You know you are a grown up when. . .

you have patio furniture! Oh heck you know you are a grown up when you can say you have a patio.

When I bought this house it had a wooden deck that sat about 6 to 8" over the concrete. It harbored chipmunks, old leaves and rotten spots. My brother was worried I would go through the deck and break my leg. I figured I would just break an ankle.


I had fun deconstructing the deck, prying all the wood off, I found out it wasn't attached to anything, just sitting on top of the concrete, the weight of it keeping it in place. I had 32 2 x 4s and a couple of longer wood pieces which the city would not take from the tree lawn. They figure it's treated wood and they don't want it in the land fill. Can't blame them for that but if it was treated it wouldn't have rotted. I got my trusty jig saw out and cut it into pieces that fit in the trash can. Voila!

There trips to the big box store for pavers, a table, an umbrella and chairs. Now I can sit on the veranda and reminisce about the good old days. Actually I sit on the patio and think about painting the ugly red fence next to it white.

And just to prove it is summer. The cherry tomatoes are ripening. The regular tomatoes need to ripen, the cucumbers are blooming and should be setting fruit also. I see a BLT in my future.