Rain, again...

So yeah. It appears it would be a LOT better to have the weatherstripping on the outside of the door instead of the inside. Ya think? More pools and rivulets...it goes right under the door and onto the floor.

The spar varnish really protects the wood I got it onto, though, look at how the moisture beaded up! (It's still tacky after 24+ hours, but hopefully it will decide to dry hard and I can do another coat...)

More rain...

...sigh, we hadn't had rain in 6 days, and that nasty board never DID dry. And now it's raining again. I tried blocking it to protect it from new splashing, but we'll see. It's hard to imagine how it could have still been damp--was it soaked in salt water and attracting moisture? A spring in that corner of the shed? What?!?

It's like the Amityville Board. Considering an extension cord and hair-dryer!

And sigh again, the 4-hour spar varnish I put on yesterday morning still is tacky. Glad I got it on, though, at least it will somewhat protect the French doors, even with only one coat. (Yep, I did stir it. Enough? I don't know. Too old? I don't know. Midwestern humidity? Probably...)

I cleaned the wood with mineral spirits before varnishing, but allowed it to get completely dry before applying the spar varnish, so it wasn't that.


We had to have the phone line marked again, this past week...it had been so long that Dig-Rite's original markings had disappeared. Joseph went out and ran a string along them today, in case that happens again. NOT that it should. Surely we'll get the electricity taken care of this week. (Patience, Kate...)

I still got in a bit of time there this morning for yoga and coffee, and the lovely neighborhood kitty came for a visit, again. Guess I need to bring some treats over for her...

Bits and pieces, again

Not good. It's been almost 5 days since our last rain, and this board is still damp. Everything else dried promptly--it's also mildewed and a bit rotten looking
at the top as well as the bottom.

I like using recycled stuff, but this isn't good.

This morning I took my coffee and my manuscript out to the shed to work on the final polishing before sending off this chapter. J. came over and brought me fresh coffee and asked if I was doing my "editation"! Yes, exactly!

MODIFIED yoga, too, I really don't want more injury to that knee, so doing most of it as "chair yoga."

This sweet cat lives up the street--she's come for a visit twice lately...

And here's most of the first coat of spar varnish on the French doors. I got the small door frame done, as well as the inside and outside of this one and the outside of the one on the left, as well as most of the frame (except the damp part.) It's lovely, like painting on honey. It will take another coat, at least.

So, obviously feeling better, though I did decide to stop with the varnish till tomorrow; my shoulder was beginning to complain, now! (Ralph Macchio I am not!)

SO READY to make some forward progress.

Still waiting for the trench to get dug and the electrician to come; that was supposed to happen this week, as you may recall. Nada.

Is it the rain? Well, no. It was predicted but we've had three lovely dry days (at least) now.

SO ready for some progress.

Meanwhile I've got the French doors almost ready to varnish...maybe over the weekend. Maybe we can get some paint on, inside, too, but we were sort of waiting for the wiring to be finished.

I messed up my knee this week and J. messed up his back, so maybe it's a sign. SLOW DOWN. Take it easy. Patience, my girl...

Details, details...and weather!

We have an old armoire in our bedroom that originally had these hooks in it...it really didn't work very well for us, so Joseph put in shelves for bedding etc. and removed these twisted wire hooks, which we saved. We knew we'd find a use for them--they're perfect for the shed keys by the door, and will be useful for more hanging things too! (Yes, I know if you hang them horizontally you have two hooks, but it looks nicer this way...)


Yesterday we found an iron greenman; he balances the window nicely! I'd planned to paint a greenman for the shed, and may still, but this one's a handsome fellow...

I was looking for brackets for the shelves, but mostly we found homogenously overdone stuff covered with faux grapes and hummingbirds! What's up with that? I'd prefer simple wooden ones, and we may make them from triangles of leftover wood. Fine by me...


Uh oh. the doorknob and faceplate are rusting already--because I keep the door open even when it's raining out. (shush, I know, "duh"). We need to varnish or seal them...

(We had this knob on the back of a door at home that never got opened...nifty!)



Siiiigh...LOTS of rain lately, and the sill obviously isn't weatherproof. We haven't had a chance to clean up the French doors and get the varnish on them--too bad, because they really soaked up the rain on that bare wood. It's supposed to rain off and on all week, but when it dries up and when THEY do, this is my first order of business. We bought caulk for the outer edge of the sill, too--the one on the small door seems to work fine, and Mark caulked this one where it joins the deck, but the secondary sill isn't caulked or otherwise waterproofed yet. It gets the backsplash from the wee deck that's been such a troublemaker when it rains!

It's coming in under the doors, too...I'm thinking some sort of weatherstripping on the bottom of the doors outside, too, as you see on these pictures that show the inside...

The roof hasn't leaked, though, and we were getting BUCKETS of rain last night--so knock wood!

Joseph got the hooks on the two windows, so we can lock everything up tight now, too--it was funny having the doors lockable and the windows still open.

I'm dying for the electrician to come. It's SO sticky and thick, even just a bit more moving air would be a big help. I'm thinking of a heavy duty extension cord and a fan, until we get that done. I SO want to start painting...