Deck Update

Sheer Rustic RedFinished pressure washing the deck yesterday. Then last night we headed over to Home Depot for some waterproofer/sealer. Two years ago we used clear Thompson’s and were pleased, but this time we thought we might get something with a little color. We only had a couple choices besides clear, Sheer Honey Gold or Sheer Rustic Red.

Looking at the color on the container, the Honey didn’t look like much of a change from clear. Didn’t really want to go with the Red because the house is brick and we wanted to keep a little contrast between wall and deck, but the color on the jug didn’t look too red, so we bought a couple gallons. I think this colored stuff is slightly thicker than the clear that we used 2 years before. I filled up the cheap pump sprayer I used had before and started to apply the stuff. Ick. It either comes out too fast or if I dial the nozzle back it comes out too sparsely. And boy is it red. When I did the first couple of pieces of the outside railing I called in Donna for a second opinion. We both agreed it was darker than we anticipated, but thought it looked pretty good. I ditched the sprayer and we each grabbed one of the two foam brushes we had left over from another painting job and started at it.

After about 30 minutes Donna bailed on me, the mosquitoes were awful thick and were eating her alive. I was fine by that anyway because I had told her I was happy to do the whole job myself. I stuck it out for another half hour or so until the last of the two foam brushes crumbled to uselessness.

We bought some more foam brushes on tonight’s shopping trip, so I’m all set to tackle more staining/painting/water proofing of the railings and balusters on Saturday. I’ve got a nice big old roller for the floor just standing by until I’m finished with detail work.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 218

More Than a 1/3 Done Now

Cross HillAfter this weekend’s big push we are now more than a third of the way to the goal of taking a picture of every Post Office in the state of South Carolina. Today we did a dozen on the way home from Greenville. This is a different angle than I used in the gallery of my favorite Post Office for today, Cross Hill.

For breakfast I had a bowl of raisin ban, a cinnamon bun, half a banana and a small OJ. Donna had half an order of biscuits and gravy, half a banana and a bagel with cream cheese, water to wash it all down.

Meal Cost: $0
Tip: None
Spent So Far Today: $0
We stayed smart, free breakfast.

Today’s photo total was pretty good, we have had 2 days with 13, so it would have ranked as the second most productive day if it hadn’t been for Saturday. On Saturday we did 7 POs on the way to Greenville. Took a break at the hotel for a while and then did 4 on the way to the ballgame we didn’t stay for, doing four more before calling it a night. For a total of fifteen pictures on Saturday. Speaking of night, two of those photos were shot in the dusk and the last two were taken in the dark. They didn’t come out half bad, so we may be doing more low light images.

Lunch today was at a Taco Bell in Greenwood. Two chicken taco supremes for Donna and I had 3 soft beef tacos. A medium Sierra Mist fountain drink was shared between the two of us.

Meal Cost: $8.03
Tip: None
Spent Today: $8.03
Year to Date: $1322.35
Meals out 75 of a possible 501.

156 Post Offices down with 304 to go. This weekend’s photos are up in the Gallery or on the Flickr page. No captioning yet and the titles need fixing. No geotags on the Flicker images yet either, so they don’t show up on the map. Go peek if you just need to see how many ways I can put a Miata in a Post Ofice parking lot, but if you want a story to go with the image, come back later this week.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 205