Our new deck

We've been saving for this - planning for this - and finally we are ready !!!!

The deck was built by our son-in-law Jay - with help from other family members. I made the plans, decided the major features and the result is absolutely fabulous! It was a lot of hard work - a LOT of shopping at three hardware/lumber stores, a lot of hauling of materials and a lot of "going back for one more thing". You just never really know how much material goes into a deck until you see it being built - miles of beams, and acres of decking, piles of railings and zillions of bolts, screws and nails - oh my.

Don and I wanted a big deck - it is 12'x20' - big enough for sitting, eating, barbecuing, entertaining. We figured that once it was built we couldn't make it bigger - so we started with BIG. The porch that came with the house was a tiny 4'x4' with steps down to the sidewalk - barely room to put a chair on - and certainly not big enough for two chairs - and I love to garden and wanted planters and pots for my flowers. So let's get started!

All the beams had to be put in first . . . Jahn was a great help!!!

Beams on the pilings - that is a lot of wood!

The rule is - the deck has to be freestanding - not attached to the house - so the frame had to be partially built a few feet out from the house (so Jay could put the bolts in place in the back) and then the beam section had to be lifted up and moved two feet back, so it was against the house. I was not there for the lifting - wish I had a picture of that. Four people lifting the heavy frame and inching it back until it was against the house - we had to recruit a neighbor to help.

Jahn cleaning the ends of the boards - they all had staples and stickers on the ends.

A boy needs a good French Toast breakfast to keep up his energy . . .

Decking going on - there is a lot of decking on a 12'x20' deck . . .

Ceremonial last screw going into the decking . . .

Start of the railing - 4x4 cedar posts . . . I love the slanted corners - gives the deck such a nice artistic look . . .

And the top boards of the railing . ..

Jahn learning to put a new plug on an electrical cord . . .

With the ends of the decking Jahn made us a "wood henge" . . .

The beginning of the ramp - I am so excited to have a ramp . . .

Don standing at the end, when the ramp was almost done - just need the last few decking boards and a railing (another trip to the lumber yard) . . .

The yard had to be landscaped after the deck was built - Jahn helped his dad unload the three loads of topsoil - while a neighbor stops to chat . . .

Loading topsoil into my ladybug wheelbarrow - don't you think every girl needs a ladybug wheelbarrow?

First flat of strawberries of the season - the perfect snack for a hard working boy!

Our other son-in-law, Jason, and our daughter Beccy came to help us put the slats in the railing on Saturday and the deck is complete! When we went grocery shopping on Sunday we stopped at Big Lots - and what did we find - clearance patio furniture that is wide and soft and oh so comfy - and apparently just made for our new deck.

Two chairs that rock ( on some sort of spring), a loveseat and a table . . . and on clearance - be still my heart!

And so this is our deck - there are flowers on the railings (those planters straddle the railing and are perfect for the gardening I want to do. There are three tomato plants in the pots to the left of the love seat.

These two little gnomes sit in the new table - one is busy - one is dozey . . .

There are three of these lanterns - shaped like a lighthouse and they hold a candle for evenings on the deck. I got them from JoAnn Fabrics on clearance - love summer clearance just as summer is beginning!!! More about the flowers and decorations on the deck later.

Don't you think this is the niftiest deck ever? And today we have a family bbq here!!! Ahhhh summer!!

Way Back Machine - part two - if you can take it!

Now where were we ? Oh yes, in our new house in the desert - it was a nice house, it was a big house, it was a cool house in the desert. With plenty of ice and cold drinks and a chilling watermelon and three wonderful kids.

Walking into the kitchen one afternoon, soon after the new AC units were installed, I tripped on something. No toys laying about, our kids are too old for toys scattered about the house, the dog is outdoors and not underfoot - why did I trip? Looking down I see that the linoleum has decided it wants to curl up - right in the middle of the kitchen. Seems the stickity that sticks it down has come unstuck. Is this another protest against our kids? Surely the floor likes me - hmmm, but then it did reach up and trip me - and I dropped a glass of iced tea when I tripped, so I have to clean that up - and put on some sandals so I don't step in broken glass. Oh floor, why do you torture me?

As I watched, another piece let loose and flipped up, ready to catch some unsuspecting victim, ahhhh but not me, I am watching out for these tripping linoleums. I know what they can do. I clean up the iced tea and wipe the floor carefully with a wet paper towel to get the last shards of glass up. And BOING - up goes another edge of linoleum. Is this a strike? A protest? A sit-in (or rather a pop-up)? Does the stickity stuff have a shelf life and now it is too old and all of it will continue popping up?

We need our kitchen floor - so our wonderful kids can cook for us . . .

And drop pies upside down on the oven door for us . . . ooops!

What to do? Replacing it is very expensive - and we just blew our wad on the AC and the fridge and freezer. Off to the hardware store, Helpful Boy tells us that we can put metal strips on the seams and nail them down. That will hold the floor down, but it will look uuuugly. We can't have ugly in our new house - so over to the flooring department and choosing new flooring. Such choices, such pretties, such prices!!

We make our choice, pay Helpful Boy and head home - to see what else could go wrong in our nice house, our big house, our cool house in the desert. We love our house - it was love at first sight. We had walked in the side door with our real estate agent and fell instantly in love with a house that had a breakfast room and a huge Rhode Island-size family room. We said nice things about our house - we appreciated our house - did it not understand?

We leave the hardware store to go home and walk in the door of the breakfast room and it is mayhem - curls of linoleum are everywhere - throughout the kitchen, through the breakfast room and down the very wide hallway to the dining room. Quick - call Helpful Boy back - tell him we need more linoleum - we'll get the measurements and call him back.

Have you ever tried to measure a floor with big spikes of the edges of linoleum poking up. Someone has to stand on the flapping linoleum while two other people measure - and there are not enough feet in our family to hold all the spikes down. Finally measured - sort of - called back Helpful Boy - told him the measurements - drop over dead when he quotes a price!

Jump ahead three days later - and jump over those spikes of linoleum, most of which we have fairly successfully tacked down. Not THAT'S ugly! In come the helpers of Helpful Boy - rolls and rolls of linoleum - enough it seems to cover the earth. It is a pretty linoleum, so we hope our house will be happy with that and settle down. We can hope, can't we?

Everything is peaceful and calm once again . . .

Things seemed wonderful - the linoleum shines like the sun - the fridge and feezer are humming a sweet tune - the AC units- both of them brand new - are working fine, the air inside is cool and welcoming, like a waterfall on a lovely mountainside. WAIT - that waterfall is not coming from a mountain - we don't have mountains in the desert - and we certainly don't have waterfalls. Water everywhere - water in the kitchen, water outside on the driveway, under the kitchen window - and we had just fixed all the linoleum.

Quick - find the shut off valve - WHAT? You say there isn't one - then find the shut off at the street. You say you need a special tool to turn that off. Well who has a special tool to turn off the water at the street? It has to be very long, it is a dark deep hole there under the lid of the water meter. Call the city - quick quick - my house will float away - and I can't afford that, not with the new fridge and freezer, two new AC units and new floors in three rooms. Here comes a neighbor with a big stick - uh oh - is he mad because our water is running into his house too? Oh - it is not a stick, it is the tool for turning off the water at the meter. Hey, where did you get that stick, and can I get one too?

Ok - water is off - now to decide what to do. I think the first thing we'll do is smash in the outside wall - for you see - there is not access to the pipes in the wall that are leaking - why didn't they put a little door in the wall so that we could get in there easily and see how much damage there was to the pipes? Why oh why? Isn't there a rule about things like that? Well, there should be.

Don cut the wall open, house surgery, and finds the shut off valve. How are we supposed to access the shut off vavle if it is inside the wall? He also finds that the pipes are spaced far apart and he has to cut out more of the wall, our pretty yellow house now has a gaping hole in its side. Good Neighbor has left the water turning on gadget with us and so I go to turn on the water so Don can watch and see where the leak is. SPLAT - there it is - right in front of his face - and spouting like a whale. Turn off the water!!!

A pipe has split right in the middle - not at a joint - so now we call Mr. Plumber Man - friend of Helpful Boy and AC Man. Mr. Plumber Man says he can come out in two weeks - ok - goodbye Mr. Plumber Man - we call Mr. Plumber Man number 2, and number 3 and number 4 - ahhhh number 5 can come out today - and he teaches us the meaning of emergency service cost. But we have to have water, our wonderful kids need water to drink, and ice cubes in the new fridge, and showers to wash off all the desert dust and grime. Maybe they could just go to the city pool and soak in the pool a bit. No? Ok - do your stuff Mr. Plumber Man number 5.

Maybe the kids could go dance in the rain - or not - since it only rains about twice a year in the desert - they would get awful stinky between rains . . .

All is soon fixed - and Don builds a pretty door to go where the gaping hole was, and he plasters and fixes the edges of the gaping hole so the door fits - and all is peaceful once again. Not much damage to the new floor - nothing came unglued or popped up to trip us. I think we are ready to get back to enjoying our new house, our nice house, our big house, our cool house in the desert.

We'll have parties in our new house - and invite all our friends . . .

Ya think? Well think again - next time I'll be back to tell you about a white carpet, date trees by the driveway, a can of honey and three teenagers! Oh the stories I could tell you. See you next time . . .

The way back machine

Long, long ago - in a land far, far away, we bought a house. It was a nice house, it was a big house, it was a cool house in the desert. Two giant air conditioners, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, dining room AND breakfast room, large kitchen, living room, and a family room the size of Rhode Island.

The family room was so big we could have a sit down dinner party for 25 in just half of the room. . .

The family room was 25x42, with a jacuzzi in one end, a gigantic (so big you couldn't get it out the double sliding doors) work table with storage all around and a wall of cupboards, floor to ceiling. It was a nice house, it was a big house, it was a cool house in the desert.

The house looked small from the front - but it went back and back and back -the house took up almost a whole city lot . . .

And I planted roses in the front yard - oh how the roses grew in the desert . . .

We divided the family room into two parts - one for the kids to use for watching tv, playing board games, diddling around on the piano - kid stuff. The other half was my sewing studio - oh the glories. A sewing studio with a big stand up cutting table, more storage than anyone can even dream of - a window looking out on the back yard with bouganvilla blooming and and orchard of citrus trees. I sewed and sewed in that room - but that's another story.

bouganvilla - wonderful to look at - but watch out for those thorns . . .

kids in the orchard . . . by a grapefruit tree . . .

Rusty and his dog, Timothy Ann, in the orchard


Lori swings in the orchard - see, I told you they were nice kids . . .

And they never got put in jail - well maybe once, in the old Yuma, AZ territorial jail . . .

We moved into the house and the 4th of July, we had two teenagers and one almost-ready-to-be-a-teenager. Nice kids, helpful kids. Don had just lost his job and I spent the next 18 months supporting our family and this crazy house, with my crafts business - again - a story for another day - this is the story of our house, it was a nice house, it was a big house, it was a cool house in the desert. Or so we thought.

Sure they were nice kids - sometimes they got a little rowdy at parties (New Years Eve, playing games) . . .

And sometimes they got a little messy (streamers from New Years Eve)

And sometimes they painted their lips blue with frosting . . . but they were nice kids . . .

One week after we moved in the house had a heart attack - it just couldn't take those teenagers - at least that is the reason we gave - surely it wasn't the adults it was reacting to. We swept the floors, washed the windows, cleaned the walls - we were the nice people - surely our new house liked us. We don't know why the house didn't like the teenagers!

Well - that is for you to judge - why do you think our house had a heart attack? First it blew both of the 5 ton air conditioning units. Not both at the same time, mind you, one at a time - one week apart. Well, in a house that big, one AC unit is not enough, so we had several of hot weeks to live through.

Two of these babies . . .

First one unit was replaced, and not wanting to feel left out, the second unit decided to throw a fit and get some attention. Believe me, you give AC some attention when it is throwing a fitin the desert. This one starting by making a noise loud enough to wake the dead - then it smoked some and finally it just stopped. Call the AC man (they are very busy in July in the desert), order another new unit, wait for it to arrive, wait and wait for the installation and then wait for the cool air. Ahhhh, now to settle down in our pretty new house, cool as a cucumber, this is the sweet life. It was a nice house, it was a big house, it was a cool house in the desert.

Lots of ice in the freezer, cold drinks in the fridge, nice cold water in the water dispenser. What???? You say the ice has melted? The drinks are warm, and something is running out from under the fridge? No - no - no - tell me it isn't so. Well the twin built in, lovely, matching refrigerator and freezer wanted some attention, they didn't think it was fair that we gave all of our money to the big air conditioners that sat outdoors - they wanted us to spend some money on them, share the wealth - if there was any wealth - and remember - Don had no job - just odds and ends at this time while he searched for a job in a town with over 30% unemployment!!

Pretty, pretty matching fridge and freezer - and pretty, pretty daughter doing dishes . .

Of course our kids needed cold drinks and we needed ice in the desert - so off to get a new fridge and freezer. No, that one won't fit - this one will, but there is not a matching freezer - oh the trauma of finding something pretty to keep your food cold. The original fridge had no freezer compartment - where did they find one that was all fridge? Finally they are purchased, the wonderful boys from the appliance store bring them out on their truck and hook them up - oh wait - they don't hook up the water to the automatic ice maker. Oh well, Rusty and Don can do that - long copper tubes - lots of grunting and sweating - and finally automatic ice maker is hooked up and making ice.

See how the new fridge doesn't fit the space from the old fridge, it's a bit too short, but I'll fix that by putting a basket on top of it - ohh ooops - someone is drinking from the carton of milk, does her mother know she does this?

Ahhhh, now to settle down in our pretty new house, cool as a cucumber, with ice and cold drinks and a watermelon chilling, this is the sweet life. And I leave you with these sweet thoughts, a cold drink and a dream of life with three wonderful kids in a wonderful house - oh yeah RIGHT! Wonderful kids, true, but what is that house up to next? I think this is all you can take at one time - I know it is all I can take - so - to be continued . . .

Bow and Edison - part 2

Back to our favorite Friday and two of the cutest towns you'll ever want to see.  Read the last post if you haven't caught up with our visit to Bow and Edison, WA.   I loved the houses and the yards.

One of the first buildings we came to  was an old garage - well kept - but unoccupied . . .

The simple sign still on the front of the building . . .

We saw many interesting houses - this one is being added onto - or should I say - it is being added onto the new addition.  I would have like to see them lifting that house way up there to put the addition below it.  The top part is very old and shabby - I want to go back later in the summer and see what they have done with it.

A lovely yellow Victorian . . .

Close up of the top story - and a robin sitting on the arbor - click to enlarge . . .

A most interesting house and an even more interesting pink flowering bush . . . 

The shape of the branches is captivating . . .

And the flowers covered the branches . . . do you know what kind of bush this is?

A very cute blue and white house . . .

It  looks like some of the shingles on the second story were blown off in the recent high winds. . . that dark spot in the peak is not a window - it is open to the attic where the shingles are off .

Peaceful on this side . . .

And in the yard - beautiful lilies . . .

A quiet house with a picket fence . . .

The biggest rhododendron I have ever seen - that is a two story house behind it . . .

Lots of rhododendrons in bloom in town . . .

A spring blooming clematis on a trellis . . .

It was a wonderful day . . .