PORCH GLIDER!

We finally finished it! We've been working on it since February, and we finally got it done.

Ta-DA!

Completed porch glider in its new home by the patio

The rotten, rusty original came with the house, and we replaced the slats, the metal brackets, and all the hardware and painted everything. It's now go stainless steel bolts, red oak slats, and brackets made from hurricane fence pipes. It glides beautifully, it's wonderfully sturdy--it's altogether satisfactory.

And when we finished, we sat on our porch glider in the mellow, breezy, golden afternoon and just chilled. Exactly as I had planned.

View from our shade patio

Matt did most of the final work on the swing (I did help with the hacksaw, though. Sawing through fence pipe--not fun work). Meanwhile, with my trusty cultivator hoe--I love that thing--I slowly, carefully chipped the large mound of hard-backed earth from the buttress part of the cottonwood. Our tree guy was adamant that we needed to pull that soil back and let those buttress roots get air.

In the picture below, you can see the bit I had fully excavated on the right and the partially excavated side on the left. I think I gingerly dug off about 8 inches of soil.

And now I remember why I decided not to become an archeologist.

Partially excavated cottonwood

At the same time as all the swing/tree excitement was going on, one of our Oxblood lilies was blooming pink. I know that a pink subspecies or variety exists, but why didn't we see these last year? Do we have the true pink, or is it just some response to drought stress? Pretty, though, isn't it?

Pink Rhodophiala bifida (Oxblood lily)

And here are some picture of the cats. They are still pretty wary of each other (Po keeps getting in Izzy's personal bubble. Izzy doesn't like this. At all.) but no blood has been shed. And we only let them mingle under supervision. On the good news side of things, Izzy adapted to her litter box right away.

Po, whose gargantuan paws are twice the size of Izzy's.

Po's GlamourShot (TM)

Izzy, who sometimes looks shockingly sarcastic for such a young little kitty (1 to 1-1/2 yrs)

The Great Dictator

Matt and Izzy

Progress on the Porch Glider!

We're finally getting some momentum under us on that porch glider (you'll remember that it was begun as a Valentine's Day project). At first, it was embarrassingly appropriate because it was to be red and it was Valentine's Day. Then it seemed like it might be embarrassingly appropriate because it's red and it was the 4th of July. Now it's looking more like it's going to be embarrassingly appropriate for Christmas instead. I guess it's a good thing we didn't stain it lilac.

Some context: we had rustoleumed the metal frame, used a pipe bender and some spare fence parts to create the seat brackets, painted the brackets, and stained and varnished all the new slats.

So we're left at the stage of drilling holes in the brackets and the slats. We started easy, attaching the arm rests to the frame.

Matt, attaching armrests.

Then we had to measure and re-measure all the holes for the brackets. Naturally, they are none of them exactly the same length nor precisely the same curve--pipe bending is not an exact art--at least, not when we practice it. Then we began drilling the holes, which requires a special kind of drill bit, of which we only had one. And we melted it.

It would seem that fence piping is kind of hard-core stuff. Which, I suppose, is good in terms of the longevity of the swing. But we have to drill about 45 more holes, and this drill bit melted after a mere 4 holes. So now I'm in the market for a metal-drilling drill bit made of kryptonite.

But perhaps it's a good thing this project is taking so long. If we had finished it last weekend, we'd have felt obliged to sit in the darn thing, and it's really much to hot for that. After several months of drilling a little, buying a new drill bit, drilling a little, buying a new drill bit, drilling a little... it'll be lovely and cool, and we'll want nothing more than to rock on our glider in the crisp autumn air, watching the leaves fall in that lovely, slanting, mellow autumn light (in Central Texas, the kind of weather I'm describing actually occurs in very, very, very late Autumn. Like January, in fact.)

Celebrating the little victories: we attach two of the swing brackets to the glider frame

You may remember that a week or so ago I posted a picture of our blackberry lily (Belacamda chinensis). I was, in retrospect, a little harsh, a little condescending to the good blackberry lily. Because my snottiness notwithstanding, it's still blooming bravely. You still wouldn't call it exactly a heavy bloomer, but it's putting out a few blossoms at once and it seems inclined to just keep on doing it, possibly indefinitely. In, I have to point out, July/August. It's plucky, that's what this blackberry lily is. An underdog. A trooper. Modest, yet determined. Here's to you, blackberry lily. Long may you bloom.

Blackberry lily, undeterred.

We also have this lovely thing, coming into its own in this unlikely season. It's a Clerodendrum ugandense, or blue butterfly bush. That common name represents a real failure of imagination. I mean, yes, I can see that they resemble butterflies. But lots of things are called butterfly plants or butterfly bushes--common, hard-working, slightly prosaic plants, for the most part. But this cool indigo loveliness, with its elegant elongated stamens and tiers of improbably dainty flowers deserves some more distinctive name, like porcelain flower or harlequin plant or, if it weren't already taken, love-in-a-mist.

In any event, when I took this picture, the plant was covered in inflorescences, while in full sun in July on the western side of the house and getting almost no supplementary water. Do you have a blue butterfly bush? Maybe you should go buy one.

Clerodendrum ugandense

And finally, here's a picture of my nifty Scadoxus, a week after its big bloom. It has interestingly broad leaves for an amaryllid, and the spent flowers look rather like the ghostly remains of a firework, after the light has faded. In a shady, neglected, slightly decadent garden, they would look pleasantly melancholy, I think. In full July sun in a partly empty bed with a bit of irrigating tubing sticking out, they just look matter of fact. Perhaps by next year, we'll have a few more plants in this bed to keep it company and give it that suitably decayed and deranged Southern look.

Happy 4th!

Hey! We had some nice weather today! And in July, no less. We got a bare smidgen of rain the evening of the 3rd--enough to moisten the grass a little on the west side, but not enough to penetrate the cottonwood's canopy on the east--but it seems to have brought cooler temperatures and pleasant breezes with it. Because we had a really, really nice day today. We had breakfast outside, which I always like, then dozed a bit and read in the hammock, then worked on the shade patio till 4ish. Then I hit the hammock again, and eventually we had a picnic dinner in Taylor (about 20 min. north of Elgin on FM 95) to watch the fireworks. Which were substantial, varied, and protracted enough to justify the drive.

And even in the middle of the day, the heat was bearable and there were cooling breezes. In the morning and evening, it was downright cool.

And just now Matt brought me a peach margarita while I blog in bed.

So, really, an awfully nice day.

The Shade Patio
Much progress was made on the patio, albeit of a two-steps-forward-one-step-back variety. We pulled up all the pavers and put down sand in order to level the patio out. (We used the sand that had been in the sandbox that was on the cement pad that now houses the orangery. There's plenty left over, so we'll be able to do the stone walkway from the study door as well.)

Leveling the sand was a bit of a bother. We didn't research it--just kinda winged it with a long 2×4 and a level. We hoed it an approximation of flatness, then used bits of board to level it further. And we used the 2×4/level combo to test it vertically and horizontally. While it's nothing like Kansas, it is more or less flattish.

Then we reinstalled all the pavers. But the problem is this: our collection of pavers is really miscellaneous--it's not like we have a set of matched pieces that all fit together in a particular way to make a shape--we just have a bunch of odds and ends. And while we got them to fit together fairly well for the beta version of the patio, this time it didn't work out so well. We were focusing on randomization instead of on seamlessness. Turns out, seamlessness is more important--randomization will take care of itself. So while the big central medallion and 4 corner medallions are fine, the filler will need to be pulled up (again) and re-laid. My back spasms in horror at the thought.

Brief Porch Glider Update
We also spray painted the three metal supports for the porch glider, so we're a wee bit closer to completion on that project, as well. If today's effort didn't sap us of all will, we may drill the supports and screw on the wooden slats this weekend.

Freshly painted swing supports

Plant Update
Also, while the 2nd baldcypress and one of the red cabbagey rose cuttings have remained stubbornly dead, the better cypress (on the west side) is putting out lots of little leaf buds all over.

Among the roses, the best so far have been the redoubtable 'Fairy,' 'Green Ice,' and, surprisingly, 'Autumn Damask,' which has completely recovered from its spring leaf fungus (after 2 apps of fungicide) and even had a blossom on it last week. What's so surprising is what an attractive, compact shrub 'Autumn Damask' has become. In a pot, it was constantly flinging out these ridiculously long, gangly arms. Now that it's in the ground, it's suddenly tidy and contained. 'The Fairy' and 'Green Ice' have both been obligingly blooming away, though their blossoms are small and sad and bleached looking.

'Wild Blue Yonder,' with its perpetual canker issues, and 'Lichterloh,' which just sits there, never growing, never blooming, looking small and scraggy and miserable, are the two worst. In their defense, even 'Knockout' is looking a bit chastened--only a few sort of washed-out blooms on it at the moment.

Those Who Cannot Remember the Past...

For some reason, I've been dallying with TileDoc again, the maddening epoxy product that is, apparently, designed to cover one's bathroom surfaces in a perpetual layer of foul-smelling sticky white goo. You may remember my many struggles to re-finish our guest pedestal tub (for the full, harrowing account, see previous entries "In Which I Inhale a LOT of Epoxy," "Tub, Shelves, Groundcloth, &c. &c.," and "Success! At Last!").

The problems with TileDoc are 2-fold: 1) it goes on best when aerosolized, which is difficult to accomplish without a power sprayer and air compressor, and 2) it only actually dries when it's applied during a full moon when Uranus is in the House of Leo and the solar winds are unusually high. Or something. The not-drying problem is, itself, 2-fold: a) you must measure the two components very, very, very accurately (I recommend filling a pyrex measuring cup with 1/4c of water, pouring the water into the intended epoxy receptacle--such as an old salsa jar--and marking the water level with a sharpie. Repeat with a 2nd quarter-cup of water so that you have 2 sets of markings on your jar. Then pour the clear, sticky stuff first to the first line and the white, opaque stuff to the second line. but given my success rate, you may not particularly care to take my advice.) And b) you must coat the surface with the faintest possible sheen of the stuff. This latter can be extraordinarily difficult to do. I have no advice for you on this subject, other than Be strong!

Anyway, I've embarked on this dubious endeavor because I just can't stand the stupid grey tile backsplash above our sink one second longer. We got the bathroom looking more or less genteel and tamed--at least if you squint--and the anomalous backsplash really wrecks our groove.

Note the pointlessness of the grey backsplash

Also, we have guests coming at the end of May, and I'd like to hide our tessellated shame. We haven't the resources (cojones?) to do anything about the much larger expanse of hideous grey tile (and its repulsant sidekick, Moldy Old Caulking) in the shower surround, but we DO have an opaque shower curtain, so that problem's handled. It was time, however, to take care of business where the backsplash was concerned.

So I painted the stuff on with a brush about 4 hours ago. It's still tacky (in both senses--it will need at least 2 coats to adequately hide the grey), which strikes me as a bad sign. On the other hand, it's drier than it was before, so perhaps there's hope?

Oddly enough, the corrosive, chemical odor of the epoxy made me feel strangely nostalgic. The human subconscious--or at any rate, my subconscious--works in very, very peculiar ways.

New TV
...And on to things that do work. Mom & Dad just got the New Hotness in terms of TVs, and they kindly gave us their old TV, the Old Hotness, which, by Matt's & my standards, is an utter leviathan and a fancy one at that (back off, would-be thieves--it's about 15 years old and weighs more than Mount Rushmore. You've never be able to get it out of the house. Plus it's not digital-compatible.) They also gave us an entertainment center to put it in (nice parents!), which is also no featherweight. Many people, including hired help, a benevolent neighbor, and my brother, combined their efforts to extract the units and get them into and out of our Jeep and trailer.

In any event, it's now reposing in electronic glory in the den, plugged in, re-programmed, and ready to go. Thanks to its superior antenna, we now get two PBSes, two CBSes, and (¡que suerte!) four Spanish channels. We watched a DVD on it last night, and everything was all crisp and lovely and, you know, big. No more squinting to read subtitles.

The funny thing is that we haven't figured out what to do about the old TV, so we are now not merely a four-TV family, but we have a two-TV living room. And in case you wanted a quick headcount, the residents here are (1) me, (2) Matt. In our defense, 1 TV is halfway dysfunctional and lives in the garage, 1 is our wee little kitchen TV, and 1 is the usurpee, probably fated to take up residence in the crawlspace under the stairs. Still. 4 TVs. 2 people. Livin' the Costco lifestyle, my friends.

For a truly immersive multimedia experience

Other Long-Term Projects
But what, you may be wondering, happened to the porch swing (meant to be our Valentine's Day present) How about those antique doors and knobs? The shade patio? The hedge of mutabilis roses to replace those scraggy abelia? The other hedge to hide Mr. Ugly Car and his opprobrious cohabitants? Quick summary:

(1) The bolts that I bought for reconstructing the porch glider are too short for the thicker pipes (part of the dismembered hurricane fencing from the back yard) that we're using to replace the rusty original supports. So I need to trek out to Austin Bolt Company, whom I utterly adore but whose hours of operation are problematically short, and exchange them. But the frame is rustoleumed and ready to go, and the new red oak slats are stained and varnished with 3 coats of spar urethane for protection.

(2) "Greg," the last of our new (old) doors is at Elgin Furniture Refinishers getting stripped. Next time we're in town during their operating hours (probably next Sat), we'll pick him up. We need to get in touch with Javier (the dude who built our lovely shelf/drawer unit in the study) to get his estimate for sizing and hanging them. I suspect that he's been hesitant to call us because it'll be a fair pfennig. Ouch.

(3) Re the shade patio (for latest pix, see "The Patio, & More Flower Pictures"), Mom & Dad very nicely gave us some ooftish for our 5th Anniversary (yesterday--Happy Anniversary to us!), which we will take to Lowe's to convert into metal edging. We'll install it around the current configuration of pavers, lift up the stones, and put down some sand. We may have enough from the old sandbox on the property, or we may have to buy a few bags. Then we'll reinstall the pavers and cap them off with a little cement.

(4) Re the mutabilis hedge (meant to stand at the head of the driveway and give our back yard a little privacy), well, the two roses we planted last year are doing nicely. But there's a huge gap in between them where we need to plant 3 more, so we'd be flattering it if we even described it as "spotty." The four abelias remain in their original locations for the time being. It would probably be foolish to move them this late in the year. We're going to plop them around the shade patio, but if a few croak, there are plenty of nicer shrubs we can substitute in (especially oak-leaf hydrangea and American beautyberry). Even so, I'd feel kind of slummy about killing all four. So the abelia relocation is postponed. But I'm willing to plant mutabilis as late as June of this year (it's that rugged), so we may at least get that part going soonish.

(5) Mr. Ugly Car's hedge--Matt was given some second-hand primrose jasmine (Jasminum mesneyi), so we've planted a line of them inside our property line. They're puny now, but we plan to water and fertilize the bejeezus out of them, so hopefully they'll be quite sizable next year. Primrose jasmine makes a rather massive fountain of light-colored evergreen foliage. I don't actually think they are the absolute best choice in landscape design terms--they look too much like the grass below and the ash above in color and even leaf shape, and they don't have a lot of definition--but they smell delicious and they'll accomplish our primary goal. And they were free, which is one of my favorite adjectives ever.

Good News! House Not Falling Down

Nice Mr. Structural Engineer

First off, the good news: our house is officially not falling down. Matt& I had noticed some new, sizable cracks in the stone facade of the house that worried us. We decided to have a structural engineer take a look and tell us whether or not the house was falling apart. The verdict: NOT falling apart!

The engineer got under the house and looked at the piers, which are stacks of concrete blocks set on a cement perimeter. He says they're holding up fine. In about 5 years, we should have another inspection to see if any of them need to be re-aligned, but for now, he doesn't recommend taking any action. He said that we should expect to see some seasonal shifting as our house is built on sand that contains a little clay. In addition, although our piers are adequate, they aren't the most stable model, which is a poured concrete pillar set several feet into the ground. Consequently, shifting is to be expected. He also said that if we did get the house leveled, we'd probably end up doing all kinds of damage to the interior. So we're going to stick with the status quo. We could, if we had all kinds of extra money, invest $12K in installing the deluxe version of cement piers, but he didn't really recommend it. Nice structural engineer. Regarding the cracks in the mortar, he just recommended patching.

I had been dreading having to take out a $10K loan to have the house leveled, causing all kinds of damage to the brand-new bookshelves, and seriously imperiling my ability to pursue any other home restoration projects or to buy a new car (the old gal has 216K miles on her--she's a good old wagon, but sometime in the next year or two so she's going to be called to the great car lot in the sky). So the engineer's report was phenomenally good news for us.

We Welcome Another Antique Knob to the Family
One of the ways we celebrated was by installing new door knobs (you should see us when we really cut loose). I installed a new exterior doorknob in our study to match the other two new knobs (in stylish oil-rubbed bronze.) We also needed a new knob for the door that separates the public part of the house (kitchen, living room, dining room, guest room) from the back rooms (master bed, mudroom, study, master bath). We restrict Po to the private part when he's unsupervised because there are fewer things for him to break back there.

So we needed a door knob. We checked out Elgin's Antique Mall today, and they had only 1 door knob set that came with the matching mechanism. Lucky for us, it came with an exterior mechanism, which is what we needed for the kind of door we've got.

The knobs aren't very nice (mis-matched brown and black porcelain), but the box is pretty awesome, and the price ($22) was just right. We need to find a spring to get the knob to work--for now, we just use the lock to keep the door shut. And we'll need to get Dad's advice on how to polish and protect the metal box. But even in the interim, it's functional and interesting. Matt's going to paint the door soon, and that should make the lock really stand out.

Stain for the Bookshelves
We've also been testing stains on the undersides of our shelves. From left to right: Red Oak, Cherry, Gunstock ("gunstock," forsooth!) and American Cherry.


We're going with (I cringe as I type this) "Gunstock," the only wood finish with the National Rifle Association Seal of Approval. Sedona Red or Red Chestnut are closer to being the actual color I had in mind, but they weren't available at either Ace or Lowe's. And as Gunstock is a little lighter, it may be better in a small room like the study. I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but all of the stains turned out a little blotchy--we may need to use a pre-stain wood conditioner to help it go on more evenly. Good thing we've gone through this extensive trial process.

We're also progressing on the porch glider. We finished painting the stand, and Matt's started bending pipes from the old hurricane fence to replace the swing's supports. I've put 2 coats of "spar urethane" (weird name, huh? Is it the urethane for protecting spars on ships, or what?)* on the stained slats. Now we just need to paint the supports, drill holes in them, and buy some special bolts with acorn nuts from Austin Bolt Co. Anyway, we're getting close.

*apparently, a polyurethane with UV-absorbers to protect against sun damage. Thus saith wikipedia. No word on the etymology. (Hah! "No word on the etymology!") The existence of a product called "McCloskey® Man O'War® Spar Marine Varnish," however, would suggest that the term does, indeed derive from nautical usage.

Phlegmmy Mess

I'm just now starting to get over a rather nasty cold that knocked me out this weekend. It was a sort of jack-of-all-trades bug that started with a fever and sore throat, moved into my chest, but also found time to give me sinus hell and an odd achy soreness in my neck and head. I'm still a disgustingly oozy object, constantly hacking, wheezing, clearing my throat, snuffling, and blowing my nose. Gross.

Consequently, not much progress to report on the homefront.

However, we did buy a sample can of stain (minwax "Red Oak") for the shelves and stained the underside of the bottom shelf to see how it would look. Whoa Nelly! Too much stain! All dark and dull! It didn't look like a dark stain at all in the store, but I guess birch accepts stain really readily or something. Anyway, we're going to have to try something else.

Not much movement on the swing. We need to buy a couple more cans of rustoleum, turn the frame upside down, and spray its underside. We also need to varnish (or whatever the proper substance is) the slats. Will probably do that this weekend.

And it's rose-pruning time. To my immense pleasure, we haven't lost any roses since the last great die-off in early December. My impression is that cold weather stops this fungus in its tracks (which means it's out of commission for all of 2 months out of the year here in Elgin). With luck, the dormant period and recent rain has helped the new roses really dig in and get comfortable. I'm convinced that the one thing that fends off the fungus is a really healthy root system. Very nearly the only roses that were impervious to last year's fungal menace were the ones that came with the property.

In any event, it's time to do the annual pruning, check from incipient outbreaks, and transplant a couple of unfortunate souls that were placed a little too hastily last year. I'll have to buy a bottle of alcohol just for this pruning session--I'll want to dip my clippers pretty much between every cut to keep from spreading any spores.


I should also mention that Chuck & Ladonna came up for a visit last Tues. We took them to El Maguey to experience the margaritas in all their face-numbing strength. El Maguey was tasty, as usual. (I had the tacos el pastor. You never know what you're going to get with T.E.P. Every restaurant is different. El Maguey's version has the pork lightly coated in a red sauce, interestingly enough. It's savory and tender.) But I couldn't help lamenting the bounty of Mexican food choices back in Austin: Evita's Botanitas, with its madly un-gringofied selection of volcanic salsas; Polvo's, always a good choice for good quality Mexican staple choices; Curra's, with its interior Mexican offerings, like Cochinita Pibil; and, of course the Jewel in the Crown,
exemplary in every way, Fonda San Miguel. Fonda San Miguel is the place that proves that only a soulless dogmatist can every really, definitively, unswervingly answer the question, "red or green?" (Unless, of course, the answer is "both!") Their red and green salsas are both so good, you kind of wish your entree would never arrive. Red: smoky, sultry, plummy and fulsome. Green: tantalizing, tangy, elusive, and complex. If this were a food blog, I'd rave at length about my favorite dish, shrimp with lime-cream sauce, and their magnificent margaritas, but it's not, so I'll rein it in. In fine: Fonda San Miguel is damn tasty.

Okay, back from the digression. The really exciting news is that Ladonna had whipped up a couple of muslins (that's seamstress-talk for "mock-ups") of the valences for the master bath and guest bedroom. This is particularly pleasing because both of those rooms were decorated around the valence fabrics. So (the theory is) the valences should really pull everything together and make them look complete and polished (as much as is possible, anyway. We still have those horrible grey tiles in the master bath surround. Southern Living it ain't.) The Vests are going to pay us another visit in March, and at that point Ladonna will finish off the real things. I'm so looking forward to it. Thanks Ladonna!

Bookshelves Installed!

Our exceedingly speedy carpenter, Javier Diaz, finished our bookshelves in a week and installed them last night. They look terrific, and they're very sturdy. I'm writing this from my lovely new window seat as we speak. The style is very square and simple, which is exactly what we wanted and what I think suits the house best. He made it of plywood with a maple (or birch?) veneer, which turned out really pretty--it has rather a rather subtle, light grain. Chuck & Ladonna are coming up next Tue for a quick visit, so I'm looking forward to showing the unit off, since the Vests are essentially the Patron Saints of the Bookcase.

Next week we'll pick up some stain and varnish and hopefully get the whole thing ready to use by Sunday so we can finish unpacking our books and get that monstrous metal file cabinet out of the way.

Lovely new shelves (minus the actual shelves, which we'll install post-staining)

You may have observed, though, that the window and shelves aren't entirely square (noticeable at the top and bottom of the frame). That's because the windows themselves aren't square, which rather gave Javier fits, I think. The shelves and window seat are nice and level--the window, not so much. I'm hoping to camouflage this particular problem with curtains, a bench cushion, and throw pillows. Eventually.

Anyway, we were very happy with Javier's work, and we'll almost certainly use him a few months down the line, when the antique doors will all be ready for re-sizing and hanging. I'm so glad to have found a reliable, reasonable carpenter--such a useful person to have in one's contacts!

Meanwhile, we've also lurched forward another step towards resuscitating the porch glider. Matt scrubbed the frame with a wire brush, and then we rustoleumed the heck out of it. (If I'd had my druthers, I'd have gone with a softer shade of white, but there aren't a lot of options in rustoleum--it's pretty much Hospital White or beige.)

It's another gorgeous Saturday (probably about 71F, sun is shining, birds are twittering, really beautiful), so I felt the urgent burning need for a functional porch swing the whole time. However, we still have to
1) varnish all the wood
2) paint the underside of the frame
3) buy, cut, bend, and drill a pipe into three pieces for the swing's supports.

So we better have a few more nice weekends this year, cos the swing's got a bit more work before it'll be ready.

Rusty swing

Freshly painted swing, glowing rather aggressively in the sunlight

The Porch Swing Project, Bookshelves, and Miscellany

A New Cafe in Elgin
I am particularly pleased to note the opening of a new cafe/sandwich shop/ice cream parlor on Main St.: Cafe Nirvana (or Nirvana Cafe? not sure which). I am unhappy to report that, like every other business in Elgin, it's closed on Sundays. Apparently, while I am desperately roving the streets of Elgin, looking in vain for coffee, books, newspapers, pharmaceuticals, and antiques, the rest of the community is sitting silently at home reading the Good Book and, I don't know, tatting or something.

Cafe Nirvana (Nirvana Cafe?)

Anyway, we finally made it during operating hours, and it's really nice inside--small space, but high ceilings, lots of light, cool stone floor, exposed brick walls--just very nice and up-to-date and chic. It has free WiFi! The sandwiches and smoothies were fine, though the ciabatta was disappointingly soft (note to America: ciabatta is crusty, people. It's not Italian for "hamburger bun.") But all in all, it was a very respectable alternative to the rancid grease we've been treated to repeatedly at City Cafe. We still like El Maguey (and their margaritas), but one can only eat enchiladas so many times per month. Now we can vary it with sandwiches every now and then.

Window Work
Last weekend we finally did some long-deferred work on our windows. We scraped paint off the inside of the panes in the front of the house, which makes a surprising difference to how the rooms feel. I scraped so hard, I broke a window pane. I am Woman. Fear me. (Not to worry--I just caulked the broken piece back in place--I may be violent, but at least I'm resourceful.)

Matt & a partially scraped window. He didn't break anything.

And I used cement patching to cap the stones on the front window. When we moved in, this window had a piece of 2x4 wrapped (inexplicably) in a disgusting old pillowcase on the exterior sill. I think it was meant to keep water from seeping between the stones and the house as the stone-installing people neglected to cap this window off (unlike all the other windows).

I had assumed that the cement patching would dry to a nice, neutral whitish-grey, like most cement in the known universe. Not so. It dried to the vivid deep grey you see below. Will have to paint that some day. Not anytime soon, though.

My first stab at stone masonry

Progress on the Bookshelf Front
Meanwhile, we had a second meeting with Javier to clarify the style of drawer front we're looking for. That went great--we met him at his shop and saw more of his work and feel very good about the quality of his workmanship and his reliability. The surprise is that he's going to start Mon. and expects to be done by Friday! Yeep! I was expecting another pay cycle between now and the completion of the project. So the next week and a half shall be rife with Ramen and frugality.

This is where the bookshelves will go.

Happy Valentines to Us
Meanwhile, to keep from getting bored, we've started another project. We're rehabilitating the rotten old porch swing that came with with house. It's to be our Valentine's present to each other. It is also going to be stained red (with white metal), but that's just a coincidence. We'd still be staining it red even if it were a Mardi Gras present. I like red.

We thought, well here's a nice cheap little mini-project we can do as an inexpensive yet enjoyable present to each other. It'll cost, what, 40 bucks? We'll just buy some wooden slats, stain and varnish them, and screw them in place. Badda bing.

Not bloody likely. We paid $80 for the wood alone. And of course, once we starting really taking apart the swing, we discovered that the frame for the swing (not the stand, fortunately, just the swing) had rusted through in several placed. So there's also the cost of buying a long piece of steel pipe that Matt will have to cut, procuring a pipe bender from his work, cutting, bending, and drilling the pipe, as well as the cost of the stain, varnish, and new hardware (which we'll have to buy at Austin Bolt Company rather than Lowe's because Lowe's doesn't carry the right kinds of bolts nor wholes boxes full of acorn nuts.

So we really could have saved ourselves a lot of time and probably a bit of money* if we'd just bought a brand-new porch swing and thrown this one away. However, we used Texas red oak for the wood, and we're going to rustoleum the hell out of the metal, so perhaps we'll end up with a slightly better quality item in the end. And, you know, Al Gore would be proud. Reduce, reuse, recycle, right?

The pitiable condition of the swing--rusted and stained with algea.

Matt examines the rust holes glumly.

The stand, while rust-stained, doesn't have any holes and is still solid. Matt scrubbed off the algae preparatory to a thorough spraying.

Red!
The new wooden slats for the swing.

Shade Patio Pre-Groundbreaking
We're also getting started on the shade patio. This is going to be a long, slow process. We'll need to level the ground at least a little, put down metal edging, put down sand, place the pavers, then brush a dry cement into the crevices. Today we did a trial run of the central medallion thingy to figure out how big it will be and where the different components will go.

Here are all the pavers we've got.

A lot of pavers

And here's the central design of our patio-to-be.Trial run of the pavers

Flossie Returns
And finally, we picked up Flossie this weekend from Elgin Furniture Refinishers.

Flossie, all scrubbed and clean

Interestingly, Flossie turned out much lighter and brighter than Edith. I wonder if Edith hadn't been stained at some point, while Flossie was merely painted. you can kinda see the difference in the closeup below--Edith is in the back and Flossie's in the front (click on the pic to view full size).

Edith & Flossie

We dropped off Poindexter, too, so soon we'll be finished with all three of the new painted doors. Next will be either our 2 original doors that came with the house or else the stained 5-panel doors that Mom & Dad bought us. As the latter will be a little cheaper, which ones we start on next may come down to budget.


*Okay, maybe we couldn't have saved money by replacing the glider. I just did a quick web search, and the cheapest glider I could find was $250; the vast majority were between $400 and and eyeball-popping $1,200. Huh. Let's hear it for the Al Gore Way! Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!