Between

We're kind of between here at the moment--after the colder hardy crops are planted and before the warmer weather crops can be planted.  This means, of course, that I could relax and wait, but nah!  I can find a million other things to do.

Currently, I'm painting the back deck.  The stain is crazy expensive, so it's going slowly, a gallon at a time.  As I am doing that, I am faced with the problem of the two concrete pads that are located at the foot of the two staircases on the deck.  They are ugly.  One is small, and one is large and cracked, and both were stained by me years ago, and it's worn away and they look horrible. Well, I didn't want to go through all the trouble of having a nicely painted deck and crappy concrete, so I tackled it.  I painted it with that Restore stuff first, and thought I'd leave it at that.  But the Restore color is very dark brown, and it made the concrete look like a black hole.  I didn't like that, so I got creative.

Using the stain I had left over from the first time I stained the pads, I went to it and made a design.

If the diamonds look a little "wonky", that's because I free-handed them.  Ok, I used a straight edge, but that's it.  I don't do math if I don't have to.  I'm a right brainer, after all!

This was easy to do, especially because I didn't bother measuring anything.

I was so happy with it and if looked so nice, I went to tackle the large side.  But I didn't want to do the same thing.  So I did this:

The "S", of course, is for Superman.
Or possibly our last name. 

Which nearly put me in the loony bin.

See those little amoebas?  That's a stencil that I applied over and over and over and over. First one way, then the other.  Holy cow.

I realized, when I had done three or four that it was going to be a horrible job and take forever.  But at that point, I had no more dark paint to paint over it and change my mind, so I was committed.  It took forever.  I have a hunch in my back from leaning over.  But it's done, and I like it.  I think it looks like a rug--kinda.

At least, that's what my daughter's friend said it looked like. 

But she's 11, so I'm not sure if that's good or not.

I think it's interesting and not a boring concrete pad, and that's what I like about it.  I'm hoping it lasts a little while, but this pad gets beat to hell with the traffic and the hose nearby, so I'm not holding my breath.  I'll be happy to get a couple of years out of it. 

And that's all I have to say about that.

Next time I will show you how the chicks are growing (huge) and how Minerva is growing (huge-er), promise

Take care!!