Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Lisa decided that the partial coat of sanding sealer on the rear deck would be sufficient, and that putting off further painting might result in long delays.

( Laying Down a Coat )

After cleaning the brush and putting away the other tools, Lisa (joined by Kuma Bear and me) sat out on the front porch for a little while to watch the show as the quail arrived.

( Another Quailstorm )

There probably won't be many more evenings where we can enjoy sitting on the porch, so we're trying to make the most of what time we have.

The wood putty that Lisa applied yesterday was dry enough to sand it down today.

( Making Good Use of the Tools )

It's a time of the year when we can be productive. And also time to start laying in firewood. Lisa has been working very hard outside, while I'm head-down over the Day Jobbe.

We reached a major milestone in the new patio deck yesterday evening.

( All Screwed Up )

We're not done yet with this project, although this should be the end of the major wood work. Lisa wants to apply wood putty to the gaps in the deck to reduce water incursion, then sand it all down, then paint it with the same paint we have used for the front porch. Despite the outward appearance, this wood is not redwood, but pressure-treated pine, and we'd be happier having several coats of paint on it.

Lisa has not run out of ideas for the back porch area. One of the things about Fernley House is that there's always another project we can do to improve it.

Lisa is slowly making progress on the patio deck.

( Ready to Attach Deck Boards )

Lisa has started to install the long deck beams, occasionally calling upon me to lend a hand, or rather a couple of feet, as she has me stand on the beams while she drives the wood screws. The first board (the one closest to the concrete block) needed a bunch of trimming and adjusting, with Lisa using a wood rasp to plane it down on one side, because the concrete block is uneven on the side where the board goes.

There will be more trimming of boards as we near the end. Unfortunately, one piece of hardware that we do not have but that would probably be useful is a planer, as there's almost certainly going to need to be one board that will need to be planed down to fit into an irregularly-shaped space.