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Because you’re not too busy right now.
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I know I was born in the wrong era, but I always wished I had learned to swing dance.
Back when I had a fully functional knee that is, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight now.
The Big Bands, the Lindy Hop, the energy… it just looks like fun.
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How about you?
What do you always wish you had learned…
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Remember the large, oh so heavy batch of stone my husband piled on the barn porch?
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The one I told him was too heavy to put in one place and might damage the frame?
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Yeah.
Serious sagging that had to be propped up.
Why do men never listen? Why…
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Work continues… and the more stone that’s affixed to the house, the less weight and possibility of caving in the barn porch.
I call that a win.
Progress is slow but steady.
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Question… what do we think of the color combination of stone and composite decking?
When this remodel started, I chose decking that would blend with the vinyl siding. It looks very grey in photos but is actually striated with beige-y clay.
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It had already been delivered by the time the husband decided to replace the siding with stone. Special order, no return…. so I’m talking myself into it blending.
What say you?
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Color coordinated or not, it’s what we’ve got.
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And standing on the lawn I’m beginning to get an idea of what it will look like when complete.
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While choking on masonry dust that is.
😉
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I spied someone on the deck railing recently, and as you can see… the royal feline was clueless.
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The someone was a juvenile Coopers Hawk.
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There’s good hunting under our bird feeders and this beauty was seriously interested.
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After ten minutes of me taking pictures and saying hey, there’s a big bird outside…
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His Lordship caught on.
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Hullo gawgeous!
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Raptors are fascinating creatures.
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And seeing one this close is a special experience.
❤️
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The stone work continues and it’s been …
Challenging.
Yes. Let’s go with that.
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Cutting around the dryer vent was extremely unpleasant since rounded cuts had to be made.
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A new tool was purchased.
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And my husband now owns a grinder with a masonry blade.
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I doubt it will surprise you to learn an entire day was spent making adjustments.
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I snuck a few pictures but played it safe and stayed in the house during the majority of the cursing work.
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Aggravating? Yes.
But it turned out well in the end and we’re beginning to get an idea what the finished product will look like.
😊
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Because the news you can use is too depressing.
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Proof positive it’s always the last place you look.
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Yet another reason I won’t be hiking Everest.
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Admit it, you’re more than a little envious.
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I’m guessing that’s not what’s supposed to happen.. but with Tesla it’s hard to know.
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I didn’t read the article, but something tells me it won’t be good.
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Remember my father’s old WWII painting I wanted to reframe?
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It took a while, but she’s finally been updated.
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And while the wood was a good bit darker than the sample I was shown…
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It has a nice gold accent to make the colors pop.
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And our bedroom furniture is dark so it will be fine.
Though I really do need to go curtain shopping…
🥴
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You know you want to.
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I can do one better,..
I’ll show you.
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There she is, a 1963 Ford Falcon station wagon… complete with wood on the sides.
I don’t have to tell you this was more than slightly mortifying to a teenager. The Falcon was a lot of things, but cool wasn’t one of them.
That picture was taken in the late eighties… judging from the head to toe acid washed denim… and yes, my mother was still driving her. She grew up in NYC where no one in her era drove or even bothered to learn. The woman got her first license when she moved to the suburbs at age 40 right before I was born and didn’t enjoy it. She was a nervous and overly cautious motorist and never felt comfortable behind the wheel. She learned to drive in that Falcon and it was literally the only car she ever drove her entire life.
It had vacuum wipers, no seatbelts, an am radio, a manual choke and by the time I drove her? A top speed of 51 before she started to rattle so badly you had to slow down. It was a good thing we lived on the Island because the old girl would never have tolerated a highway.
How about you?
Name the car…
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So there was stone.
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The first row of it anyway.
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Things did not always go smoothly, especially when it came to cutting around the electrical outlet box and dryer vent.
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Which is when the hammer came out.
If you know anything about stone veneer, you know hammers are not their best friend.
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Enough said.
One row down, many more to go.
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On an overcast and dreary day, my husband went out back to battle the trees.
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If you remember, we planted 6 trees in the north forty 2 years ago. Four maples and two cherries. The maples are thriving, the cherries are dead… thanks in no small part to the deer who apparently see cherry wood and think “snack time”!
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Dry and brittle, my husband thought it would be a simple thing to rip them out of the ground.
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He was mistaken.
Our miserable backyard clay was not letting go.
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He pulled, he tugged, he dug, and finally resorted to sawing them down.
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Take that you stubborn dead tree.
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Healthy maple tree on the right.
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Dead cherry #2.
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Just as difficult to remove as #1.
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A hard fought battle.
But he was victorious .
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Someone was enjoying the patio furniture on our deck the other afternoon….
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And it wasn’t me.
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This does not bode well.
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Not well at all.
She looks way too comfortable.
🥴
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River's world..... 