Huybers Retirement Adventure: May 2013

This week has been full of sunshine. The weather was still rather cool at the start of the week but by the weekend it had turned HOT!

When the weather turns nice outside, it makes you want to get going on the outdoor projects like planting flowers, doing yard work or staining the decks. This week made us want to do all those things. It started with a visit to the garden centre. We had heard about the garden centre on the radio and decided to check it out. It wasn’t as big as what we had back in BC but it did give us some ideas as to what we might like to do for the front of the house. We like low maintenance yards so we thought that putting down small rocks in the front of the house along with some small flowering shrubs would keep out the weeds. We have black bark mulch in the front at the moment but because it is so windy here, the bark mulch keeps blowing away. I figured it would take a pretty strong wind to make rocks blow away! We are just in the planning stage at the moment for that project, but it’s nice to get some ideas until it happens. We did manage to take away some pretty Viola Pansies for some special planters I have.

A couple of years ago, on one of my visits to Holland, my two nieces, Heleen and Esther, each gave me a ceramic Dutch shoe as a gift. I just love them! They are decorative planters that you hang on your house. The dainty Viola Pansies fit into them perfectly. They look very cute against the house and it was the first sign that Spring was arriving. Just to be on the safe side though, we take them in at night because the temperature still drops quite low at night.

After staining Ron’s new Adirondack chair, I got the urge to do the deck. We have several decks on this house. There’s the front deck that runs the full length of the house, the back deck that’s behind the house, and we have a large 3 level deck on the side of the house. They all looked old, faded and ugly. We decided to start with the smallest deck out back. Ron power washed the deck and then we had to wait 2 days before we could stain it. He also had to replace a couple of stairs that had rotted away. We couldn’t believe the change after Ron stained it! What a difference! It really got me motivated to do the other decks.

The next deck we did was the 2 level side deck. The boards were so white looking Ron said not to power wash it. Big mistake! Learn from our mistakes people … always power wash a deck before you stain it! The stain went on fine but it left the boards dull with dark streaks going through it. Do you think it was the DIRT that was hidden in the boards that were now rising to the surface? I think so! Now a smart person would have stopped and power washed the remainder of the deck but then it would have taken on a different look half way down the deck. So I continued on with it. At least it was even.

The next day I decided to power wash the lower side deck. It was sunny outside but pretty windy and cold. You would have thought I was dressed for weather that was 20 below but at least I was warm. The deck was just as white as the upper deck had been but I thought I better give it a try. What a difference power washing does! When the wood got wet it really got dark. Then the power washer lifted the dirt away leaving the wood a nice golden color. After letting it dry for 2 days we put the stain on and were amazed at the results! It looks like a brand new deck! Now we can’t wait to do the rest of the decks! But first we have to recover from all the work we have done so far. After all, we are retired and we are supposed to be taking it easy … or so I thought.

While I was staining the deck, I looked up to find our resident fox standing on our property staring back at me. We have named him Freddy the Fox. He comes out in the morning and late afternoon to hunt for food. Freddy seems to have a path he always takes. He comes onto our property from the road, comes along our driveway then cuts over to the neighbors property, goes around the back of their house and back onto our property and heads up to our shed in the back. Then he trots off onto somebody else’s property way in the back.

It is interesting to watch Freddy as he hunts. He will be trotting along then all of a sudden he will stop, his tail drops and then his ears twitch then go back as if he is listening for something. Then he will crouch down, wait, then jump straight up in the air and pounce down onto whatever unfortunate creature is below him. He then tosses what he has caught up in the air like he is playing with it. Then he eats it and carries on to the next course. When he has had his fill, he goes back home the same way as he comes. Freddy comes pretty close to the house so we make sure to pick Bailey up so he doesn’t go charging after him. The other day when Freddy was doing his rounds, Bailey noticed him and was watching him like a hawk and growling the whole time. Thank goodness we were holding Bailey at the time. I would hate to see what would happen if Bailey went after Freddy. I don’t think Freddy would think to kindly of an uninvited guest at his dinner table.

The weather was actually HOT today!! I even got a sunburn! It’s the first day I’ve been able to be in shorts since last summer. Oh, how I’ve missed that! After we finished staining the deck, we sat in our new chairs with a well deserved wobbly pop. It felt good to sit and relax for a while. It was so nice outside that we decided to have dinner out on our new deck. It was a perfect way to end the day.