Projects...we've got projects

Now, if Mother Nature will just cooperate.

I swear ta gawd...I'm so ready for spring. My psyche is already there. But the temperatures...they are not.

So I'm forcing it. Through sheer power of thought, I'm gonna make it be spring.

So it is written. So it shall be done.

Da Zigster and I, we love our projects. He's so fun to bounce ideas off of. No matter how crazy it might sound, together we'll figure out a way to do it. Usually, the projects turn out great. Others...well...we have a good time plannin 'em , anyway.

The current project is the deck. We spend a lotta time out there on that deck in the spring, summer and early fall. I mean, with a view like this...


...who wouldn't?

We cook out there. We eat out there. We lounge, we talk, we drink beer. A lotta times, Ziggy does what I call "Yul-ling". He'll stand on the deck, hands on his hips (think Yul Brenner in "The King and I") and just watch the river. The King Of All He Surveys. heh It becomes our living room/family room/vacation get-away in the spring/summer.

Since we're not plannin a big vacation trip this year, we...well, really *I*... decided that a deck re-do was just the thing. Last year, it was sort of a mish-mash of tropical junk...kinda..."tiki-cartoonish", ya know? This year, I'm plannin to class it up a little. Ok, some of the tiki stuff is stayin...but the garish flamingo crap is goin bye-bye...or at least, to another place in the yard.

I bought a 5'X 7' outdoor rug to go under the dining table. It's much like this one, except it has a black background with a sage, cream and tan palm frond print.



And, I bought two of these chairs...

...and some material that's similar to the pattern in the rug to recover the old chair pads with.

Somehow, I've managed to winter-over the two palms that we used for the infamous Cheeseburger In Paradise wedding last August, so they'll be the perfect complement to the rug.


Today, we're gonna go pick up a 9' sage-colored market umbrella for our table and some black spray paint to paint a few of our many pots. Eventually, I'll pack those full of brilliantly-colored bloomers to scatter around the deck and yard. Last year, I chose mostly bright pinks, lavenders, corals and yellows...colors that you traditionally think of as "tropical". I'm thinkin this year's "theme" is gonna be mostly red...with maybe a few oranges and yellows thrown in. Make a nice contrast to the black pots, doncha think?

Of course, once I start plant-shoppin, all bets are off. No tellin what kinda color combinations I'll come up with.

Now, if we can just get the temperature above the 60's, we'll be set. I'd much rather use that umbrella to shade my pointy, little head from sun...and not snow.