problem. I hope you do have a good way of working that out.
    And very sad news about Marc's cousin. This pandemic is still raging, and it is so tiring and wearisome. But we have to keep on trying to stay safe.
    Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful New Year. Stay safe and well there.

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  5. That's a good looking deck. Rocky does nice work.
    It's unfortunate about the moth having a flaw. I'm looking forward to seeing it after its unveiling.
    Please extend our condolences to Marc on the death of his cousin.
    The high tomorrow will be 14 and then this cold snap will be over and it goes back to the mid 30s. I am very excited about this.

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  6. happy New Year Ellen, starting out right with that fancy , lovely deck!

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  7. That deck turned out great and really looks terrific! Happy New Year, Ellen! Best wishes for good health and fun adventures in 2022!

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  8. You are one hard worker. You make me tired with all your projects. Looking forward to seeing the moth. That deck looks wonderful, and I imagine you will have many years of relaxing with the pets. And regarding the last there are 700 (none are Democrats or liberals) that are convicted. That is a start.

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  9. The flaw is on the back of the moth piece, though, right? Can you mount it some other way if the enamel paint (and hence the stand) won't work?

    The deck looks FAB! And good for you for mobilizing on the plants. We don't seem to have any freezing temps coming our way in the foreseeable future, knock on wood.

    Happy New Year to you and Marc! And so sorry about Marc's cousin.

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  10. The deck looks terrific. I just pulled in my few plants, except for the Hawaiian schefflera. It seems to do all right as long as I can keep it out of the wind, and as long as we don't dip down below freezing for an extended time. I'll give it another drink of water tonight, and cross my fingers.

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  11. Nice deck!! Great job! So very sorry for your loss. Sorry you weren't able to speak with them before they passed. Take care...

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  12. The deck looks great! I think you'll enjoy it a lot. I asked Alexa what the weather is supposed to be tomorrow (so I could pick out what to wear to work) & she said rain and snow which is just rude since we've been wearing t-shirts for a week. Although that's a little more normal for us (maybe not snow, but at least cold).

    I hope 2022 moves us toward a more civil democracy - without the crazy, and without the rancor. Not holding my breath, but I still hope!

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  13. The deck looks fantastic! Happy new year and stay safe in this crazy covid world.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.