A Wild Hair

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If you read the title and know the ending of the phrase you are probably over 40.  Some youngers might know too.  I heard that phrase many times in my 71 years.  With that being said, how did that pop in my mind?  It really didn't just pop in, it has been brewing for about 4 years.  I finally got brave or stupid to bring up the Wild Hair that has been brewing.  First of all when we built our house 22 years ago the decks were stained with a transparent shade of clay/gray color.  I loved it, every 3 years we used the same stuff.  Until the 3rd time which was definitely not a charm.  The place I always bought the finish from gave me the solid instead of transparent which might as well have been paint.  So from that point on we had to use it.  It peels, blisters and looks horrible after the winter hits it.  I started googling how to remove paint from a porch floor.  Not what I wanted to do from most of the videos.  They showed using paint remover, scrapping, more paint remover, scrapping until it was all removed and lastly sanding.  Then a video showed the "diamabrush,"  oh baby...... that is the ticket if it works.  Home Depot sells it as a special order item.  Now, do I order it and surprise the tall guy?  I am not completely foolish so I mentioned how much "we" hate scrapping and painting the porch and this is the year to do it.  Wait, look what I found on youtube.  He said order it and let's get it done.  Ordered, stain bought, paint bought for the rails and poles.  For the next couple months the porches will share morning and evenings with the garden needs.  Might as well have a little variety.  The beginning..............

Once he figured it out, my turn.  The intro was more like what he would say to his students at VoTech safety classes.  I wanted to say after a minute it is all beginning to sound like, blah blah blah.  But I put the look on my face that I was paying attention and finally he hands it over.  Nine boards later, shower and a tall glass of ice water here I am  typing away.  I counted the boards, 28 so we did about 1/3 before the sun came around to the front.  3 days and it should be ready for the stain.  If not, oh well!  One thing I have learned, never look at the big picture at least when taking on a restoration or building project.  That overwhelms us, keep it simple, like one board at a time.

9 boards down!  Done for the day.

This porch will be completely finished before starting the back one which has 49 boards and each board much longer.  I wasn't going to count them and then........I had to see the big picture for just a second.  Stay focused.

Let's talk food, Kale to be exact.  We have cooked it, added it to soups, used it raw in salads, put it in the freezer and the last big try, Kale chips.  Gahhhh they are nasty!  The only thing I liked about them was the Mexican lime and chile seasoning.  After 15 chips of trying to say not bad, pretty good I dumped them in garbage.  Never will I make them again.  You start with a couple pounds and end up with maybe 6 ounces, maybe!

6 trays ready for the oven.

End result, they are so crispy almost impossible to pick up without crushing to pieces..

Excitement on the nightly check of the garden...Yes!  Pea pods, won't be long now to pick, shuck and freeze.  The first batch goes to our friend over the hill and a pot of new potatoes and peas for us.