71. Rapid Fire

I have pictures I've been meaning to upload for three weeks now, but I have been procrastinating.  I'll use the excuse that springtime in Central Florida comes upon you in such a rush and tumble that it's all you can do to keep from getting mowed over (I meant that pun).  The grass begins to shoot out of everywhere, and the "flower beds" become overwhelmed by every sprouting seed that has blown in there during the last many months.  Of course I go over them with great care, because some of the volunteers, as I like to call them, are allowed to stay.  What someone else might deem a weed I will cultivate, just because the butterflies like it.

Let's just say that's been keeping me pretty busy during my time away from Grandview, but we have been faithfully putting in our weekends there and here's the proof, in Rapid Fire format:

This is the back door, which opens onto the little porch off the kitchen.  Thanks to a friend at a local trim and door company I got a great deal on this beautiful insert - it's one of those double windows with a pleated shade in between.  Nice for privacy, yet easy to peek out and see what the neighbors are up to!

Remember we were working on the front fence... well here's the completed view after it was completely painted.  It's hard to imagine what a difference this makes to the look of the whole place:  you almost don't notice that the entire house needs to be painted.  So many neighbors have commented on how nice it looks... kinda makes ya proud.

On the inside, we finally got around to the light fixture over the bar - the one I bought at a thrift store probably 6 months ago!  Well, when I got into the box there was a piece missing so after a trip to good old Home Depot we came home with a new cowling, which didn't have the right size hole in it.  Here is Dave solving that problem with a make-shift drill press, which I thought was a great idea!

Here is the light, installed, hanging from that beautiful beam which had been primed and painted in advance.  Now the hard part:  to figure out what kind of tile to put on the bar!

A little job in the kitchen, but one I happily handed off to the staff carpenter, while I was playing around outside in the garden.  He trimmed out the inside of the funny pantry door - we are going to refinish and use the original door that was taken out of there, and Dave has an ingenious idea about how to hang it.  You'll see!

Another lovely trim job finished on the porch - each of the posts got a little box built around the bottom, to give them a nice finished look.  A little more scraping and a bit of woodwork and we are very close to finishing off the porch with primer and paint.

From the beginning of this project I have envisioned this small front yard as a cottage garden - very little grass, a path and mounds of flowering perennials everywhere.  I waited until the beginning of what is supposed to be the rainy season to begin planting, but the new flowers are set up with soaker hoses on a timer, at least until they become established.  I worked on the two corner areas, and the pink rectangle shows what will come next.  Like my garden at home it will evolve over time, as I see what thrives in this location.  I brought a lot of plants from home - and a few new ones, to kick it off.

This project was a very important one, since after the last super-windy rain storm there was a big puddle of water in front of this dining room window.  The best thing to do would be to put new windows in here, but since that's not in the budget we decided to make all the big windows on the sides of the house into fixed-glass.  In other words they won't slide up and down any more, but they won't leak air or water, either - it's a sacrifice I thought was worth it.

Here's the same window from the outside - may not look any different to you but I guarantee it won't leak!  Two down, ten to go!

And lastly, Roscoe playing hide-and-seek behind our very cool cedar tree in the front yard.  Does he really think I don't see him?