September

Got some really, really exciting news in August so figured all projects would come to a screeching stop, but,

Deck needed to be finished.  Had to get all these railings out of the shop anyway.  Might as well but them on.

Finally cool enough at some point in the day we were able to finish the deck top.

Finishing touch with new vinyl skirting.

Sorry to say I do not have a picture yet of the finished product, but it is done.  Did not put the top flat boards back on but they are finished and being stored for the winter in the shed.

As usual I will admit that Jim was right.  The color combo looks awesome.  What do you think?

Mawmaw's Job

I actually did help some on the deck.  I put the primer on all the railings and then I just got too busy....

New liner for the pool.

Cherry picking time.

Leah spent some time with us while Tim & Jody where in NYC.

Trent spent some time vacationing with us in July.

Jim and I went to the Olympic trials in Eugene, OR.

These two needed a break from helping Papa.

Went to Pittsburgh and Washington DC to watch the Cardinals play.

August

Still too stinking hot to paint the deck, but Jim has been working on the railings inside the workshop.

Preparing the top for tiles.

Tile work in progress

Just about got it.

Got it!

Nice looking grill.

Ready for some ribeyes.

Jim did have help from time to time.

Seems like some people like the new deck set up.

July

A little behind on blog updates so I'll give a month by month to present.  Of course we never just have one project going at once, so the second big project for the summer was the deck.  Usually this requires pressure washing, a little sanding and staining.  But not this year.  Jim took every banister and railing board off the deck, ran it through the planner, primed and painted.  Jim came up with  this grand plan of going dark deck and white banisters. I will have to say, was not on board for this.  Will let you be the judge.

All rails & banister removed.

Priming & painting

Used a product called "Restore" on the deck flat boards.  It could not be applied  unless tempature was under 90 degrees.  Needless to say we did this coat in June and it was a long, long time before we could finish.

Of course, work continued on the grill.

Making an addition for seating around the counter.

Stone going on the grill and counter.  Bricks went on one at a time.  Each evening Jim could put about 22 on.  Yep, took a while.

Projects

I realized this spring that the way Jim makes it through tax season, is to think and dream about what projects he will do when April 15th comes.  This year he thought up a couple of doosies.  The first one is an outdoor kitchen.

This is what the deck looked like at the end of last summer.

First project of the spring. Prototype for bench/planter combination for finish up east side of deck.

The beginning of the kitchen

Don't know if Jim is tired yet, but Ellie and Daisy are exhausted!

                                         

Grill insert is ordered, veneer in the shop, lots more projects to share!  And lots more work to do!

Something You Don't See Everyday!

Been catching a little grief lately (Becky) on the fact that neither my kitchen blog or Jim's workshop blog have been updated, so I thought this would make a good update.

In my almost 42 years of being part of the McClelland family, this is something I have never seen - Stanley fishing!

At one point he was 6/8 and was catching them faster than I could get them to the bucket.  Perfect day for fishing, on March 18th?  Who would have thought that would happen.

This was Stanley's hot spot.

 Jim caught this big guy .  He was 6 for 6 at this point. Weighed 3.5 pounds.  Turned him loose in the big pond to live to be caught another day.

A bucket full of fish.

Caught 29 total, but only kept 28.  

Caught 29 fish in an hour, took longer than that to clean them.

Check out Robyn's Kitchen blog (robynandjim.blogspot.com) to see what happened next.

(hmm..I wonder what?)

Cooling Center

One evening when we were watching the news during supper they were having a telethon to raise money to buy air conditioners for those you did not have A/C or could not afford to run theirs.  Jim made the comment that it seemed kind of strange that he had A/C in his workshop and some people did not even have it in their homes.  Well it may make him feel a little better to know . . .

. . . that Ellie has finally decided that it is too hot to be a dog.  The past couple of days when I have come home from work or town I have not been able to find her.  The first time I looked in her usual places and couldn't find her and figured there was no way she was in the shed.  But there she was all stretched out enjoying the pleasant 76 degrees.  They have been telling us on the news to take care of the elderly, well she is 98 in dog years! WOW!!!!

Well, today when I passed through Ellie's cooling center I heard a faint noise and realized she had company in the center and Jim was not going to be happy.   The mother cat decided that behind this clamp rack, really close to the A/C was the purr-fect place to have a litter of kittens.

I counted at least 6! She had an earlier litter this spring and none of them survived so I guess she thought this was a great place for these guys.  Jim and this cat have quite a history and she is definitely on life 10 or maybe 11.  If she is smart she will be looking for a change of address before Jim gets home from work.