Doing a Bit of Fluffing on the Deck

I wanted the deck to look cozy and inviting because we had some of J's family over for dinner last night.  We brought out some seat cushions, a rug, a few pillows, and even a quilt:

I don't have many flowers in bloom on this end of the deck, so I picked a colorful bouquet of daisies and ditch lilies:

The bouquet matches this sign I bought a few weeks ago:

 

I made my own side tables this year using old milk cans and old TV trays.

I am quite fond of them. I think they have so much more character than what I see in the stores.  I have two of them.

 

These lilies (from Patti in Missouri) fit perfectly on the potting bench shelf.

 

The other side of the potting bench:

I am really enjoying this container combination.  I was thrilled to find the daisy with centers that match the top plant (its name completely escapes me at the moment).

View from this end of the deck through the liatris that are almost ready to burst out in their glorious purple spikes.

Most of the containers on my deck are planted with dahlias, none of which are in bloom yet.  August is always the best flowering month on the deck. 

We had a wonderful evening with J's family.  They are gardeners so they are always appreciative of our efforts to provide an inviting deck and yard. 

Tree Frogs must have an Internal GPS system

While cleaning up the deck, I threw away a wicker table that had seen better days. I had a bird house planter  on that table. When I removed it, there was a big tree frog living underneath. I gently kicked him off the deck into a flower garden area.

A bit later, I brought out some pillows and other thing to spiff up the area.

I used a double decker birdhouse as a centerpiece on the table. Right after I decorated my new table area, I went outside and found the tree frog right back in the same area where his original home was.  The table I tossed out was replaced by a chair.  The tree frog was sitting in the sun on the arm of the chair.

As you can see the handsome fella left a little gift of froggy doo-doo.  YUCK.   I went inside to get something and when I came back out, he was on top of the mat I had just put on the table! I think he saw the double decker bird house and thought it would make a nice new home.

Whatever the reason, I do not want him on the area where I plan to eat dinner.

I don't think that is an unreasonable thought, do you?  I gave him a little nudge to turn him back around, hoping he would jump off the table.

 

I had to gently push him to the deck floor and then ever so gently  off the deck (4 ft drop, but he always lands in the flowers, hanging on to a stem, so it's not a harsh landing. Five minutes later I walked around to the area where I had knocked him to and found he had already climbed all the way back up! Do you see him on the left side?

 

Unbelievable! I ran back up the stairs to find him just a few feet from his original home.

"Stupid frog. Get out of here!" I yelled as I gently knocked him back down.

Five times I did this and five times he returned to the exact same spot.  I guess I will just  have to learn to share my deck with him.  As DH said, after five times, he deserves to be left alone. I think most of you will understand why I insisted on eating dinner inside!

(Almost) Autumn Deck Rearrangement

I spent a couple of hours on the deck this morning removing about a dozen ugly spent containers as well as the two framed planters on the lattice wall.  There was still a few weeks of life left in many of my planters, so I reorganized those.  I clustered the ones that still looked decent to show off their best sides.  I even reused the green picture frames.

I love this Proven Winner Colorblaze Keystone Kopper coleus with the autumn-acceptable clash of the orange croscosmia.

Here is the whole container cluster:

I did a second cluster arrangement around the whiskey barrel on the opposite side of this entrance. 

It has red Rembrandt dahlias.

I just pulled the red dahlia containers from this corner crate display of red and pink dahlias.

 All of the pink were hit by whatever  bug has been destroying all my dahlias, so I cut those back and just left the red with the sweet potato vine.  This area is now home to my white glider.

I did a blue/green table arrangement in the area where the white glider sat all summer.

I have since decorated this area a bit, but the sun is washing out pictures, so I will have to show that on another post.

I think I should get at least a month of enjoyment from this new deck-or-ating.  I am hoping to have at least one meal out here on the green table.

Look what DH found today:

A humongous bright green caterpillar!  I think it's one of those tomato-eating horn worms. Am I correct?

Aqua Paint-a-thon

I had to make a quick run to Ace Hardware Saturday afternoon to get some spray paint to match the gallon of aqua paint I have been using for all my garden/deck accessories.  Brushes are OK for the big stuff, but sometimes a girl just needs the ease of  a spray can.

 

 I found a pretty good color match and turned these chairs from this...

 
to this in a matter of minutes.

Once I get a can of paint in my hand, I go nuts.  It does not matter to me if the container is already planted. I just cover the foliage and start spraying.

I had a  number of aqua items before, but now I have at least twice as many scattered around the deck and gardens.

 Couldn't resist making some of the wine cork herb markers that I have been seeing all over the net.

I still have more chairs to paint, but we got a lot of rain Sunday, so everything was too wet. 

What to Do with the Pantyhose We No Longer Wear

First of all, let me say that I hate this bare leg decade and I can't wait to see pantyhose return.  In my humble opinion, there are very few women, over 18 years old, who look good in a dress without pantyhose.  I see wedding pics with bridesmaid's bare legs and I shake my head in awe at how terrible it looks. I wonder how they will feel about those pics when they look back 10  years from now.

Anyway I was putting out the deck plants over the weekend and I noticed this black pantyhose tie I used last  year:

 Quite visible, don't you think?  LOL.  This year I wanted something more hidden.  So I searched my panthose drawer and found a brand new pair of white tights in size "small".  As you can see they were marked down at the end of the season. 

It must have been the end of the same season when I stopped working out at the gym for two hours per day. I know that I will never again work out that much. Therefore, I expect that I will never again be able to wear a size "small". From here on in, the best I can hope for is big and voluptuous! :) I decided to cut this pair up for plant ties. That one pair provided enough ties for years to come!  Pantyhose ties are great because they have some "give" and they expand with the size of the plant.

I used one to hold this butterfly bush right against the deck.

Look. You can hardly see it! Perfect.  I want those long purple butterfly bush blooms to hang right over the deck so I can see all the humming birds and butterflies sipping their sweet nectar.

It has been HOT here for the past two days. I HATE hot weather.  Sunday we went to Wally's World and I saw these long muumuu things that I thought would be nice to lounge around the  deck.....remember I am no longer a small size, so tiny little shorts and tanks are out. :)  The muumuu things were in the junior section.  I bought the biggest one they had and brought it home. It fit in all areas but one....I guess juniors are still developing, so there really was not enough fabric to cover the girls (if you know what I mean).  So to keep this blog "G" rated, I can only show you this much:

I am holding the picture frame because I am planning to hang it on the lattice again this year with a container inside it.  Anyway, don't you just love this bold Hawaiian print? I know I do.

 Before I hang this on the lattice, I want to change it up a bit.    Today I spent over 9 hours at work and when I got home I did not feel like painting in this horribly hot weather.  Once it cools down a bit, I will show you what I ended up doing with this frame. 

Until then, stay cool!

Picture Frames around deck containers

My deck containers do not begin to fill out until late July.    Once they do,I  have fun turning the space into my outdoor living room. Most of the plants are too heavy to lift easily, so I just drag them about until I am happy with the look.

On the weekends I like to bring out all sorts of items to make the deck more homey--.rugs, quilts, pillows, magazines-- even my old bathroom closet door ---really, it's behind this table.  I hated louvered doors in the bathroom, but I love them as deck accessories. Last year it was bright yellow, this year it's turquoisey blue. (I will have the paint color info at the end of this post)

 See the picture frame I showed you yesterday?  I decided my summer living room needed some artwork on the walls so I framed a plant.

Actually two plants were framed. I now think the frames are too blah and I should have painted them a bright red or orange.

I had originally planned to paint the white glider green, but decided against it when I realized how much work was involved. It was much easier to just touch it up with white solid stain when we did the lattice last month.

I love how an outdoor rug warms up a seating area.

The hanging basket plant, Silver Shield, is getting a purple flower. Bonus! I had no idea this
fuzzy-foliaged spiller bloomed. I hope it gets tons of blooms because the whole container is pretty boring. See how thickly the grouping of flowers along this area is arranged?  There is a reason. One, this side gets the afternoon sun.

But mainly, it's to cover stuff like this ugly trailer parked just feet from my deck:

The trailer comes and goes, but now I am prepared when it reappears.

Here is the eating/grilling end of the deck, which is quite sparsely planted compared to the living room end.

I wanted to show you the two whiskey barrels. See the liatris in the one on the left side? It's huge! I need to remove half of it this fall and plant it in the barrel on the other side. Remind me to do that, OK? I know I will forget.

Saturday Barb from Barb and Dell Designs asked me the color of green paint I used for the picture frames.

I have to thank Cindy from Custom Comforts for finding this fabulous shade of green. In early June I left her a comment about the color she painted some wicker furniture and she was nice enough to email back with this info: " It is a Home Depot Behr Paint called Marsh Fern (410D-4). The card number in the top right corner is 420D and I bought it in the paint plus primer version, so I wouldn't have to prime the furniture first." Knowing the number to look for in the top corner really helped me to find the color quickly.  I was touched that Cindy would take the time to give me such detailed info. It was the first time I had visited her blog and she did not know me at all. Thanks again, Cindy!

The blue paint is Sherwin Williams Rapture Blue. Here is the formula:

I am partying over at Jean's Blooming Tuesday  and Fishtail Cottage for Flora Thursday. Come on over and join the fun!

We sat out on the new porch early Friday evening (after the HOT sun went down).

Within minutes some neighbors walked by with their dog (named Zoe, though a male) and then came up to the porch to check it out and chat.  We learned there has been a mangy-looking fox hanging out right across the road for the  past three nights. We had no idea, but we will be on the lookout now.

We live on a dead end road, yet four cars went by and waved.  It felt like what I imagine the 1950's to be when most socializing was done on front porches. I have read that front porches are making a big comeback and I can see why. I wish we had made a bigger porch so I could have a large table with a crisp white cloth and some homemade lemonade to offer neighbors who stop by on their nightly walks. I would even have a small basket of doggie treats for Zoe.

The neighbors left and came back minutes later with cucumbers from their garden. I have been craving a garden cuke and these did not disappoint.  The same neighbor promised to come back with tomatoes as soon as they ripen.  DH said that porch is already paying off--LOL!

People never walk down the driveway to visit when we are sitting on the deck, which goes partway across the back and side of the house (plenty of room for the whole neighborhood).  They can see us sitting there from the road, but it's just not the same as a front porch. Although this morning, as we were moving stuff around on the deck, one of DH's co-workers drove by and yelled out, "Looking good Jimmy!" as DH moved a turquoisey-blue accent door to a new area.

By the way the pic of DH sitting on the porch was really taken to show you another new dahlia about to bloom.  It's supposed to start out black and slowly turn to red.  Should be interesting. The bud does look pretty black.  I will show it to you as it happens.

DH and I spent all morning washing the windows -- every window in the house and garage.  My job was to use bleach water and a toothbrush to clean all the tracks on the older windows in the family room and kitchen.

Looking pretty clean, don't you think?  After that was done, I began to rearrange the deck furniture and plants.  I also did some painting because I needed a second picture frame painted green.  Since I had all the painting stuff out, I found a few more items to paint.

I will show what I used them for in another post.

By the time I finished it was early afternoon and getting hot. I was red-faced when I finally came in to shower.  After a cool shower,  I went and sat on the glider on the deck and read a few magazines trying to cool down.

This afternoon I also freezer-bagged 5 lbs. of blueberries for making yummies this winter.  Before doing so I  decided they would make a great photo OP for my latest quilt block.

It's been weeks since I have done any sewing. This is an easy 12-inch block that I made yesterday after work. I plan to make a couple more for a table runner.  The blueberries just seem to go with this block.

As I was out there taking pics, Messy Neighbor From Previous Post, was hooking up his trailer to his truck. I said, "Good morning, Messy Neighbor (I used his real name!)" and we chatted for quite some time.  He asked what I was doing and I said taking pics of blueberries. Then he asked what I do with all the pics I take and I said I put them on the Internet.  He is such a nice guy. I felt bad mentioning his tendency to store junk (actually expensive toys, except for the rusty burn barrel) right next to my deck. I hope he never finds my blog!

So that's been my Saturday so far.  I expect to have dinner in a few hours and then read a bit before calling it a day.  I have chicken in some new marinade DH bought and all the salad fixin's cute up ready to go.

So far it's been a good weekend.

update: 8:49 pm
dinner was delicious--just a salad and chicken thighs.

DH found a new beverage. It was good, too.
We even ate outside- - something we rarely do--and not a single bug bothered us.