The other day we were scouring with copper scouring pads and hot water the stove top, warming shelf, and all outer surfaces in our monthly deep clean. We were so jazzed at the regeneration – nearly rebirth – of the old cooker girl that I was left with the scouring notion stuck in my head.
Is it even possible that a person could literally LIVE WITH anything for nearly 23 years and only just recognize a new aspect? Well, I can tell you I experienced that very thing. While admiring and reviewing yesterday’s progress which constituted about 20 days into the project with 90% done not counting application of the topcoats, a pattern just leapt off the surface to me – duuuhhh!
All out-of-doors projects are subject to the whim of Mother Nature and our faux mosaic restoration is no exception. Joshua’s repair of the other concrete corner as well as Capt. Allen’s continued restoration efforts were stalled for several days by the gusty winds creeping our way from hurricane Illiana carrying all manner of debris.
After a relatively UNremarkable blooming season earlier this year, this afore taste of autumn in collusion with the supermoon offered up a plethora of wonderment in dahlias, lilies, our spider person, virginiannas, critters big and small, and finned fantastics to name a few.
With his routine now highly-refined, the Capt. is systematically moving from right to left and top to bottom. Precision rather than speed is the key word for this redux in general but surely for the small squares and the grout finesse.
Even though it seems Mother Nature always wins, we remain vigilant in our attempts to keep the rain outside where it belongs. With each hard downpour, the garage roof continues to pose maintenance issues in the garage proper and in the garden garage loft studio apartment.
Water in general, water use, and water conservation are of prime concern to all of us in Jerome and no one is more strongly cognizant than we are since our gardens are one of the larger consumers. Hence, we are ever-vigilant when we see overflows.
Our treasured anemone virginianas have finally given us something to gawk at when we are done absolutely marveling at the intricacy and weaving ability of this spider that google tells us is a common house spider!
Day 5 – hard to image – brings us to astonishing accomplishment! Go Capt. Go! We wanted to document the detail of the finesse of painting the ‘grout’ area first and then filling with the tiles. Also of incredible note is the contrast of the old & discolored image where the topcoat yellowed along with the worst deteriorated areas against the brilliance of the restored areas.
This year provided a challenging and heart-felt adjustment in that we lost 5 of our 6 bee baby colonies over the winter which is always a heart-wrench. We believe the colonies were simply not sufficiently populated to keep the hives as warm as needed and then all varieties of varmints moved in – oh dear and what a disgusting mess!
